Character Analysis Arthur Radley

Envision a house that “was once white” but now “darkened to the color of the slate-gray yard around it” with “rain-rotted shingles” and “oak trees that kept the sun away”(Lee, 10). This might not sound like a place that a generous and caring man would live in, but in To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, a mysterious and important character, Arthur “Boo” Radley, is the most significant source of pure kindness and endearment in the entire novel. Arthur Radley is the phantom of a small 1930 Alabama town known as Maycomb in which the book is set in. The town has created a reputation and backstory for him that includes stalking people at night while looking through windows and eating raw squirrels. Not to mention he has become the scapegoat for …show more content…
Towards the end of the novel Scout herself states, “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” (Lee, 373). Mr. Radley gives the children not only little objects such as the pennies and a watch but also something as important as their lives. They received gifts that are both physical objects and gifts that are more abstract. Not to mention the children are provided with a mystery that keeps them intrigued throughout the entire novel. Arthur contradicts the name Maycomb gave him by being more than just a man who stays inside and creeps around at night. He never seeks or asks for a payment of any sort in return, but does it out of the goodness in his heart because he cares about Jem and Scout. His strong feelings towards Jem and Scout shows that he does have a kind heart no matter what the town says about him. It would not be likely for a man who keeps to himself inside a worn down house to be the savior of these kids during an attack, but Mr. Radley defies the odds and normal expectations in order to protect what he feels is most important. There would be no reason for Mr. Radley to try and save Jem and Scout or let alone put himself at risk if he did not value Jem or Scout. Therefore since he has gone this far Jem and Scout could be considered to be his own children. Arthur “Boo” Radley is far more than what is perceived at an initial glance and without him the two main characters, Jem and Scout, would not be alive and would never have felt his warmth and protection. Mr. Radley in an essence is the blanket that was placed on Scout’s shoulders during a time of