The Unseen Influence of Boo Radley

Arthur “Boo” Radley appears only once in the novel, yet is discussed frequently by Jem, Scout, and Dill. Their imaginations run wild with ideas of a scissor wielding maniac who peeks in town windows and dines on raw squirrels. As they mature they start to forget about him, leaving their childish stories behind with the rest of their innocent ideas. However, Boo never stops noticing them:
It was daytime and the neighborhood was busy. Miss Stephanie Crawford crossed
the street to tell the latest to Miss Rachel. Miss Maudie bent over her azaleas. It was
summertime, and two children scampered down the sidewalk toward a man approaching
in the distance. The man waved, and the children raced each other to him.
It was still summertime, and

the children came closer. A boy trudged down the
sidewalk dragging a fishing pole behind him. A man stood waiting with his hands on his
hips. Summertime, and his children played in the front yard with their friend, enacting a
strange little drama of their own invention.
It was fall, and his children fought on the sidewalk in front of Mrs. Dubose’s. The
boy helped his sister to her feet and they made their way home. Fall, and his children
trotted to and fro around the corner, the day’s woes and triumphs on their faces. They stopped at an oak tree, delighted, puzzled, apprehensive.
Winter, and his children shivered at the front gate, silhouetted against a blazing house. Winter, and a man walked into the street, dropped his glasses, and shot a dog. Summer, and he watched his children's heart break. Autumn again, and Boo’s children needed him (Lee 373).
As Boo watches the kids grow and play he starts to become attached to them. He never had much of a childhood since he was shut in most of his life, and still thinks with mind of a child. This may explain why Boo ‘befriends’ Jem and Scout, although it is without their knowing. As he watches them, they change from ‘the children’ to ‘his children.’
Boo’s reclusive lifestyle may, in part, explain why he might think like someone younger than him.

He couldn’t have mentally matured just sitting around the house all day, never interacting with others his age or gaining life experiences. Now an adult, he stills stays in the house all day, even though after the death of his father there's nothing keeping him there. As Jem concludes, “... it’s because he wants to stay inside” (Lee 304). Why? As Jem is starting to understand, there is evil in the word. Boo’s naive thoughts let him see the immorality that others have become insensitive to, even as an adult. This is why he still stays inside all the

time.
Boo Radley is a prominent foil character in the novel.

Scout’s ideas of him reflect her maturity as she grows throughout the novel. At the beginning of the novel, he is imagined as six and a half feet tall with bloodstained hands from the animals he caught before eating raw. He also had a jagged scar that ran across his face, the few teeth he had were rotten, and his eyes popped. Then, after trials and triumphs, tears and laughter, Scout sees him as he really is; a gaunt, timid figure; the complete opposite of the monster she had imagined. Her mental picture of Boo shows how she develops throughout the course of the

novel.
Boo is an important “mockingbird” in the novel. Someone who doesn’t harm anybody, but helps instead; someone who is innocent. Jem and Scout become his friends, and in turn, he saves their lives.
Arthur “Boo” Radley is sometimes overlooked in To Kill a Mockingbird because he is only seen once in person. However, there are many important symbols attached to him.