Boo Radley's Transformation In To Kill A Mockingbird

Scout Finch starts the story, To Kill a Mockingbird, as a young and immature 6 year old, who doesn’t know the world beyond the streets of Maycomb. As the story progresses, it is easy to see her grow and mature, and look at the world with a whole new approach, through her perception of Boo Radley.

In the beginning of the story, Scout is introduced to the character of Boo Radley from the rumors and gossip that her brother, Jem tells her. He tells her, “Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that’s why his hands were bloodstained-if you ate an animal raw, you could never wash the blood off. There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped,and he drooled most of the time”

(Lee 16). Scout now believes this man is a horrible monster, and seems to know a lot about his life now, despite never actually meeting him. She thinks he is a weird, dirty, and scary person who never comes out of his house, all from Jem’s description of Boo.
This shows Scout’s immaturity and innocence in her personality. Instead of actually getting to know the person for herself, she judges him based on what someone else said. She doesn’t know any better but to believe every word that comes out of Jem’s mouth. The thought never seems to cross her mind that maybe that is just neighborhood gossip, and none of that is true about Boo Radley at all. She’s very gullible to believe that a man looks like that, and does all of those horrible things.
Scout then becomes very infatuated with Boo.

She finds it so interesting that he rarely leaves his house and is so mysterious. She becomes slightly obsessed by going up to his house, and making a snowman of him with Jem. It says, “Jem threw open the gate and sped to the side of the house, slapped it with his palm and ran back past us, not waiting to see if his foray was successful.”(Lee 18). Before this happened, they were talking about how Boo was gonna kill them, then ran up to the side of his house just to touch it. This is a very disrespectful thing to do to a person. Scout does not view Boo Radley as a human being, but as a monster. When she sees Boo getting treated bad, by calling him names and saying the horrible things he will do, she doesn’t stop it or think differently. This shows that she doesn’t have sympathy for this poor man. Because of the false rumors, Scout thinks it’s okay to run up to somebody’s property like that, and make them feel like a freak. This shows she is still immature, and doesn’t know the values of a human life yet. Until someone has given a reason not to, they should be treated with respect. Scout has not learned that

yet.
Without being directly stated, Scout starts to mature and develop with how she views Boo later in the story. After meeting Boo, Atticus tells Scout, “you never really know a man until you stand in his shows and walk around in them” (Lee 374). Scout begins to realize from Atticus, that Boo isn’t weird at all for staying cooped up inside all day, he chooses to. The world is a nasty, judgemental place, and Boo doesn’t want to be judged for being himself, so he'd rather stay secluded from the world. This is where Scout realizes that she had been wrong for judging him in the beginning. She learns that there is more on the inside to people. This shows how Scout has matured since the beginning of the book. She learns that she has been the nasty part of the world that Boo stays inside for. She realizes it was wrong to judge and believe those horrible things about him, because she really does not know him. Scout begins to reveal a new understanding for people. Her thoughts and ideas have developed as she learned more about Boo. She learns that Boo is just another person just like her, and shows sympathy for him. She develops this sympathy over the story. She knows it was wrong to torment Boo, and gains a new understanding for him and for people in general. She finally lets go of her childhood fear of him, as she realizes it was all made up, and she really has nothing to fear of.
It is clear to see that she has truly grown and developed when she says, “The Radley place had ceased to terrify me” (Lee 324). She was letting go of that judgement towards Boo, and even showed immense respect and maturity when she started calling him by his real name, Arthur.
Throughout the story, you call see Scout grow and develop through her perception of Boo Radley. She learns new values and gains new morals, and even begins to like Boo, who she had really feared in the beginning. She used to be young and immature, believing every rumor about the “terrifying” Boo Radley. As she gets to know Boo, and why he stays inside most of his time, she begins to show empathy towards him, and takes a liking towards him. She has gained many traits and has become more mature, thanks to Boo Radley. She has grown from this experience, and looks at the world in a different way. She knows not to judge, and why the world is the way it is.