When

Scout and Jem start finding gifts in the tree on the Radley property, it starts
becoming clear that Boo Radley is no longer the bad guy and is not who everybody made him out
to be. A few weeks after the presents started coming, knot-hole was filled with cement by Nathan
Radley and the reader starts to think that maybe he is the real one of the Radley family members
to watch out for. When Jem and Scout are walking home from school one day, they pass a tree
located on the Radley property. In this tree is a knot-hole and they notice a ball of twine inside it:
Next morning the twine was where we had left it. When it was there on the third day, Jem
pocketed it. From then on, we considered everything in the knot-hole our property (66). The
Radley Property is described as a very uninviting place so the only person who would dare to
hide something on it would be one of the Radley family members themselves. Boo Radely is the
only one who would have the time and the access to do something like this, and this is a small act
gives the reader a whole new perspective on him. By continuing to leave presents for the
children, the reader starts to think that Boo Radley is not the bad guy everybody makes him out
to be. This is an important turning point in the story because when such a big part of the plot
starts to be questioned by the reader, it has a ripple effect and makes the actions of other
characters somewhat suspicious looking in the new found perspective of the reader. After a few
weeks of finding small gifts in the knot-hole, Jem and Scout walk past it one day to find it has been
filled with cement. Since the only two surviving Radleys are the brothers and the children
presume that Boo Radley has been leaving them the gifts, they ask the other brother, Nathan
Radley for some answers:Mr. Radley, ah-did you put cement in that hole in that tree down
yonder? Jem asked. Nathan Radley replies, Trees dying. You plug em with cement when
theyre sick. You should know that, Jem. Jem later goes home and asks Atticus if the tree is sick
but he replies , Why no, son, I dont think so. Look at the leaves, theyre all green and full, no
brown patches anywhere (70-71). The reader immediately detects something fishy because

Atticus has been a very wise and reliable source from the beginning of the story. The sudden cut
off of the only know communication that Boo Radley has with the outside world shines a
suspicious light on Nathen because it is apparent that he is trying to hide something about his
family history from the community. Nathan has been proven to be a smart man throughout the
book, so the cement in the knot-hole was not a move to keep his tree alive, but an attempt to keep
other people out of the Radley Family Business. The start of the presents in the knot-hole and the
sudden end make the reader question the bad stories that have been told of Boo and the
unknown intentions of Nathan Radley.