The two characters are similar, as they are both outsiders. They have more than one thing in common however. They are both misunderstood by society. Boo Radley is thought of as a ‘malevolent phantom’, when he is actually an innocent man, forced to stay in the house by his cruel father. He is judged by made up stories that people hear about, for example he poisons the chestnuts that fall onto the school yard. The incident when he stabs his father with scissors is retaliation from the cruelty of his father. As he is concealed in his house, he is thought of as a mad man imprisoned. The MOF is misunderstood by society due to his hideous appearance, but he is innocent as well as he is like a child learning the ways of life, not knowing what is right and what is wrong. The intentions of the monster are therefore misunderstood by society as they are horrified by the Monster’s face.
‘Breathless horror and disgust’ – the reaction to the monster by Victor Frankenstein.
Both of the characters give gifts in exchange for something. MOF gives food to the poor cottage dwelling family, because he feels they deserve it from the hardships they go through. He never reveals himself until he is forced away from the place by the family. Boo Radley gives gifts to the children in exchange for friendship. The children do not really know until the end, when Boo is revealed. Boo is successful in making friends, where MOF is not. This is probably because the monster has a disturbing appearance and Boo has an imagined bad appearance.
Both of them are treated badly by their fathers. The monster is in fact abandoned by its creator and Boo is mistreated by his father. This is a factor to why both of the characters used violence against their fathers. MOF did this indirectly by murdering Frankenstein’s loved ones, therefore hurting him.
Boo Radley is depicted as a mockingbird, because his innocence is destroyed by his father and the ignorance of the rest of the town (except the children). This is the role that was given to him, by Harper Lee. She wanted to show that many people’s innocence (black and white) was destroyed by racism in 1960’s America. Mary Shelly gave the monster a role as an outsider because she wanted to show that dabbling too far into science could result in deadly consequences. She wrote this during the industrial revolution, when development in technology was rapidly increasing. Both of the characters have been shown as outsiders, but in completely different ways. Both of the writers put their outsider character on the side of the reader in different ways. Shelly does this by showing the monster’s point of view and describes how it feels. Harper Lee does this during the course of the novel. She makes the reader realise how innocent Boo Radley is, the same time Jem and Scout do. The fact that the two characters are on the reader’s side is important, because they are the message that the writers are trying to get across.
Boo Radley is first seen as a monster, which is a myth but gradually becomes more real as he becomes more involved with the children, as the story is in Scout’s point of view. He is also liked more by the children. So he turns from ‘supposedly bad’ to good. He remains concealed in his house, but he has the trust of the children so he is successful in achieving friendship. MOF is created from separate body parts and is given life. He is abandoned by Victor Frankenstein and is left to learn about the world on his own. The monster however is innocent in the beginning, as he is like a new born child, learning about life. During the course of the novel, he is shunned universally by society and his view towards humans becomes full of hatred. He then seeks revenge on his creator, for creating him in the first place. He murders for revenge. This makes him seem like a villain, but as he gives his reasons he does not seem evil. He is therefore good in the beginning and ‘supposedly bad’ in the end.
Boo Radley does say anything in the novel. He does not appear until the very last chapter. The monster however, learns to talk by watching the family in the cottage. His language is very complex (possibly was normal for 18th Century). The captain of the ship writes to his sister and writes what Frankenstein has told him. Therefore in actual fact, I do not know how the monster’s actual way of speaking is.
Boo Radley does not interact much with other characters. The only ones he does interact with are the children. He gives them gifts and he saves them from Bob Ewell. At the end he sits with Scout. She sees him as a proper human being. The monster interacts with the family indirectly as they do not know he is there but he gives them food and they give him the knowledge of how to speak.
The two characters have differences as outsiders. The monster wants companionship, whereas Boo chooses to stay inside and make indirect contact with the children. He is probably afraid of what his father would do to him. He is therefore resisting contact with society (except for children), whereas the monster is trying to make contact to society and is failing due to his hideous appearance.
