Boo Radley Character Analysis

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Boo Radley has been treated like a criminal in Maycomb for a long time. In the end of the novel, Scout realizes that the town has been wrong. The town perceives him to be a crazy and dangerous man, although the fact is that Boo is just a recluse who prefers to be alone. When Scout realizes this, she starts to treat him like everyone else, and shows him by saying, “You can pet him Mr. Arthur, he's asleep...Boo's hand came down lightly on Jem's hair...I led him to the front porch, where his uneasy steps halted...” (Lee 278). When Lee writes the words 'hovered', 'lightly', and 'uneasy', she illustrates that Boo is an example of innocence, who has been bedeviled by their town for so long, that he feels reticent and uneasy in public. Scout tries to revive Boo emotionally, by walking with him to his house, and thinks back to what Boo has done for her, “Boo was our neighbor. He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a pair of good lucky pennies, and our life...we had given him nothing, and it made me sad” (Lee 278). Harper Lee specifically uses the words 'nothing' to emphasize how guilty and disappointed Scout is feeling, since Boo has been very generous in the past, and has gotten nothing in return. The fact that everybody has been harming him emotionally, even though he has done nothing to deserve it, leaves Scout feeling sympathetic. Boo has been put out to be a crazy and horrible man for so long, the town doesn't recognize him as a human being anymore. Boo Radley represents a mockingbird because he has always been harmless and innocent, however, the town persecutes him, making him an undeserving victim of the town's injustice.
Tom Robinson is an African American man who is accused of rape and is sentenced to many years i...

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...e doesn't yet understand the world's prejudiced attribute. The word 'any' is used to make the audience feel Jem's confidence, because he has so much faith, that he almost believes that it is impossible to lose this trial. However, when the jury comes out with their conclusion, Jem loses faith in humanity, “I peeked at Jem: his hands were white from gripping the balcony rail, and his shoulders jerked as if each 'guilty' was a separate stab between them” (Lee 211). The author uses the word 'gripping' because she is accenting his anxiousness, and it is as if he is gripping to the last of his faith in the people of Maycomb and the last of his innocence. Lee's words creates an image inside the audience's head, where they can see Jem's hurt face and his innocence fading away. Jem is a mockingbird because after experiencing the trial, his innocence was taken away from him.

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