To Kill a Mockingbird

My second favorite character in To Kill a Mockingbird is Boo Radley. He is, in the beginning of the book, a kind of sinister enigma, someone unreal and strange to the kiddies. However, as the book progresses, you begin to realize Boo Radley's true character.

Throughout the book, he leaves Jem and Scout presents. This is (assuming he's not trying to lure the kids in or something else equally creepy) a really sweet gesture. Mending Jem's pants was kind of kindly as well.  Throughout the book, Scout begins to recognize him more and more as a real and complex person. This gradual build- up is significant, I think, and it displays how you can judge someone by their cover (or creepy house and vampire- like tendencies.)  When he saves the two youngsters from Bob Ewell, he asserts his position as an inherently good person. Even through all the awful stuff that's been thrown at him, he's nice to the naïve little kidlings.

Boo Radley's character is closely tied to the name of the book. A mockingbird is a symbol of innocence, and, therefore, killing one is destroying it. This, along with the ideas of bad and good, are some major themes of the book. (I think that this is why the book is so popular with schools and such-- bad and good are such juicy, philosophical ideas that sound intelligent and would probably be easy to write a lesson plan about). Anyway, Boo Radley is one of the "mockingbirds" in the book. He had a shizzy childhood, what with his father really pretty much destroying him emotionally while he was just a smart little boy, and as a result, has a pretty messed- up personality. Understandable! What really wows me about Boo, though, is that even though he's the mockingbird; his innocence destroyed, he still acts as though he's innocent. He's so strong that through everything he's paddled 'round, he's a pretty great guy.

But this is getting back into the whole internally good vs. bad thing, which I suppose is what the book's about anyway, so it's unavoidable. Boo Radley, like Jem and Scout, are good mockingbirds. I would think that most bad/ evil/misunderstood people in the world are like fallen mockingbirds. Being exposed to evil can force you to grow up, like it did to Scout and Jem, but it also can shape you in other ways, like Boo Radley. If you believe that nurture has at least a significant role in your personality, you may go with this theory-- that if you're exposed to many bad things they'll make you old and wise, screwed up and lost, or evil and prejudiced.

Boo Radley is so particularly spiffy and spicy because he is very screwed up and lost, but also good and kind of world- weary. He was forced to grow up too, probably about 50 years earlier than most people do, and it made him a hermit. Boo Radley is sympathetic throughout most of the book, to you if not the characters. The whole time while reading the book for me, I kept getting frustrated at Scout and Jem because of their initial shallowness and how very unfair they were to dear Boo.