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To Kill a Mockingbird: Boo Radley 119868 Views


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Description:

Is Boo Radley the quintessential creep? Or, is he just isolated and misunderstood, hiding himself away to avoid people's judgment? You decide. He just doesn't belong heeeeeereeeeeee...

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:01

To kill or not to kill, To Kill a Mockingbird. We’ve all had our fair share of creepy neighbors.

00:09

Even our favorite fictional families have creepy neighbors. Take Herbert from Family

00:13

Guy. On a scale of one to creep, this guy is the mayor of Creeptown, USA.

00:19

But one creepy neighbor stands above them all: Boo Radley.

00:22

Boo NEVER comes out of his house. And according to Jem, he’s six and a half

00:27

feet tall. And he has a long, jagged scar across his

00:30

face and rotten, yellow teeth. And Jem says that he spends the better part

00:34

of his days drooling and feasting on squirrels and cats.

00:37

When it walks like a creep, talks like a creep, and acts like a creep, it is a creep. So Boo

00:43

Radley is officially a creep. Or is he? Maybe these are just our perceptions

00:50

of Boo. There are those who perceive Boo Radley as

00:53

a saint. After all, it was Boo who mended a meddling

00:56

Jem’s pants. And it was Boo who protected Scout from getting

00:59

a chill when Miss Maudie’s house burned down.

01:02

And it was Boo who communicated with Jem and Scout by leaving thoughtful gifts in the knothole.

01:06

And yep, you guessed it - it was our old pal Boo who risked life and limb to protect Jem

01:12

from Bob Ewell’s attack. So which is it?

01:14

Is Boo a creeper? Or is Boo a saint?

01:18

It may be all about perspective. Boo Radley is creepy only because we don’t

01:21

really know him. And depending on how you look at someone,

01:24

they can either be super creepy or super sweet. So if Boo is such a fabulous dude, why doesn’t

01:30

he just hang out and let everyone get to know him?

01:33

It’s hard to say, really. Maybe Boo is afraid of how people will treat

01:36

him… Or he’s afraid that people will judge him.

01:39

Or maybe Jem is right… No, not that Jem.

01:42

There you go… Maybe Boo stays inside because he WANTS to

01:46

stay inside. Perhaps after all the years of gossip, scrutiny,

01:49

and ridicule, Boo just doesn’t want be known. But this begs the question: Can you still

01:54

be human without being part of a community? Boo Radley: he’s an enigma, wrapped in a

01:59

mystery, tucked into phyllo dough, and then stuffed with spinach.

02:03

But he ain’t no creeper. He’s just misunderstood.

02:06

And yes, there’s an important lesson to be learned from all of this.

02:08

You can’t judge a book by its cover. Because after all, wasn’t Harper Lee a little

02:13

like Boo? Aren’t we ALL a little like Boo?

02:17

Shmoop amongst yourselves…

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