Because of all these traits the mockingbird possesses, it often represents innocence in English literature, especially in Harper Lee's novel To Kill a Mockingbird. She chooses Arthur “Boo” Radley to represent the mockingbird because mockingbirds symbolize innocence and Boo portrayed that puerile innocence through his actions and choices and was often victimized by the other characters in the book because of the reclusive life he led.
In the beginning of the novel, the children feared Boo Radley and he was more of a figment of their childish imaginations, but later they gradually realized that he was an innocent mockingbird that shies away from human activity. When Jean Louise “Scout” Finch and Jeremy “Jem” Finch, the main characters, were younger, they heard rumors about the Radley Place where the cloistered Boo Radley lives. When Scout was recalling the rumors, she thought, “Inside the house lived a malevolent phantom. People said he existed, but Jem and I had never seen him” (8). Scout, along with many other children in Maycomb, portrayed Boo Radley to be a phantasm and a fearful being from the many snide allusions, even though they had never actually gotten to know him and dig up the innocence harbored inside of him. During the first year of the novel, Boo was simply a part of their imagination and they played games based on the rumors. However, as the story progresses, it is revealed that Boo does actually exist and is a kind-hearted gentleman despite the many rumors and assumptions against him. Throughout the course of the novel, Boo has proved himself quite real and just as mockingbirds “'don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird'” (90), as Miss Maudie Atkinson, a neighbor, once told Scout. Mockingbirds do not bother humans and avoid them as often as possible. They sing their harmonious melodies for humans to hear and do nothing to harm human activity, just like Boo. He left them gifts, protected Scout from the cold by covering her with a blanket, and saved her and Jem from Bob Ewell at the end of the novel.
Through his actions and choices, Boo displays his genuine self and how gentle he really is regardless of the many rumors. In the beginning, Boo has anonymously left Scout and Jem gifts in the knothole in front of the Radley Place, though later they figured out that it was he who left them. He left the gifts in the knothole by the Radley Place for Scout and Jem to find in hopes that they would like them, proving his childish innocence and open heart. Along with the many gifts he left them, he also performed a number of acts that further confirmed the purity of his heart despite the damaged he had suffered in the hands of his father, including when he sewed Jem's pants when they were caught in the fence by the Radley Place and a number of other incidents. When Scout was standing in front of Miss Maudie's burning house one night, she was unsuspectingly covered by a blanked to keep her from the cold, as it was around one in the morning. As they were standing in front of the Radley Place, Atticus, the children's father, assumed that Boo had covered her up. Afterwards, he said, “'You're right. We'd better keep this and the blanket to ourselves. Someday, maybe, Scout can thank him for covering her up'” (72). Scout had asked who, not having realized it was Boo yet, and Atticus answered, “Boo Radley.” After that, he continued to help the children in different ways, including choosing to reveal himself at the end by rescuing them from Bob Ewell, the man who was humiliated by Atticus during a trial against an African American, Tom Robinson. He attacked Scout and Jem when they were walking home from the Halloween pageant at their school. After Bob Ewell was found dead, Heck Tate, the county sheriff, had a long argument with Atticus about keeping the knowledge that Boo killed Bob Ewell from the citizens of Maycomb. When Heck Tate said it is unjust to drag a reclusive Boo into the glare of publicity, Scout told Atticus, “'Well, it'd be sort of like shootin' a mockingbird, wouldn't it?'” (276) To pull an isolated and secluded man into the attention of Maycomb County would be immoral, since it would be disrupting the remote life he chose for himself. As Scout said, it would be a sin.
As mockingbirds nestle themselves as far away from human activities as possible, Boo Radley secluded himself from the rest of the Maycomb society, though not so far away that he cannot perform little acts of kindness for Scout and Jem Finch, just like when a mockingbird sing delightful melodies for humans to enjoy. Through his displayed actions throughout the novel, Boo proved himself as kind-hearted and untainted as a mockingbird. However, he is often singled out because of his isolation and seclusion, simply because the people of Maycomb are afraid of him and have not “climbed into his skin and walked around in it” (30). Even though he is often considered as a recluse and occasionally a phantom, he truly has a kind heart beneath his mysterious “shell”. This shows that despite a person's outward impression on others, they can be kind, pure, and innocent in the inside.
