Discuss the role played by Boo
It was Atticus Finch who said, "It's not okay to hate anybody." (p271) In Harper Lee's Novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, the main issue that is dealt with is of people blindly hating and persecuting any individual or race that was different to the majority. Harper Lee tries to show the reader how life was back in the 1920's and 30's for these individuals and races. To do this she brings in two characters that play as the victims of the time: Boo Radley, and Tom Robinson. Boo Radley was an individual who spent his life purely indoors away from all human contact, because of this he was hated and persecuted. Tom Robinson was a Black Man or a "Nigger", and just simply because of this he was hated and persecuted. These two characters personify the statement that "It's a sin to kill a Mockingbird." "Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up peoples gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a Mockingbird." (p99 - 100) Tom Robinson was the main victim of the novel. Almost the entire majority was against him. And why? Because he was a Black man. " Niggers" or Negroes were the scum of the universe. Maycomb wa
Arthur (Boo) Radley, was one of the nicest but shyest characters within Maycomb. His God-fearing parents kept him confined within his own house. His parents thought it would be the best thing for him after he had started to mix with a couple of other local youths. But by the time the book is set Boo is said to be somewhere well into his thirty's and hadn't been seen for a least the last fifteen years. Because of this he had become an urban myth, and he was surely different from the majority - which gave them a reason to persecute him. Whenever bad something happened in Maycomb, it was Boo. "When peoples azaleas froze in a cold snap, it was because he had breathed on them. Any stealthy crimes committed within Maycomb were his work." (p9). s plagued with "The evil assumption - that all Negroes lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral beings (p225). The majority took any chance they had to take advantage of Tom. When Tom was in the Maycomb jail accused of rape, he was immobile, and the rape had granted them a reason to be able to take the law into their own hands. The most empathetic point of Tom Robinson's character was that his trial was a Black Man vs a White Man, and this meant that the White Man had already won by default, as the jury was under the same impressio
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Approximate Word count = 867
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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