❝ Then I saw the shadow. It was the shadow of a man with a hat on. At first I thought it was a tree, but there was no wind blowing, and tree trunks never walked. ❞
When people say your past can haunt you, it may be more true for some than for others. However, no matter the extent in which you’re haunted, what really matters is how you handle and comport yourself accordingly to these lasting memories. Arthur Radley is one of these unlucky souls. His childhood wasn’t exactly a happy one, his mother quite strict and forcing him to stay inside for the majority of her short life. She believed she was protecting him from the corruption of the world, but, despite her efforts, too much control can be the way to create a type of corruption. Arthur had never truly interacted with other children before, his mother home schooling him. But, one day, he had grown curious and lonely as he watched the neighborhood kids playing outside in the street. He snuck past his mother and ran out to meet them, only to be met with a mixture of screams and insults. To the other children, he had been a sort of myth — he was a ghost child that lived with the scary Mrs. Radley who was always looking for playmates to drag into the house and sacrifice them to Mrs. Radley. This was all obviously wrong, but children’s imaginations are wild and cruel. Not even the childrens’ parents had corrected their imaginations and Arthur didn’t know what had hurt more — the childrens’ naivety or the parents’ negligence.
Arthur had gone back home, crying and, in turn, punished for disobeying the number one rule. All of this would have been avoided if the parents had said something or if his mother had let him go out sometimes. From that incident, Arthur had learned that society could be cruel to those who didn’t deserve it. And, when his mother died when he was fifteen and he went to live with his aunt in Sparkwood, he also learned that that cruelty could be avoided if children were put in productive and loving environments. In Sparkwood, his reputation for being a kind of ghost somehow followed him — probably due to the fact he never wanted to leave the house — and he earned the name Boo. He went on to go to Sparkwood University, studying Law and Psychology. He continued his education in an out-of-town grad school and eventually became a lawyer for children’s rights. He moved back to Sparkwood, but is no more social than when he last lived here. He only goes out when necessary or when he deems that he probably won’t see anyone and often travels around the state due to his job.
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