The children are curious about Boo Radley, but it also seems as if they bring up the story first to win over, scare or compete with the new little friend who appears at the fence line between their house and Miss Rachel's. For example, the first conversation that Jem has with Dill is about reading. Dill tells the kids that he can read and he's seven, but Jem has to one-up him by saying that Scout's been reading since she was born. Dill competes back by telling the kids that he's been to the movies and saw Dracula. Eventually Boo Radley comes up and Scout says that they "warn" Dill about Boo Radley, but maybe, as said above, it is a way to scare him or even initiate him into the neighborhood. Ironically though, it is Dill who uses the Radley house as a way to dare Jem to prove he is brave:
"'Let's try to make him come out,' said Dill. 'I'd like to see what he looks like.'
Jem said if Dill wanted to get himself killed, all he had to do was go up and knock on the front door. . . Dill bet Jem . . . that Jem wouldn't get any farther than the Radley gate. In all his life, Jem had never declined a dare" (13).
The above passage is only the beginning of future dares to come. The house and Boo Radley are like undiscovered country, and once Jem doesn't die from touching the house and running away, other strategies are used to get Boo to come out. The Radley house, therefore, also becomes a source of entertainment for the kids as they play out the Radley history as well as try to get the infamous phantom to come out.
No comments:
Post a Comment