Monday, January 30, 2012

Where does Miss Maudie talk about Boo Radley in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird?

In Chapter 5, Scout spends her evenings sitting on Miss Maudie's porch while Jem and Dill play together. One evening, Scout asks Miss Maudie if she thinks Boo Radley is still alive. Miss Maudie tells Scout that Boo's real name is Arthur and mentions that he is still living. When Scout asks Maudie how she knows that Boo is still alive, Maudie says that she hasn't seen him carried out yet. Scout then comments, "Maybe he died and they stuffed him up the chimney" (Lee 28). Scout explains that Jem told her that and Maudie says that Arthur just stays in the house because he doesn't want to come out. Scout proceeds to question Miss Maudie about Boo by asking her why Boo chose to stay inside. Miss Maudie tries her best to explain that Boo's father was a "foot-washing Baptist" who believed that any type of pleasure was a sin. She tells Scout, "There are just some kind of men who—who’re so busy worrying about the next world they’ve never learned to live in this one, and you can look down the street and see the results" (Lee 28). Scout then asks Maudie if she believes the things that other people say about Boo Radley, and Maudie says, "No, child" (Lee 28). Miss Maudie tells Scout that Arthur was a kind boy and that she doesn't exactly know what goes on inside the Radley home. She simply comments that it is a sad home.

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