In addition to coming to Jem and Scout's rescue and saving
their lives (it is a crucial part of the story, after all), Boo serves as the character
who connects the two main plots together at the end. The mystery surrounding Boo in the
first half of the novel shows the children slowly understanding that Boo is not really a
bad guy after all. This transition serves to illustrate one of Atticus' famous
sayings--
"You
never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view--until
you climb into his skin and walk around in
it."
Boo is also a symbol of
the children growing up, realizing that the rumors that they had heard for so long about
Boo were untrue. Boo is also one of the human mockingbirds in the story--an innocent man
accused of terrible things. Boo's rescue of the children from the murderous hands of Bob
Ewell connects the second plot of the story--that of the Tom Robinson trial--when Boo
kills Bob, Tom's false accuser. It marks the completion of the transition from Boo the
Ghoul to Arthur Radley the Hero.
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