Topic > Who's Afraid of Boo Radley: 'To Kill a Mockingbird'

Over the course of the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout's feelings and notions about Arthur "Boo" Radley change from her initial preconceived impression that he was a monster, to accepting Boo as a person and empathizing with his perspective of the world. Early on, Scout fell victim to the neighborhood legend that Boo was some kind of strange, evil ghost. Later, Scout rejects her depiction of Boo when she discovers that most of the voices were products of the imagination. As a result, his feelings are altered and he gradually begins to not fear Boo. Toward the end of the novel, when Scout had matured, he accepted Boo as a person, shed his childhood prejudices, and treated Boo like a friend he had known for years. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Scout is deeply influenced by the legend that there was a ghostly menace named Boo Radley who plagued her neighborhood. Such rumors, spread by gossipy neighbors, caused Scout distress and caused her to fear Boo. As Scout mentioned, “…the simple description of who was enough to make us behave for days on end” (Lee, 7), shows how intensely she was affected. From this we can understand that even if he has never interacted with Boo, he has built a partisan attitude towards him in which he avoids everything that has to do with him. In this regard, it is easy to see how Scout is negatively affected by fictional stories about Boo. This constant anguish also affects his daily decisions. For example, when Scout was released from school, “…she ran to Radley Place as fast as she could…” (Lee, 44). Here we see how her superstition-derived opinions about Boo Radley scare her so much, that she feels the need to run past the Radley house to have a sense of safety from the supposed "dangers" of Radley Place. Thus, the rumors about Boo Radley unfairly influence Scout's opinion and feelings, in ways that sometimes influence her daily decisions. Midway through the novel, Scout's fears about Boo slowly disappear while her interest in him remains unchanged. Scout's curiosity leads her to Miss Maudie to discuss her thoughts on Boo. One afternoon, Scout asks Miss Maudie, "... do you think Boo Radley is still alive?" (Lee, 57). Clearly it can be said that Scout wanted to confirm her doubts about Boo's rumors with Miss Maudie. From this we can also deduce that she wants to be able to communicate and connect with Boo by mentally denying the stories about him. As the novel progressed, Scout's terror of Boo Radley slowly faded, but she still remained intrigued by the idea of ​​meeting him one day. An example of this was when Scout states, “…Boo Radley was the least of our fears” (Lee, 326). From that comment, it was a clear sign that Scout was losing her prejudices towards Boo. He had no need to fear Boo Radley as most of the rumors were the product of neighborhood superstition. Scout's curiosity about Boo led her to learn that the neighborhood rumors were all speculative fiction. This realization eventually caused her to lose her fear of Boo Radley and have neutral feelings towards him. During the final chapters, Boo finally becomes human to Scout when he saves Jem and Scout from Bob Ewell. That mysterious figure, about which she had heard so many legends describe him as a supernatural monster, was next to her. When she had accompanied Boo to the porch, “…she found it amazing that he was sitting next to me [her]…” (Lee, 371). Since it had been a legend that had scared her.