Boo Radley Discrimination

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Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel about two young siblings, Scout and Jem, who are growing up in the 1930’s in Maycomb County. The novel is about how Scout and Jem face the various kinds of discrimination that exist in Maycomb. The story starts with the arrival of the adventurous Dill Harris, who then comes up with the idea of getting their unseen neighbour, Boo Radley, to come out of his house. Together, they come up with many ways to get in contact with Boo. Meanwhile, Scout’s father Atticus Finch, has decided to defend Tom Robinson, a black man who is accused of raping a white woman, Mayella Ewell. Lee’s novel is a story of how two children, Scout and Jem, grow up and start to learn and understand the world in adult ways. There…show more content…
Boo Radley is also gossiped about throughout the town, especially by a lady named Miss Stephanie Crawford. Jem tells Dill “Miss Stephanie Crawford said she once woke up in the middle of the night one time and saw him looking straight through the window at her …said his head was like a skull lookin’ at her” (Lee 16). What Miss Stephanie Crawford said goes to show how the people of Maycomb think of Boo as a pervert, monster and outcast hence, making Boo stand out negatively in the town and become the center of gossip and attention. Finally, Boo Radley is the most important character in the novel because he is the one who starts the action and the plot of the story. The action began when Dill came to Maycomb and came up with the idea of getting in touch with Boo Radley. Dill says to Jem and Scout, “Let’s try to make him come out. I want to see what he looks like” (Lee 16). This quote from Dill is not only what started the journey of trying to meet Boo Radley, but it started the action and the plot of the story. Without Boo Radley, there wouldn’t be any story or action in the children’s lives. The kids start playing games and spend lots of their summer time plotting and planning ways to get the mysterious Boo to come out. An example of how Boo Radley is the cause of the action and suspense in the story is when Jem, Scout, and Dill sneaked into the Radley backyard to try to get a glimpse of him. Scout said, “Dill and Jem were simply going to peep in the window with the loose shutter to see if they could get a look at Boo Radley” (Lee 68). Although their plan didn’t work out and they almost got shot by Nathan Radley, this goes to show that because of Boo Radley the story had action and suspense in it which makes Boo Radley a very important character in the novel. Therefore, Boo Radley is the most important character in Lee’s novel because he is of great importance to the kids, he stands out from the rest of the people in Maycomb, and lastly,
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