Though i liked the book, i did not do the best on this assignment. This book really reminded me about my extended family in Iowa, except without all the rape, racism, and fraud.
BOO! He’s really not all that scary, he’s just a socially awkward 33-year-old with the mind of an 8-year-old. Though Arthur Radley, or Boo, is portrayed as an evil, psychotic albino, he is really a shy yet scared being. Boo is described as “six-and-a-half feet tall… dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, long jagged scar… what teeth he had were yellow and rotten his eyes popped…(6)” and at the same time, he is scared of the world around him. Boo was taken away from his life in Maycomb due to his wretched father, Nathan. Nathan Radley is known as in Maycomb County as “the meanest man god blew breath into.(7)”, and is the one who plugs up the hole in which Boo, Jem, and Scout were using to talk to each other. Boo isn’t as murderous as people make him out to be.
Throughout the book, there were numerous encounters of the children, the Radley house, and trying to “free” Boo Radley. The Radley house is that one house on your street where you know some strange person lives and the house that no one will go near. When Jem, Scout, and Dill were trying to stick the note inside the Radley house, Boo started reaching his hand out to touch Jem. Realizing that it was Boo reaching out to touch Jem, he started crying and then Boo’s hand retracted once he noticed that he was the one who caused Jem’s fright. As the kids ran away, Jem’s pants ripped and got caught on the fence. Later that night, when Jem went to retrieve them to make it seem like he wasn’t there that night, his pants were sewn up from the rip and neatly folded next to the gate waiting for him, showing that Boo knows the kids’ personality and has been watching their actions.
Another encounter with the kids and Boo was during the burning down of Miss Maudie’s house. While the whole town was at Miss Maudie’s house trying to tend to the fire, Scout and Jem were on the sidewalk right outside the Radley house. As Jem was calming Scout saying that it wasn’t time to worry yet, Boo came out from behind them and quietly put a blanket around them. Boo cares for the kids and wants to help no matter how “scary” he is. Scout and Jem did not even realize that this had happened but it happened regardless. Lastly, the knothole. This is the “bridge” that connects the kids to Boo. Within the knothole Boo put in items such as wrigleys chewing gum, dolls that looked just like Scout and Jem, a spelling bee medal, and some shiny indian coins. Boo is trying to show that he will give up some of his prized possessions to be friends with the kids.
Boo makes a name for himself from the time with his father and the scissors. When he was making paper-mache on a bench with his father, Nathan next to him. He stopped what he was doing and stabbed his father in the thigh and then continued to keep cutting out paper. He was about to be sentenced to jail for life but then his father gave the idea of putting Boo in their family’s house and not letting him out. The longer he stays in the house, the less human he becomes. His social skills are as developed as an 8-year-old with aspergers; Even though he was not born with the disease, being inside the house for so long would result in having a difficult time with having a normal conversation with a little eight year old girl.(which is probably the easiest person to talk to). He has become so un-human that Scout, Jem, and Dill are try to make Boo come out of the house.
"We're askin' him real politely to come out sometimes, and tell us what he does in there- we said we wouldn't hurt him and we'd buy him an ice cream." After hearing about who Boo Radley is, Dill wants nothing more than to see Boo like out of the house. Though Dill does not see him, Scout and Jem do in a moment of fear, fright, and hopelessness. While Jem and Scout are walking home one day, Bob Ewell jumps out from behind the bushes and attempts to kill the kids. Thankfully, Scout’s Halloween costume cause Bob Ewell to only trap Jem in his arms but suddenly from the shadow, someone emerges. Out from the shadows, Boo Radley comes out and stabs Bob repeatedly until he bleeds and dies. Bob Ewell may have broken Jem’s arm, but Boo saved Jem’s life. Boo picked Jem up and carried him home and put him in his room. After, Scout finally broke the moment of awkward silence, not knowing what else to say she plainly says “Hey Boo”. Once he saves Jem’s life, all he wanted to do is have Scout take him home.
Though he has the mind of an 8-year-old, he just wants to have a friend other than the scissors he cut his father with. Boo Radley is not a terrible person, he is just an insecure man who doesn’t know what to do with himself outside of his own home. He is the nicest murderous psychopath you will ever meet.