Friday, April 5, 2013

What are some quotes from To Kill A Mockingbird that show what Boo Radley's personality and appearance is? I DON'T want Jem's perspective. I need...

Scout's views about Boo change over the course of the novel. Early on, Scout believed in a lot of the false stories and myths about Boo. And most of that comes from what Jem has heard and embellished. So, initially her impression of Boo is that he is mysterious and has all the qualities of a monster. In Chapter 8, when Scout learns that Boo had placed a blanket on her shoulders when Miss Maudie's house was on fire, she notes, "My stomach turned to water and I nearly threw up when Jem held out the blanket and crept toward me." 

By Chapter 11, Scout says that tormenting Boo became passe. And in Chapter 15, Scout tells Dill that it would be better not to bother him. "I said I didn’t think it’d be nice to bother him, and spent the rest of the afternoon filling Dill in on last winter’s events. He was considerably impressed." 


In Chapter 19, when Tom Robinson is being questioned about Mayella, Scout considers how she and Boo are lonely: 



As Tom Robinson gave his testimony, it came to me that Mayella Ewell must have been the loneliest person in the world. She was even lonelier than Boo Radley, who had not been out of the house in twenty-five years. When Atticus asked had she any friends, she seemed not to know what he meant, then she thought he was making fun of her. 



We see a progression with how Scout views Boo. She moves from morbid curiosity to repulsion to tolerance to sympathy. In the last chapter, Scout even feels guilty for how they had treated Boo: 



Neighbors bring food with death and flowers with sickness and little things in between. Boo was our neighbor. He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a pair of good-luck pennies, and our lives. But neighbors give in return. We never put back into the tree what we took out of it: we had given him nothing, and it made me sad. 



Standing on Boo's porch, Scout actually sees the street from Boo's perspective. This is a poetic way to show how Scout has finally come to consider Boo's feelings and how he sees the world. 

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