To Kill a Mockingbird Group

Question:

xoursweet
xoursweet
Student
High School - 9th Grade

In To Kill a Mockingbird, how does Scout conclude that Boo chooses to stay indoors?

Rate question:

Posted by xoursweet on Thursday April 16, 2009 at 7:45 PM and tagged with boo, characters, scout.

Answers:

  1. mshurn
    mshurn Teacher
    College - Freshman

    eNotes Editor

    Dill and Jem, on separate occasions, offer Scout ideas as to why Boo stays inside the Radley house. At the conclusion of Chapter 14, Scout asks Dill why Boo has never run away. Dill says, "Maybe he doesn't have anywhere to run off to . . . ."

    Later, at the end of Chapter 23, Jem talks to Scout about Boo's behavior. This occurs after Jem has observed first hand the racial hatred in Maycomb and the injustice of Tom Robinson's trial and conviction. When Scout says she thinks that "there's just one kind of folks," Jem replies:

    If there's just one kind of folks, why can't they get along with each other? If they're all alike, why do they go out of their way to despise each other? Scout, I think I'm beginning to understand something. I think I'm beginning to understand why Boo Radley's stayed shut up in the house all this time . . . it's because he wants to stay inside.

    By the end of the novel, Scout has grown up enough to realize that both Dill and Jem were right.

     

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/mockingbird/chapter-14-summary-anal...
    http://www.enotes.com/mockingbird/chapter-23-summary-anal...
    http://www.enotes.com/mockingbird/characters

    Rate answer:

    Posted by mshurn on Thursday April 16, 2009 at 9:36 PM