<P> Arthur "Boo" Radley is a recluse in To Kill a Mockingbird . </P> <P> Maycomb children believe he is a horrible person, due to the rumors spread about him and a trial he underwent as a teenager . It is implied during the story that Boo is a very lonely man who attempts to reach out to Jem and Scout for love and friendship, such as leaving them small gifts and figures in a tree knothole . Scout finally meets him at the very end of the book, when he saves the children's lives from Bob Ewell . Scout describes him as being sickly white, with a thin mouth, thin and feathery hair, and grey eyes, almost as if he were blind . During the same night, when Boo whispers to Scout to walk him back to the Radley house, Scout takes a moment to picture what it would be like to be Boo Radley . While standing on his porch, she realizes his "exile" inside his house is really not that lonely . </P> <P> Boo Radley's heroics in protecting the children from Bob Ewell are covered up by Atticus, Sheriff Tate, and Scout . This can be read as a wise refusal of fame . As Tate notes, if word got out that Boo killed Ewell, Boo would be inundated with gifts and visits, calamitous for him due to his reclusive personality . The precocious Scout recognizes the danger: renown would "kill the mockingbird". Boo Radley is a ghost who haunts the book yet manifests himself at just the right moments in just the right way . He is, arguably, the most potent character in the whole book and as such, inspires the other key characters to save him when he needs saving . </P> <P> After the Tom Robinson trial, Jem and Scout have a different understanding of Boo Radley . "Scout, I think I'm beginning to understand something . I think I'm beginning to understand why Boo Radley's stayed shut up in the house all this time...it's because he wants to stay inside ." (23.117) Having seen a sample of the horrible things their fellow townspeople can do, choosing to stay out of the mess of humanity doesn't seem like such a strange choice . </P>

Where was calpurnia born in to kill a mockingbird