A Comparison of the portrayal of Boo Radley in 'To Kill a Mockingbird' and Miss Havishamin 'great expectations'

Nirmal Sisodia

A Comparison of the portrayal of Boo Radley in

‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ and Miss Havisham

in ‘great expectations’

In ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ the author uses a retrospective narration, this means that we can see events through the eyes of a child, yet also has the intelligence of an adult to explain the events thouroghly. Because narrator has personal experience of what happened we have a closer insight into the details. This method of reflection means that we can understand other characters feelings more easily, and the settings and ways of Maycomb. ‘Great Expectations’ is similar to ‘ To Kill a Mockingbird’ it also has shows the events of a person from childhood to becoming an adult. The story follows Pip, who is the main character in this novel; it shows him as a child, being introduced to Miss Havisham, then later on as a main person in Miss Havisham’s life. Pip and Scout help us to understand the feelings of other characters. Boo Radley and Miss Havisham have many similarities and differences.

Both Boo’s and Miss Havisham’s houses are dull, very dark creating a sort of eerie effect. They both have a type of mystery to them. Boo’s house’s “shutters and doors are always closed” shows how he is isolated not allowed to see anything. Miss Havisham’s house “was of old brick, and dismal, and had a great many iron bars to it.” This shows how she has isolated herself from the town. Boo’s house is “sun blocked by big oak trees” which makes a shadow effect on the house creating again an eerie picture in the readers head. This is lot like Miss Havisham’s house it seems very eerie and lonely and has a sense of rotting it builds up an evil picture and makes the house seem old and haunted. The description the author has done to build up a picture is very descriptive and has a strong effect. The settings of the houses are a way showing Miss Havisham’s and Boo’s dark inner feelings.

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The 30th and 31st chapters of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ Boo Radley finally emerges from his house. It says that Boo Radley moves awkwadley, and his ability to communicate properly as he should at his age is not up to scratch. His use of body language to get his message across across is slightly childish. When he is with Scout towards the end he wants go home, this is shown by “his hand tightened on mine and he indicated that he wanted to leave”. However Miss Havisham does not only have no communication or social problems, she wants people to know whats happened to her. She talks most freely to Pip, this is proven when she says, “its other name was satis; which is Greek, or Latin, or Hebrew, or all three – or all one to me – for enough”. This quote shows that Miss Havisham does not have no problem in communicating with other characters. Where in ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ Boo Radley is made out to be some kind monster that eats chickens at night, Miss Havisham though has the respect of the town.

In the eyes of the other residents in Maycomb Boo Radley is made out to be some kind Monster who only comes out at night. In Great Expectations Miss Havisham is very different to this. Most people in the novel at first respect Miss Havisham, this is shown when Estella asks Mr Pumblechook if he wanted to see Miss Havisham, and he replies, “If Miss Havisham wished to see me” he says this discomfited. It shows miss Havisham to have a lot of power over other people.

‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ is set in the 1930s, in a town called Maycomb. It is a small town with a close-knit community, it has a deserted feel to it, however it is very tense, with a lot of families and rumours and gossip. Maycomb is also a claustrophobic place to be, with the identical houses, the grass on the sidewalks (unkempt), and also it is very dusty, hot and humid. The neighbours are known to be very suspicious and judgemental. It is a reserved community and it can get very dull. In ‘Great Expectations’, in the chapters that we have read, rather then it being concentrated on a town, it is mostly concentrated on Miss Havisham’s House. Satis House, which stand for very big and satisfactory. Within this house everything is kept the way it was at the time of the wedding. With cobwebs, and dust on all the furniture. Even the surrounding of the satis house was dying; “there was a large brewery, no brewing was going on in it”, this shows that everything around miss Havisham was a symbol of what was within her. It shows that she is dead within. Both Boo Radley and Miss Havisham live in seclusion, this means they prefer to be cut off from the outside world, a quote that show this is’ “some of the windows had been walled up” However they both have someone to help them with life, Boo Radley has his brother Nathan, and Miss Havisham has her adopted daughter Estella. Miss Havisham acts this way because of what happened to her earlier in her life; she was left at the altar. Likewise Boo Radley acts the way he does because of the way he was brought up, “chained to the bed” shows how his punishment for the way he acted has affected the rest of his life. It has left him as a mentally ill person. When he is older he is like a child. Boo Radley is a character that is not used to light, similarly Miss Havisham is also shut in from the light, a quote that shows this is “that the passages were all dark” Both Boo Radley and Miss Havisham are made out to be good people in these novels. They are not known to hurt any one, no matter how much people have hurt them. Boo Radley saves the kids and Miss Havisham is the one who is left at the altar.

Miss Havisham was left at the altar, and since then she has not changed anything, including her clothes. She is still wearing her wedding dress, which is now of a yellow colour, she still has one wedding shoe on. And also she has a dead flower in her hair. Boo Radley is slightly different, however his appearance is also known to be very ‘dirty’, this is what the residents of Maycomb think. He is also known to have a large scar down the side of his face. However this is not true, his real image is clean. He has no scar on his face, he has combed, clean, hair and his clothes are nice and clean. This represents Boo Radley’s inner character. This clean image shows that Boo Radley is a nice person. Miss Havisham’s outer image shows that inside she has given up. Her surroundings have stopped, and she within has also stopped.

Boo Radley, is only actually communicated with properly during the end of this novel. When he is finally communicated with, he cannot reply properly. In chapter 30 & 31he is always holding Scouts hand. He does not let it got. He communicates through “body language” by just moving his hand or tightly holding scouts hand he gets his message through. Miss Havisham’s behaviour is very different compared to Boo Radley. She is very able to express herself. She talks perfectly to Pip and Estella. However her behaviour is very strange, she behaves like she knows everything, very mature. She goes around showing that she is a very strong person, emotionally. She does this because she does not want to be hurt again, like she was when she was left at the altar.

Boo Radley and Miss Havisham are similar characters, however they also have a lot of differences. They are similar in the way they live their lives. However the way they act is different. They are both living their lives in a bizarre way because of what happened to them earlier on in their lives. In ‘Great Expectations’ the author uses the surroundings to reflect Miss Havishams inner life. In ‘To Kill a mockingbird’ the author does not do this, however he does show in detail how different the Radley place is compared to the rest of Maycomb. This is shown by this quote: “the shutters and doors…were closed on Sundays…alien to Maycomb’s ways” Miss Havisham has some respect in ‘Great Expectations’ what ever she says, goes. This is different for Boo Radley in ‘To Kill a mockingbird’ Nobody respects Boo Radley, most of the people are in fear of Boo Radley. There is only one person in ‘Great Expectations’ is afraid of Miss Havisham, Pip. In conclusion I think there are more differences between Boo Radley and Miss Havisham compared to similarities.