In To Kill a Mockingbird, children live in an inventive world where mysteries abound but little exists to

actually cause them harm. Scout and Jem spend much of their time inventing stories about their
reclusive neighbor Boo Radley, gleefully scaring themselves before rushing to the secure, calming
presence of their father, Atticus. As the novel progresses, however, the imaginary threat that Boo Radley
poses pales in comparison to the real dangers Jem and Scout encounter in the adult world. The siblings’
recognition of the difference between the two pushes them out of childhood and toward maturity—and
as they make that transition, Boo Radley, their childhood bogeyman, helps serve as link between their
past and their present.

The games and stories Jem and Scout create around Boo Radley depict him as a source of violence and
danger. However, though these inventions seem designed to prove the children’s braveness and
maturity, they paradoxically prove that Jem, Scout, and their friend Dill fundamentally remain children.
Their stories are gruesome, and the thrill of their games—such as touching the side of Boo’s house—
comes from the danger they imagine they would face if Boo were to catch them. However, the children
are able to indulge in wild imaginings and take what they perceive as risky chances only because they
feel completely safe in the care of Atticus, who protects them from a dark, dangerous world. The
threatening, menacing Boo thus remains firmly entrenched in their childhood worldview, where adults
are infallible and all-powerful.

When adult protection breaks down in the novel, Jem and Scout get their first taste of true danger,
which is different from the imagined dangers they’d attributed to Boo Radley. The fire at Miss Maudie’s,
Mrs. Dubose’s grisly death, and the violence and unrest that trails in the wake of the Tom Robinson case
introduce real misfortune and anxiety into their lives. For the first time, adults are frightened and sad
along with the children, and therefore cannot be counted on to provide security or refuge. Boo Radley,
once such a threatening presence, now seems like a remnant of a more innocent time. The contrast
between then and now seems all the more stark because Boo Radley remains in their lives, a constant
reminder of how things had been before.

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