Think about how Boo Radley functions in To Kill a Mockingbird as more than just another character. Boo Radley, the mystery surrounding him, and his heroism at the end of the novel help Scout to understand many important life lessons. He is instrumental in Scout's development from childhood to adolescence.
Who or what is your Boo Radley?
What from your own life can you compare to Scout's experiences with and about Boo Radley? Think about someone or something that was instrumental in your development from childhood to adolescence. Ideally this should be something that you initially did not understand, were scared or intimidated by, or that was mysterious to you. Take some time and think metaphorically instead of literally. For example, do not write about a spooky house in your neighborhood that you eventually discovered was normal, etc.
Write several paragraphs in which you explain your experience and how it relates to Scout's experiences with Boo Radley. Your experience does not have to align perfectly with To Kill a Mockingbird. It should, however, reflect original thought and the ability to extend your knowledge of the novel to make connections with your own experiences.
I do not remember much of my childhood. What I can remember was going to read and feeling like i was in a whole different world. I did not understand why my life was not like the life's of the people who I read about. I was confused until i started to understand about genres. Then I realized that the reason my life was not like the life's of the people in Fiction novels was because it was not real. Then i started to get hit by the reality that anything i have dreamed up will never happen.
Scout went with a whole different process of growing up then anyone in my generation. She was able to escape life through acting. I escaped life through reading. She did not understand that one person until she was saved by him. In a way i was saved by facing reality early on. Scouts learning and mine are different but in some ways related. In the end we all realize that people are not all good or evil, white or black but a mix. People are who they are made to be, their individual selves in their own way.
