Daniel’s Response to To Kill A Mockingbird

                                    “-I pledge.”

            Harper Lee surrounds many of the events within To Kill A Mockingbird around the theme of stigmatization. Throughout the novel, Lee expresses a lot of disdain to the corruption and injustice that many of the African Americans go through; however, in a more subtle fashion, she also tries to address the hardship that the disabled and impaired endure. She depicts this in the character of Boo Radley. Throughout the novel, Scout and Jem constantly wonder about the identity of Boo Radley and why it is that he never comes out. By the end of the novel, both Jem and especially Scout comes to gain a more mutual understanding of their neighbor. Boo Radley ultimately represents a disabled minority in To Kill a Mockingbird as seen in Scout’s changing perception of him and his mannerisms when approaching Jem’s unconscious body.

            Harper Lee demonstrates to her audience how disabled people are misunderstood using the character of Boo Radley’s relationship to Scout. Initially Scout expressed a lot of suspicion towards Boo Radley, wondering why it was that he would not leave his house. However, after she finally gets the chance to meet him when he saves her brother’s life, she contemplates how “Boo was our neighbor. He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch, and our lives” (Lee 320). Scout realizes how much she has misunderstood Boo Radley. While initially she saw him with an air of mystery, she realizes that he was a person just like anybody else. This shows how people with disabilities tend to be misunderstood because all that most people see is the disability instead of the person themselves. Scout contemplates this when she reflects on what Atticus had told her: “One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them” (Lee 371). Scout applies this to her changing perception of Boo Radley when she learns that Boo is not as strange as he may seem after saving Jem.

            Boo Radley’s experience around Jem’s body also exemplifies that he may suffer from a disability, which is why he kept himself enclosed within his own house. When Boo was trying to touch Jem, Lee describes “Boo’s hand hovered over Jem’s hair” (Lee 319). From the word choice of “hovered,” Boo was clearly nervous about touching Jem. This and the fact he refused to leave his house may translate to Boo having some kind of anxiety disorder. Scout even comforts Arthur that it is ok to pet her brother, saying “ ‘You can pet him, Mr. Arthur, he’s asleep…You couldn’t if he was awake’” (Lee 319). The fact that he needed some kind of reassurance shows that Arthur may have a condition that is related to fear or Agoraphobia. In this, Harper Lee is using Arthur Radley to make a statement about mental illness.

            All in all, while she does make a lot of commentary on the negative condition of racism, Harper Lee also tries to touch on mental illness through the character of Arthur Radley. Even though Arthur does not play a very prominent role throughout the story, the way that Harper Lee utilizes him shows that she is trying to tell a story about the stigmatization behind mental illness as well. Through the character of Arthur Radley, Harper Lee was able to demonstrate how the misunderstanding of disability is pervasive throughout society.