Boo S Real Name Is Arthur Radley. As a Boy, Boo Fell in with the Wrong Crowd; After Some

Boo Radley

Boo’s real name is Arthur Radley. As a boy, Boo fell in with the wrong crowd; after some minor misdemeanours he was going to be sent away to the industrial school. His father saw this as bringing shame on the family, and instead of sending him away, kept him locked up at home. Since his father passed away he has been in the care of his older brother Nathan. Nathan is as strict and unfriendly as their father was. No one has seen Boo for 15 years.

Because Boo never came out of the house, stories and rumours sprang up around him; he was described as a “malevolent phantom…. Any stealthy small crimes committed in Maycomb were his work.” (p 14)

Jem described Boo as “about six-and-a-half feet tall… dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch…. There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most of the time.” (p 19)

Miss Maudie presents a more reasonable picture of Boo; she insists that Scout call him Arthur, and says that the Radley house is “a sad house”. She says Boo “always spoke nicely to me… as nicely as he knew how.” (p. 51)

Later we have evidence of Boo watching over the children and doing his best to help them. Jem gets his pants caught in the fence sneaking around the Radley house one night, trying to get a look at Boo. When he goes back to get them, he finds them “folded across the fence…. They’d been sewed up. Not like a lady sewed ‘em, like something I’d try to do.” (p. 64)

The children are left mystery gifts in the tree outside the Radley place; chewing gum, dolls carved out of soap, twine, a pocket-watch that wouldn’t go, a spelling medal, a small coin… this comes to an end when Mr. Nathan Radley fills in the knot-hole with cement. Jem spends the day “deep in thought” and Scout relates “When we went in the house I saw he had been crying; his face was dirty in the right places”. (p 68-69) Perhaps Jem had guessed the truth.

More evidence of Boo’s shyness and generosity is seen when Miss Maudie’s house burns down. It is a freezing winter night, and the children are standing outside. It isn’t until Atticus asks “Whose blanket is that?” that Scout realises someone has put a blanket over her shoulders without her even noticing. (p 77)

Jem then reveals everything to Atticus; the gifts, the mended pants, all his suspicions. Atticus merely responds “We’d better keep this and the blanket to ourselves.” He doesn’t want to make Boo into the talk of the town; he respects his privacy. (p 78)

These events show us the gradual change in the children’s attitude to Boo. The next time Boo plays a major role in the novel is not until the end. Through this series of events and conversations, Boo is presented as a shy and misunderstood character. He is generous, shown in his small gifts and acts of kindness. He is also childlike, shown in his choice of gifts to the children – things of little but sentimental value, a child’s treasures.

The story of Boo is also a way of showing how Jem is changing and maturing during the course of the novel. At the beginning, he participates in spreading rumours about Boo, telling Dill everything he’s heard in grapic detail. He also persists in trying to “make Boo come out”, simply for his own curiousity and amusement. However, he gradually realises that Boo is a real person, with feelings; he learns to empathise with him, shown in his emotional outburst after he thinks Atticus might be angry with him. Jem has gone from a thoughtless and self-centred child to showing signs of becoming a caring and responsible young man.