To Kill A Mockingbird Paragraphs (1-8)

The Radley house has always held a sense of mystery for Jem and Scout, but it is only really when they meet Dill that it becomes a more important part of their everyday lives. Perhaps this is why, for Jem, the story of Tom Robinson began with Dill daring Boo Radley to come out.

But who is Boo Radley? Though in reality not very much is known about him, the children and the neighborhood gossip, Ms. Stephanie Crawford, do not hesitate to fill in the blanks. Much in the way of telling scary stories and adding mystery to the unknown, they say that “Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall…he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch…There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most of the time.” Adding further mystery to the story of Boo, the people of the town say he only comes out at night, that unexplained crimes are his doing, and that he once drove a pair of scissors into his father’s leg. Ms. Stephanie Crawford swears she saw him looking in her window at night. But this is only speculation, Boo’s true character is not known, primarily because he has never been seen. Boo is a recluse, and it is very unlikely that he is the cause of the rumors about him.

To the children he is fascinating. They dare each other to touch the Radley house, try to slip notes saying “hey” in his windows, and re-enact his life story (as told by the town and Ms. Stephanie) on their front lawn. One summer, Jem even goes to the back porch, to look in the window and flees the scene, leaving his pants caught in the barbed wire fence surrounding the Radley property. Reading, you also get the feeling that Boo Radley knows what the children are up to, and that finds it amusing. He likes the children, even though he is still Boo Radley to them, and you can tell this by him leaving them gifts in the hollowed out tree, giving Scout a blanket the night of the fire, folding and mending Jem’s pants when the get caught in the fence, or even laughing when Scout rolls into his yard on the tire and everyone freaks out because she has landed in front of the Radley house. Undoubtedly, the Radley house will continue to play an important part in the book as the story progresses.