Saturday, July 5, 2008

Through Harper Lee's description of the Radley's house and yard, what do we discover about its inhabitants?

The Radleys seem to be an anti-social family because their house and yard are not inviting. This also means that they probably do not care what their neighbors think of their house being the main eyesore on the block. In chapter one, Scout says that the house used to be white, suggesting that the paint is probably peeling almost beyond recognition, and the shutters were green once, but now look more like the color gray. Next, the shingles droop because they are "rain-rotted" (8) and the large, untrimmed oak trees, keep the sun out. The Radley home also has "the remains of a picket" fence that Scout says looks as if it "drunkenly" guards the home. Finally, there are pockets of grass and "rabbit-tobacco" that grow, which shows that the family does not care to keep the quality of their estate up to code, let alone looking nice.


Even if the Radley home does look horrible, the citizens of Maycomb would accept them at church and as neighbors if they only took steps to be approachable; but even the house is as closed as the family is.



"The shutters and doors of the Radley house were closed on Sundays, another thing alien to Maycomb's ways: closed doors meant illness and cold weather only. Of all days Sundays was the day for formal afternoon visiting. . . But to climb the Radley front steps and call, 'He-y,' of a Sunday afternoon was something their neighbors never did" (9).



The above passage shows the symbolic connection between the house's appearance and the anti-social Radley frame of mind--closed.

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