Boo Radley

At the beginning of the book, the protagonists' family background is described. Scout, her older brother Jem and their father Atticus live in a town named Maycomb in the Southern U.S. Their friend Dill comes in the summer. The life there is slow and joyful.

A strange person named Boo Radley also lives in the town. Few people have ever seen him, but horrible miseries about him have widely spread. The children are curious about him. They tried to open his door and make him comes out, but nothing happened. Boo is surely a key character in the story, because the writer renders a mysterious atmosphere around him at an early stage. The children are going to uncover his real life, but how to do that remains unknown.

I assume that Boo Radley may
have a tragic childhood and thus discriminated by other residents in the town. Boo's parents and brother also behave strangely from years ago. Boo once hurt his father and refused to go to an asylum. However, all descriptions about Boo are rumors from the residents. Their accuracy is doubtful.

Boo is a white person rather than a black person, according to some introduction to the book. It is hard to explain that both white and black people are afraid of him. The story takes place after the Civil War, but the conflict between white and black people still exists. The writer emphasizes that the protagonists are Southerners. They may live where the conflict is deeper than that in the North.

The children's opinion towards their ancestors interests me especially. Many American families originate from England. Such history becomes an honor for them. However, in modern China, the honor of ancestors is generally outdated and hardly felt around me.