Do we like them?

Do we like Boo Radley?

A character from To Kill a Mockingbird (1960)

Our score: 9 out of 10. Yes, we'd back him. He's gentle and shy, and he has been wronged by gossip. He does quiet kindnesses for the kids and never asks for thanks.

Boo Radley lives in the run-down house down the street from Jem, Scout and their friend Dill in Maycomb, Alabama. He is almost never seen. The town tells wild stories about him, and the children treat him as a monster. Their curiosity about him drives much of the book's early chapters.

Small signs show a different Boo: little gifts left in a tree knothole, and a kindness shown on a cold night. He barely speaks and is never explained, but his actions show someone shy, gentle and caring. He is a living example of the book's theme that you never really know a person until you've walked around in their skin.

He earns a high score because the children's fear turns out to be wrong. Boo is the book's "mockingbird", an innocent who does no harm and only offers kindness. He is not a hero who leads, but he is someone you would trust with your children. We'd lose a point only because we never get to know him well.

Late in the story he steps out of his house to save the children from danger. Scout then sees the world from his porch and understands what the town got wrong about him.