In the book To Kill a Mockingbird, there is one theme that runs through it and shows how everyone feels about Boo Radley. Most people are likable one you get to know them. That is also a lesson, get to know someone before you judge them. There are three main places, throughout the book where the theme is shown. At the beginning they judge him, but they have never seen him. Boo saves Scout and Jem, and finally, when Scout actually meets Boo she realizes he is just shy.

In the beginning of the book I thought many of the things Jem and Scout said and heard about Boo Radley were true. I thought he was creepy and might try to kill someone. All of the characters in the book think that too, they think he is scary, but they have never met or seen him. When Jem is describing Boo to Dill, he says, “Boo was about six feet tall judging from his tracks.” (13) They have never actually seen him, he is only describing Boo from footprints they have seen. That description, though, makes him seem like he could be scary.
My opinion started to change originally, when Boo put the gum, watch, and soap sculptures in the knot-hole tree for Scout and Jem. He had to of cared about them and not be as scary if he was giving them presents. My opinion changed more when Boo saved Jem and Scout from Bob Ewell. If he was so scary, he probably wouldn’t have saved them. Atticus says to Boo, after he saves his kids, “he stopped in front of Boo Radley, ‘Thank you for my children, Arthur’ he said.” (276) Boo saved Jem and Scout and Atticus knows he wouldn’t have saved his kids if he was so creepy and wanted to hurt someone. I began to think Boo was a good person, but there was a specific reason for why he always stayed in his house.
By the end of the book I thought Boo Radley was a very shy, but a very nice person. Scout finally talks to Boo at the end of the book and realizes he is not scary, he is just very shy. Boo asks Scout, “Will you take me home?” (278) He is so shy that he would rather have a little girl take him home, instead of walking down the street by himself. The sheriff knows Boo is extremely shy, so he doesn’t want to tell anyone that Boo saved the Finch kids, because he would get a lot of attention and he is too shy to handle it.
Boo Radley is a perfect example of how most people are likable once you get to know them, a theme that runs throughout To Kill A Mockingbird. It also connects to a lesson, you need to get to know someone before you judge them. Scout learns this lesson in the book. She thinks Boo is big and scary only by what she hears, she has never seen him. In the end, though, Scout realizes he is only shy, he isn’t scary. Nobody knew what Boo was like but they judged him anyway. Scout eventually found out the truth when she actually met him, and learned not to judge someone before you get to know them.