In chapter one, Lee uses predatory and animalistic diction to dehumanize Boo Radley. To most Maycomb community members, he is a mystery and something to be feared. He is described as having a blood-lust for household pets and animals. like squirrels and cats. Instead of being characterized as a dynamic person with an identity, Boo is described as the neighborhood villain and the town's greatest kept secret. His nightmarish description is set in contrast with the slow, sleepy town of Maycomb and their southern social hierarchy.
It is expected that members in this sleepy town participate in the comings and goings of Maycomb, but Boo is a shut-in and defies these social norms. His way of living is foreign to the people of this town and they seem to fear the unknown. His youth was corrupted, his family was corrupted when he stabbed his father with scissors, and his deteriorating home corrupts the normalcy of their downtown.
Scout's first mention of Boo's house in chapter one is with the words "The Radley Place," this does not connote feelings of a home, let alone a house. It is a "place." Scout goes on to describe it as once white but now "the color of the slate-gray yard around it." The shingles are rotted and tall oak trees block out sunlight.
Additionally, Scout's first words to describe Boo (an ominous nickname, since he is actually named Arthur) are "a malevolent phantom." There is town mythology surrounding Boo; "any stealthy small crimes" are attributed to him, including the mutilation of animals, and, improbably, people's azaleas freezing as a result of his breathing on them. Children in the school yard adjacent to the Radley Place would not eat pecans that dropped from Radley's trees, because "Radley pecans would kill you."
The Radleys do not socialize with the other citizens of Maycomb, something Scout describes as "alien to" the town's culture. It is said that Boo Radley had attacked his father with scissors, and it is rumored that Mr. Radley keeps Boo "chained to the bed most of the time." It is also rumored that Boo comes out "when it's pitch dark," a belief furthered by Jem based on a claim that Boo peeped in the window of Miss Crawford.
Jem offers a "reasonable description of Boo," despite never having seen him, as,
About six-and-a-half feet tall. . . he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch. . . with bloodstained hands, a long jagged scar that ran across his face. . . teeth. . . yellow and rotten. . . he drooled most of the time.
No comments:
Post a Comment