Changing perceptions of Boo Radley

Boo Radley was known as a creep, who never wanted to come out of his house. However, starting from chapter 4 to 8, there were a lot of clues that changed our perceptions of Boo Radley.

"I pulled out two small images carved in soap. One was the figure of a boy, the other wore a crude dress... They were almost perfect miniatures of two children. They boy had on shorts, and a shock of soapy hair fell to his eyebrows. I looked up at Jem. A point of straight brown hair kicked downwards from his part. I had never noticed it before.

Jem looked from the girl-doll to me. The girl-doll wore bangs. So did I.

"These are us," he said." (pp. 59-60)

This is a part when Jem and Scout found two miniatures of themselves in an oak tree. In the tree, there had been a box of chewing gum, and all sorts of things for Jem and Scout. Also, when Jem was going to Radley's lot to get his pants back, his pants were sewed just like how he'd sew. I believe that Boo Radley had been watching them, Jem, Scout and Dill, and he was interested in them. How would anybody know what Jem was wearing, and what Scout was wearing? Plus, the carved figures were carved in soap. That could also mean that the person who carved those things couldn't use wooden blocks- which means they couldn't go outside. So these things made me think that Boo Radley is actually not the creep that everybody thought of, but is a person who is interested in Jem and Scout, and wants to go outside, and maybe be with them.

Scout once talked to Miss Maudie about Boo Radley. She never talks anything bad about any person(at least she seems like), and she told Scout that Arthur Radley, better known as Boo Radley. She told Scout that the old Mr. Radley was a foot-washing Baptist, which means he was extremely religious. That could possibly mean that Boo Radley is also very religious. Also, when Jem, Scout, and Dill were acting like the Radleys', Atticus told the kids that he hopes the play is not about the Radleys. The reaction of Atticus weren't any special, I thought. He didn't act any differently, so just by his reaction, Boo Radley's thought of as an old creepy Boo Radley.

My first impression of Boo (Arthur) Radley

Our English class started to read a famous novel, "To Kill A Mockingbird" not to long ago. Arthur Radley, known better as Boo Radley, is a neighbor of the main character, Scout, who barely ever leaves his house. When I read about Boo Radley I first thought, 'this guy is mysterious and I would love to know more about him, his background, and other things. Why would he not go outside? Are the rumors true? If not, what really happened? Why are the people making those kinds of rumors?' Most likely, I was very curious about this character. As I kept on reading, I figured out that there were rumors about Boo Radley. I don't think those are partially made up and partially true. What Boo Radley has done when he was young, such as drinking and not going to church, could be true. However, some stories, such as,

"Boo wasn't crazy, he wa high-strung at times... he was not a criminal. The sheriff hadn't the heart to put him in jail alongside Negroes, so Boo was locked in the courthouse basement." (pg. 11)

could be inflated for some reasons. First, to scare little kids, people might've inflated the story, and second, just like those rumors going around, the stories might've changed.

The part where Jem, Scout was telling Dill about the Radley's and related stories was pretty interesting too. Especially, Dill was agog as Jem and Scout were telling him about the Radley's and their house. It seemed like Dill was aspiring to go into their house and find out more about them- even though he didn't, as Jem and Scout told him that the Radley's would kill him. My reaction would be almost as same as Dill's reaction. When I find out about something very interesting, I would like to find more and more about it, although I would stop at the point where it seems dangerous.

The best thing about English so far/something we've done in English that I enjoyed..

Creating an English blog was so far the best thing that I’ve ever done during this year of English class. I’ve been learning English for several years but I have never tried creating an English blog. I think this is a new interesting way to learn English and I am really glad to do this. It seems that we are going to keep posting often and get them graded. I just hope I can learn how to use blogs better and be comfortable with it. Again, making an English blog and posting is a totally new way of learning English, and I’m sure that I’m going to enjoy this and learn well.