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Harper Lee makes use of the children’s changing perception of Boo Radley to bring the two parts of the novel together, establishing the overall theme of “coming of age.” In the first part of the novel, Jem and Scout gullibly trust wild neighborhood gossip about Boo, believing him to be a vicious lunatic, who stabbed his own father with scissors and “dined on raw squirrels” (14). Not only are the children terrified of Boo, but they are also fascinated with the thrill and suspense his mysterious lifestyle holds, driving them to enact plays that depict him as a dangerous monster. Their childhood innocence keeps them in their own world of fantasy, where they enjoy the thrill of games that revolve around Boo, for instance, being dared to “go up and touch the house” (15). However, as the plot unfolds, the children’s perspective of Boo gradually changes from one of fear to one of compassion and sympathy, as they are forced to face the reality of their harsh world. When the tree hole in which Boo would place small gifts for them is suddenly filled with cement, Jem and Scout immediately become suspicious, prompting them to discover more about Boo’s past. Having gotten in trouble with the police in his adolescence, Boo Radley was locked up in his house by his cruel father, which inspired many false rumors about him in society. However, Boo makes his first attempt at communicating with the outside world after fifteen years through the tree hole, which the children discover is filled by Mr. Nathan Radley. When questioned about his motive behind filling the tree hole, Mr. Radley proclaims that the “tree’s dying,” despite the fact that “it ain’t even sick” (71). The discovery of Boo’s tragic imprisonment sets the children’s transition from innocence to maturity in motion as they become aware of a real danger in the world they live in and sympathize with Boo for having suffered so much in his life. Throughout Part One of the novel, Boo shows other acts of kindness that make him seem less of a monster and more like a friend to the children; whether it be draping a blanket on Scout to protect her from the cold when Mrs. Maudie’s house catches fire or mending Jem’s pants so he wouldn’t get in trouble, Boo establishes himself as a shy, caring, and compassionate man in the children’s eyes.
However, the major turning point in the children’s perspective of Boo occurs in Part Two of the novel. When faced with the harsh reality of Tom Robinson’s trial, Jem and Scout drastically lose their childhood innocence. In Part One of the novels, the children had a clear idea of what they believed to be good and evil: in their minds, Atticus and the citizens of Maycomb were the embodiment of goodness, while Boo Radley represented evil. However, with Tom Robinson’s trial, the children begin to view their fascination with the mystery of Boo Radley as a symbol of their childhood, or in Scout’s own words, “tormenting Boo Radley became passé” (114). Introduced to the evil institution of prejudice, the children’s understanding of human nature changes drastically, as they become aware of the coexistence of good and evil within every individual. When Boo Radley saves Jem and Scout from being killed by Bob Ewell, the children’s transformation into mature near-adults is catalyzed as they finally view Boo as a human, not an “unknown entity” (7). When Scout sees Boo for the first time, she describes how “his lips parted in a timid smile and my neighbor’s image blurred” (310). Initially viewing Boo as a mysterious, creepy figure in Part One, Scout’s clear recognition of Boo as a real person showcases her moral development. Upon his request to be taken home, Scout leads Boo to Radley Place, acknowledging how “Boo gave us...our lives...but...we had given him nothing” (320). By stopping to view the world from Boo’s perspective, Scout demonstrates Atticus’s grown-up “trick” of getting to know a man by “standing in his shoes and walk[ing] around in them” (321). “Just standing on the Radley porch was enough” (321) for Scout to identify the pure goodness within Boo, marking her transition to maturity. Thus, Harper Lee connects the two parts of the novel through the change in Scout and Jem’s perspective of Boo Radley from a vicious, insane monster to a moral human being who has suffered due to no fault of his own; their moral development from innocent children to compassionate adults is captured in their newly-acquired, mature perception of Boo, establishing the overall theme “coming-of-age.”
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