Boo Radley In Our Own Lives

     In the book To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee the character of Boo Radley is first introduced to the reader through the eyes of a six year old. Through this lens, he seems like a monster, Scout even says "Inside the house lived a malevolent phantom." Through the eyes of a young child, Boo Radley seems dark and malevolent because his ways are different than Scouts. At the end of the book when she finally meets him, Scout realizes that everything she had thought about him was wrong, and that he is a kind, and gentle, if very shy person.
     We all have had someone like Boo Radley in our own lives; everyone has had a person, or even object or idea in our lives that at first glance seemed strange, and out of place, but once we become more familiar with this strange person, or concept, we realize that our first impression was wrong.
     Now that I said that, I actually have to come up with the person/object/idea that represents Boo Radley in my own life. This may be stretching it a little, but for years I had a very negative impression of my grandfather. When I was younger, it seemed as if whenever I was around him, he was quick tempered, and extremely negative. Typically, I would spend a couple weeks at his house in the Summer, but it got to the point where I loathed going back, despite having 25 acres of woods, and all day to be out in them. As I got older, I realized that he was having health problems that weren't immediately apparent, and was in a lot of pain. He was so unpleasant to be around because of all the pain he was in, not his character. This realization, coupled with an improvement in his health has allowed me to become much closer to him, and I see him less as a grandfather, and more as a friend.