In what ways does Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird present the concept of fear? How does the children's fear of Boo Radley compare to their fear,...

In the final chapter of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout comments that "nothin's real scary except in books" when she finds out that Atticus is reading a scary book of Jem's titled The Gray Ghost while sitting with him in his room as he sleeps after the attack. Scout also protests that neither she nor Jem were scared during the attack. The term fear, as Scout is thinking of it, can be defined as a "distressing emotion aroused by impending danger," the word impending meaning "about to happen," or likely to happen (Random House Dictionary). In other words, in Scout's mind, fear is only felt when one thinks one is in danger, not when genuine danger is present. During times of genuine tribulation, the feeling of fear must be replaced with courage. In addition, a genuinely dangerous moment can overwhelm a person to the point that the victim feels numb rather than afraid. For these reasons, Scout only felt afraid when she thought she had reason to fear Arthur (Boo) Radley and when Bob Ewell was beginning to pose a threat, not when Ewell was actually carrying out his threat.

The fear that Scout and Jem feel towards Arthur Radley when they are younger can be characterized as a fear of an imaginary danger. The imaginary danger stems from the fact that Arthur is mysteriously reclusive; therefore, Maycomb's citizens have developed multiple rumors and myths about him. As a result of the rumors and myths, Scout and Jem, along with other neighborhood children, developed a fear that Arthur posed a threat to their lives. We see Jem reveal their fears to their father and expunge them the night they find that Arthur had wrapped Scout in a blanket without them knowing it:

...--he's crazy, I reckon, like they say, but Atticus, I swear to God he ain't ever harmed us, he ain't even hurt us, he coulda cut my throat from ear to ear that night but he tried to mend my pants instead ... he ain't ever hurt us, Atticus--. (Ch. 8)

Since their fears are based on rumors and myths, we can even say their fears are not genuine.

In contrast, Scout and Jem feel genuine fear after the trial when they learn Bob Ewell has threatened their father; however, Atticus is too trusting a person to likewise feel afraid of Ewell, which proves to be  a significant mistake on Atticus's part. Likewise, Scout and Jem are equally afraid just prior to the attack. The more they hear someone following them who is clearly not Cecil Jacobs, the more they feel afraid. Scout confirms her feelings of fear when she tries to convince her brother he is just feeling spooked because it is Halloween night and thinks to herself, "I said it more to convince myself than Jem" (Ch. 28). However, at the moment of the attack, her feelings change; she calls out for help but bravely tries to escape their attacker along with Jem. At one points, she hears scuffling noises all around here and describes herself as being "stunned" and standing "there dumbly" (Ch. 28).

Hence, we could disagree with Scout when she says fear only exists in books, since she was clearly very legitimately felt afraid just prior to the attack. However, we can agree with her sentiment that she wasn't afraid during the attack because we see that her feeling of fear was replaced with a feeling of courage and later numbness.