ShmoopTube
Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.
Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos
Lee - Harper Lee Videos 6 videos
In To Kill a Mockingbird Scout is really, really not interested in learning about the so-called requirements of her gender. Even though she realize...
"Accidental racist?" Yup. Like the song. We're talking about the"oh, I didn't even know I thought that way" type of accident, not the "I totally di...
This video summarizes Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, as told by Scout, the daughter of Atticus, a civil rights attorney in the Deep So...
To Kill a Mockingbird: Boo Radley 119872 Views
Share It!
Description:
Is Boo Radley the quintessential creep? Or, is he just isolated and misunderstood, hiding himself away to avoid people's judgment? You decide. He just doesn't belong heeeeeereeeeeee...
Transcript
- 00:01
To kill or not to kill, To Kill a Mockingbird. We’ve all had our fair share of creepy neighbors.
- 00:09
Even our favorite fictional families have creepy neighbors. Take Herbert from Family
- 00:13
Guy. On a scale of one to creep, this guy is the mayor of Creeptown, USA.
- 00:19
But one creepy neighbor stands above them all: Boo Radley.
- 00:22
Boo NEVER comes out of his house. And according to Jem, he’s six and a half
Full Transcript
- 00:27
feet tall. And he has a long, jagged scar across his
- 00:30
face and rotten, yellow teeth. And Jem says that he spends the better part
- 00:34
of his days drooling and feasting on squirrels and cats.
- 00:37
When it walks like a creep, talks like a creep, and acts like a creep, it is a creep. So Boo
- 00:43
Radley is officially a creep. Or is he? Maybe these are just our perceptions
- 00:50
of Boo. There are those who perceive Boo Radley as
- 00:53
a saint. After all, it was Boo who mended a meddling
- 00:56
Jem’s pants. And it was Boo who protected Scout from getting
- 00:59
a chill when Miss Maudie’s house burned down.
- 01:02
And it was Boo who communicated with Jem and Scout by leaving thoughtful gifts in the knothole.
- 01:06
And yep, you guessed it - it was our old pal Boo who risked life and limb to protect Jem
- 01:12
from Bob Ewell’s attack. So which is it?
- 01:14
Is Boo a creeper? Or is Boo a saint?
- 01:18
It may be all about perspective. Boo Radley is creepy only because we don’t
- 01:21
really know him. And depending on how you look at someone,
- 01:24
they can either be super creepy or super sweet. So if Boo is such a fabulous dude, why doesn’t
- 01:30
he just hang out and let everyone get to know him?
- 01:33
It’s hard to say, really. Maybe Boo is afraid of how people will treat
- 01:36
him… Or he’s afraid that people will judge him.
- 01:39
Or maybe Jem is right… No, not that Jem.
- 01:42
There you go… Maybe Boo stays inside because he WANTS to
- 01:46
stay inside. Perhaps after all the years of gossip, scrutiny,
- 01:49
and ridicule, Boo just doesn’t want be known. But this begs the question: Can you still
- 01:54
be human without being part of a community? Boo Radley: he’s an enigma, wrapped in a
- 01:59
mystery, tucked into phyllo dough, and then stuffed with spinach.
- 02:03
But he ain’t no creeper. He’s just misunderstood.
- 02:06
And yes, there’s an important lesson to be learned from all of this.
- 02:08
You can’t judge a book by its cover. Because after all, wasn’t Harper Lee a little
- 02:13
like Boo? Aren’t we ALL a little like Boo?
- 02:17
Shmoop amongst yourselves…
Related Videos
This video defines utopias and dystopias, and investigates how a utopia might become a dystopia. Can a seemingly perfect world actually be a dystop...
We may all be fools when it comes to love, but thankfully none of us will accidentally switch places with our twin brother and fall in love with ou...
They say that honesty is the best policy, but Jack lies about his identity and still gets the girl. Does that mean we should all lie to get what we...
Ever wish you could remember everything that you ever studied? How about everything that everyone has ever studied? Yeah, pretty sure our brains ju...
Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man is an American classic. Hope you're not expecting any exciting shower scenes though. It's not that kind of book.