Boo Radley

In Harper Lee's novel To Kill A Mockingbird, Boo Radley is a marginalized figure. In a book filled with memorable dialogue and conversation, he is the only central figure who never speaks for himself in the text. Because To Kill A Mockingbird describes social existence in a small town, Boo's status as one who does not openly participate in this social existence is responsible for his marginalization. But I hope to demonstrate that Boo is central to Harper Lee's message in the novel: it becomes clear by the end that Boo, no less than Tom Robinson, is meant to be understood in terms of the statement which gives the book its title: "it's a sin to kill a mockingbird" (page 119). The children's idea of Boo basically takes the trajectory of everything that we would define as prejudice: as a result, the story of Boo Radley is a...
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