To Kill a Mockingbird - The characters Boo Radley and Tom Robinson - innocent, heartless, yet persecuted

To Kill A Mockingbird - Essay

The topic concerns Boo Radley and Tom Robinson, who are said to be

mockingbird figures. A mockingbird in the film, is a bird that sings its

heart out, is innocent and harmless, yet persecuted. Boo Radley and

Tom Robinson are similar to this, and this is portrayed throughout the

film in many ways.

Through the eyes of Scout and Jem, Boo Radley is an intellectually and

physically disabled person, who is scary, stays inside his home and is

never seen.

Tom Robinson is a black man who lives on the city limits border. He is

accused of raping Mayella Ewell and taken to court for trial. But even

though it was her father, Bob Ewell, who raped her, Tom Robinson had

the perfect defence, but still lost his case, was charged guilty and sent

away. All for one sole reason, because he was a black person.

But both these characters have something in common. They have been

judged wrongly and treated unfairly because of their outer appearances.

For example, Boo Radley was the mystery neighbour, and Scout and

Jem played jokes on him, and Tom Robinson was downgraded and

unaccepted in society. But the thing is, these two are just as human as

anyone else in this world. They have emotions, they feel sad and happy,

and they get hurt as well. Both are judged inconsiderably due to their

outside appearance, but what about inside character? That is probably

the most important aspect of a person.

Boo Radley was finally understood at the end of the film. He spoke to

Atticus and gave the children gifts, as a sign of cheering them up,

because their father lost the case. From then on, the children were

friendly to Boo Radley.

Tom Robinson though, ended up getting taken away and he tried to

escape, which led to his death.

The irony of this film is the friendly and peaceful personality shown from

the once phantomous and mysterious character, Boo Radley, and the

consequences of Tom Robinson. Even though his defence was perfect,

and it seemed that he had won, he lost.

The main message shown from this film is that most people are really

nice when you get to know them. This is very true, and sometimes, the

nicest people aren't always the ones with the best appearances. Take

for example Quasimodo, from The Hunchback of Notre Damè. He

looked horrific and frightening in appearance, but as he was understood

more, he turned out to be a person who was very caring and

considerate of others.

Fianally, all I can say is, don't trust to outside appearances, trust inward

character instead.