How Does the Children's Relationship with Boo?
How does the relationship between Boo Radley and the children develop in chapters 3-11?
In the first few chapters in to kill a mockingbird, the relationship between the children and Boo is fictional. To create a relationship you need contact, and trust: The relationship between the children is based on myths and stories. These stories tell that Boo is a ‘phantom’, an animalised dangerous being who is caged by religion, and his past. However, from chapter 4, Lee starts to foreshadow that Boo is not all that he seems.
There is an oak outside the Radley place with a knot hole. And that is the place where Boo Radley leaves gifts for the children. This is one of the first indications that Boo Radley is no monster, but a child-like innocent and kind person. This is seen especially when the children find two Indian pennies which were “scrubbed up and polished”. This tells us that Boo has given the children something that he values most dearly, and he has kept and cherished for a long time. Jem recalls that Indians heads are full of old magic, and bring good luck and health to the person that beholds them. By Boo giving these to the children it tells us that that is what Boo wishes the children to have, and that he cares for them, even to the extent of how a parent cares for their child. This event is what gets Jem thinking, and wondering about the Radley’s – “he looked for a long time at the Radley place. He seemed to be thinking again” and whether to it is actually someone leaving their possessions there as they originally thought, but whether it is Boo leaving the gifts in the knot hole for the children to have. It also shows the divide between the children. Jem is starting to grow up, and beginning to understand who is leaving the gifts, whereas Scout is still young and she still sees things in a child-like manner, and does not understand that the stories might not be true, and that Boo could be a kind, caring person despite the myths and stories which are
In the first few chapters in to kill a mockingbird, the relationship between the children and Boo is fictional. To create a relationship you need contact, and trust: The relationship between the children is based on myths and stories. These stories tell that Boo is a ‘phantom’, an animalised dangerous being who is caged by religion, and his past. However, from chapter 4, Lee starts to foreshadow that Boo is not all that he seems.
There is an oak outside the Radley place with a knot hole. And that is the place where Boo Radley leaves gifts for the children. This is one of the first indications that Boo Radley is no monster, but a child-like innocent and kind person. This is seen especially when the children find two Indian pennies which were “scrubbed up and polished”. This tells us that Boo has given the children something that he values most dearly, and he has kept and cherished for a long time. Jem recalls that Indians heads are full of old magic, and bring good luck and health to the person that beholds them. By Boo giving these to the children it tells us that that is what Boo wishes the children to have, and that he cares for them, even to the extent of how a parent cares for their child. This event is what gets Jem thinking, and wondering about the Radley’s – “he looked for a long time at the Radley place. He seemed to be thinking again” and whether to it is actually someone leaving their possessions there as they originally thought, but whether it is Boo leaving the gifts in the knot hole for the children to have. It also shows the divide between the children. Jem is starting to grow up, and beginning to understand who is leaving the gifts, whereas Scout is still young and she still sees things in a child-like manner, and does not understand that the stories might not be true, and that Boo could be a kind, caring person despite the myths and stories which are