Boo Radley might have been watching out for more people to enter his garden when he noticed the pants. He probably knew that if he showed people the pants he would be able to find the culprit, and he probably expected the culprit would know that too. He left the pants there in order to see the man when he came back to fetch them. To scare him even more, Boo sewed them up and folded them, to show Jem that he knew he would be coming. Boo acted in a way as if he were trying to see the incident in someone else's "skin." Jem said that it was "like somebody was readin' my mind... like somebody could tell what I was gunna do. (78)" This shows that Boo's plan worked.
Do you think that was actually Boo's plan or did he just want to scare Jem? Did Boo know it was Jem and not a black person? Does this relate to the tree at all? If so, how?
I do not think that Boo was trying to scare Jem by sewing up his pants, and folding them. It is possible that Boo was only trying to help Jem. If the shadow that stood in front of Jem earlier on was Boo, he didn't do anything to harm Jem, so it seems unlikely that he would go so far to frighten him. It is also possible that Boo found out his brother, Nathan, was planning to shoot anyone else he saw in their yard, and to prevent Jem from becoming even more of a suspect, he repaired the tears, and placed the pants in a place that would be easy for Jem to find.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I don't believe Boo was trying to scare Jem, he was just being neighborly, because he knew it was Jem, and not a negro. It was Ms. Stephanie who had said he had shot a negro in the first place, and since she is a very racist person, she was probably just trying to pin the intrusion on someone. Boo placed the pants in a very obvious place, and an accessible place so that Jem wouldn't have to come too far into the yard. That leads to another question though. Do Boo and Mr. Nathan Radley, not want Jem and Scout to continuously come into their yard? Also later, Nathan blocks the tree's hole with cement, because he says, "trees dying." pg. 83. The tree isn't dying though, it's very healthy, and that may also be a sign that the Radley's want them out of their yard, and off their property.
ReplyDeleteI have to disagree with you Lidia on your idea that Mr. Radley was just being neighborly because we know he did shoot the gun at first.Scout narrates, "as I tripped the roar of a shotgun shattered the neighborhood."(71) Because of that we know he was not "being neighborly." I think that somebody got into the yard and took the pants to sew them. This person possibly could be Dill defending Jem so he wouldn't get in trouble. We know it wasn't a man because at that time men most probably were not good seweres and JEm said it looked like someboduy had messily tried. WHoever is doing this probably isn't one of the Radleys.
ReplyDeleteI think that Boo is being looked at as a bad guy when I think that he will really turn out to be a friendly guy. I view Boo folding the pants as a friendly message to Jem to show that he means no harm. He hasn't done anything to harm anyone since he was a kid and because of all the rumors, he is probably affraid to leave his house. If he were to leave his house then people would probably do terrible things to him because of something he did when he was a little boy. I think that Harpor Lee is portraying Boo as an awfull person because it makes you want to find out what he is really like and he has shown no bad signs so I think he will turn out to be a friend and become loved by Maycomb.
ReplyDeleteI think that Boo is being looked at as a bad guy when I think that he will really turn out to be a friendly guy. I view Boo folding the pants as a friendly message to Jem to show that he means no harm. He hasn't done anything to harm anyone since he was a kid and because of all the rumors, he is probably affraid to leave his house. If he were to leave his house then people would probably do terrible things to him because of something he did when he was a little boy. I think that Harpor Lee is portraying Boo as an awfull person because it makes you want to find out what he is really like and he has shown no bad signs so I think he will turn out to be a friend and become loved by Maycomb.
ReplyDeleteI believe that sewing the pants and hanging them on the fence could have been a plan or it could have just been Boo being a nice person. The children think that Boo is some sort of monster because of the rumors they have each heard. Because of one incident in the past and that Boss doesn't follow the "Maycomb way", the entire town has turned on him. If he is a normal person, he would want to come out but if Boo knows that if he goes out during the day people will be rude and disrespectful to him. Sewing and folding the pants could have been a sign from Boo that he isn't a monster but a human being.
ReplyDeleteFrom the beginnig of the novel, one could tell that there were a lot of the myths about Boo Radley that were just neighborhood gossip. Whatever stories were spread around about him were created because people simply didn't know him. Now allthough there isn't any "concrete" evidence to verify this, there is a strong possibility that Boo is the one who fixed up Jems pants when they got ripped down on the fence. Perhaps he has also been the one putting the different artifacts in the knot hole of the tree. If this were so, why would Nathan Radley fill up the hole with concrete even if the tree is in perfect health. Is Nathan Radley trying to suppress Boo and his way of connecting with the outside world?
ReplyDeleteLike others have said, my prediction is that Boo was just being a good person. Harper Lee is now trying to build the character of Boo Radley in chapters six and seven, and this is an example of who he is; the childlike rumors are looking to be false. I don't think that he had an evil plan in mind or even wanted to scare the children. I think he viewed the situation in a good way. By now, after many tries to get a look at him, I predict that Boo knows what Jem and the others are trying to do. However, instead of being mad about them trespassing, he put the pants on the fence, folded and all. I have a feeling that Boo is taking this to his advantage. He knows that the town thinks that he's a mad man, and yet these kids are trying to reach out to him. Maybe he's thinking that Jem, Dil, and Scout can change the view on who he truly is.
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