The Real Boo Radley

To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, is a courageous tale of leadership and gallantry. This book voices the story of a young girl, Scout, and the town of Maycomb. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird there are numerous quotes to which you should bring to your attention. By far, the most important quote describes what Boo Radley experienced all those years he was locked away in his house, “A boy trotted down the sidewalk dragging a fishing pole beside 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 drama of their own invention.…. 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, and apprehensive. Winter, and his children shivered at the front gate, silhouetted against a blazing house…. Summer, and he watched his children’s heart break. Autumn again, and Boo’s children needed him. Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough” (Lee 236-237). All those years he has watched as Scout and Jem grew up. All those years he imagined they were his own. Characterization is significant for the reason that Scout realized Boo Radley isn’t the irrational murderer, he is portrayed to be; he is pleasant and generally cares for the children.
Scout recognized who Boo really was, and she recognized the affection and reinforcement he had given Jem and her over the years. She saw that he observed their experiences, their hardships, the summer heartbreaks, and watched them mature through the years of their lives. Jem rolls Scout down the s...

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...acterizes him as a disturbing man, and at the end of the book he is a sympathetic person he has been all along. Then they finally see him for who he really is. Throughout Scout’s childhood, she had to undergo much more than a child her age would have to deal with, yet she never knew there was always one person there for her even when she didn’t notice him; Boo Radley. In society we have all these stereotypes that are supposed to represent us, and tell us who we are supposed to be. Yet, the only person who can tell us who we are is ourselves. What I’m trying to say is just because people see you as this specific label it doesn’t define who you are as a person. That’s what Scout realizes at the end of the book; that Boo wasn’t really who he was characterized as by the town of Maycomb, and now she knows the real struggles of life that many people have to go through.