At first, the children both believe that Boo is a terrible monster and a prisoner within his own home. They, along with the entire town of Maycomb, believe he is a psychotic anger-filled maniac. The town even came up with rumors about him saying he stabbed his own father with scissors. The obsession with “Boo” begins when a young boy named Dill moves in with his Aunt who lives by Jem and Scout. Dill meets Jem and Scout resulting in Dill’s curiosity of meeting Boo Radley. That summer began the race to finally see Boo. At this time in the book the children describe Boo as a rodent-eating, drooling, ugly, tall, monster, hence the name “Boo”. They believed that everything about Boo and his house is haunted and would kill you. The children come up with different schemes to get Boo out of the house, but they all seem to fail. They continue to think of Boo this way until Boo starts to actually interact with the children.
The transition of how Jem and Scout view Boo seems to happens quite rapidly, but actually takes a while for the children to realize Boo’s true personality. As Boo begins to leave gifts in the hole of a tree near the Radley house for them the children, starting with Jem, begin to