When Miss Maudie is first introduced in Chapter 5, her character is shown as a reasonable person allowing Scout and Jem to play in her yard, as long as they do not ruin anything of importance. It is also mentions that Miss Maudie is a nature lover, as she preferred to spend time outside, rather than indoors, and takes car of her plants, even weeds. She is also very thorough with her work, especially when it comes to nut grass. Miss Maudie is a baker, and she would bake cakes for the three children. She can be teasing, as shown with her marriage banter with Jack Finch.
Miss Maudie is very straightforward with her thinking. She didn't judge how Boo's character might be from gossips, but instead insists calling him Arthur, and talks about how he "spoke as nicely as he knew how (p. 61)." However, when Scout first brought up the subject of Boo Radley, she tried to change the subject. Jem and Scout trust Miss Maudie because they consider her as their friends. Miss Maudie also has an "acid tongue," as proven when she said to Stephanie Crawford "what did you do, Stephanie, move over in the bed and make room for him (p. 60)?" She is very witty.
Why do you think Miss Maudie tried to change the subject away from Boo Radley? Why do you think Miss Maudie chose to keep on calling Boo Arthur, unlike others?
Miss Maudie might have some sort of connection to Boo Radley because she is one of the only people in the whole town who doesn't have a negative rumor to spread about him. When she was asked about Boo she immediately came to his defense calling him Arthur, and insisting that you can't believe everything you hear about others. Maybe she used to work for the Radleys or is somehow related to the family, because only someone who has/had a personal relationship with Boo would call him by his real name, Arthur.
ReplyDeleteWhenever the kids play in Ms. Maudie's yard she takes care of them by baking them treats and talking with them. In the chapter it explains how Ms. Maudie takes care of all of her plants, even the weeds. The Finch kids are like Ms. Maudie's plants, and Arthur "Boo" Radley is also one of her plants. The only difference between the two is Boo is a weed because of his troubles in life. Ms. Maudie takes care of all the children in her life, including the troubled ones, like Boo Radley.
I think Miss Maudie is just like Miss Stephanie Crawford, where they both are very knowledgeable. Except in this case Miss Stephanie has more rumors and Miss Maudie has more concrete facts. I think this is because she has something to hide about Arthur, whether that was a relationship between them, were they best friends, or did they go to school together? She must have some amount of respect for Arthur because she immediately corrected Scout when she said "Boo" Radley. Continuously, I wonder how Miss Maudie knows so much about "Boo," as apposed to the whole town that knows almost nothing. Also, Where did the name "boo" come from, was it because he always scaring people or was it an actual nickname?
ReplyDeleteMiss Maudie acts different when referring to Boo Radley because it is made somewhat clear that Miss Maudie has a connection to him. Most people in the town have a bad impression of Boo, but maybe Miss Maudie is the only one who really knows him. If they were ever friends or acquaintances, then Miss Maudie clearly liked him and she thinks he's a better person then most of the town gives him credit for. When Miss Maudie refuses to call him Boo, it shows that she has enough respect for him to call him Arthur. Later in the book, I think there will be an encounter between Boo and Miss Maudie when Scout or Jem is around, and we will find out what the previous relationship was. When Miss Maudie changed the subject, that might have been because there was some type of secret that she didn't want the kids to know, so she tried to veer off from the subject of Boo Radley.
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