Everybody in Maycomb County is afraid of Boo Radly. He is referred to as a mockingbird because of the false accusations on his morality and true intentions; ‘he’s crazy, I reckon, like they say…’ said Jem. Jem and Scout had heard rumors from Miss Stephanie and other children about Boo. In addition, the superstitions about ghosts and monsters from storybooks feed on their fears. These allegations would not alter, ‘until you climb into his skin and walk around in it’. One can never tell how a person really behaves from the talk and chatter of other people. The first indication of Boo Radley’s innocence was during was during the fire in Miss Maudie’s house:
'Thank who?' I asked.
'Boo Radly. You were so busy looking at the fire you didn't know it when he put the blanket around you.'
My stomach turned to water and I nearly threw up when Jem held out the blanket and crept toward me. 'He sneaked out of the house-turn 'round-sneaked up, an' went like this!'"
Surprised Scout could not believe that a cruel, monstrous man, like Boo Radley would cover her up in a blanket. It was also at this point that Jem realized Boo was a good man; that Boo ‘had ain’t ever harmed (him)’. Atticus told the children to ‘keep this and the blanket to ourselves’; maybe because the actuality that other children might not believe Jem and Scout, or that it will bring about public exposure of Boo Radley. The murder of Mr. Ewell, in expense of Scout and Jem’s life by the ironically heroic Boo Radly could also jeopardize Boo’s isolation and privacy from society. By violating his privacy, Scout concluded that it would be ‘sort of like shootin´ a mockingbird’. Thereofore, it would be a sin because he would be the subject of intense gossip and be center of attention. Is that the reward he gets for bringing home Atticus’s children? For showing human kindness?
Tom Robinson also displays a great sum of kindness to Mayella and ‘feels sorry’ for her.
Overall, because of the prejudice fact that Boo is an outsider of society, and a person the children never seen, the children were bound to believe the rumors and to allow their imagination to run wild. Boo’s innocence was destroyed by all that was evil; the majority of the citizens of Maycomb County. Thus he is mockingbird, needing justice to maintain his lost integrity and name. At the end of the book, Scout realized that Boo Radley was a good man, who did not get the respect he deserved. The realization surfaced through Boo’s acts of extreme kindness (the blanket and murder incident). In return for his actions, Atticus does not sin by jeopardizing his privacy, and exposing him to the ruthlessness of the human race.
