The Radley household

I don’t think the Radley household is supernatural , but could have a few of the qualities that a supernatural household would. It could also be that the house may not be supernatural itself , but Boo Radley is , and makes the house feel that way.

The description of the house and the area in front of it is good . From what we have been told we can tell the house is dilapidated and has fallen into a state of disrepair. This may be because nobody has any love for the house and the associations it may have . I can imagine what it used to be like ,the colours would have been vibrant and the house wouldn’t have been in disrepair , just like most of the other houses in that part of town . The deterioration started from when boo was abused and ruined by his father , which he stabbed when he was 9 or so , this has continued until now ( in the book) and will still get worse .

A reason for the radley household being dilapidated is that as the years went by there was less and less care for it , and the person who lives there hardly gets outside or does anything . the house is neglected exactly like Boo Radley was . It could show what condition he is in or what happened to him .It could also show his mental condition and how it has deteriorated as the years have gone past .

The description of the house is dark and makes you think about how it looks and why it is in that condition.

i quite like this quote “The house was low, was once white with a deep front porch and green shutters, but had long ago darkened to the color of the slate-gray yard around it.  Rain-rotted shingles drooped over the eaves of the veranda (porch); oak trees kept the sun away.  The remains of a picket (fence) drunkenly guarded the front yard – a ‘swept’ yard that was never swept – where johnson grass and rabbit-tobacco grew in abundance.”

it says the “house was once white”, this is how you can tell the house wasn’t always in this condition and was once a place where a family had lived .

the house was low, ” makes me think that the house has sunk down and collapsed in on itself as a result of it not being looked after and nobody caring about it , even if boo wanted it repaired most people wouldn’t want to because of all the what he has done in the past or the notoriety that he has .

Another part to pick out is “The remains of a picket drunkenly guarded the front yard ” the fences are described as drunken, so you can figure out that they are not arranged and are scattered all around the place , probably broken and splintered. it also says the remains ,  so not all the original pickets are thee.

The way the house is described is very detailed and dark , and could be depressing .It’s also mysterious as it explains how the house looks, but doesn’t reveal too much about it ( the story behind it )  and doesn’t force you to think it is supernatural , but instead makes you come to your own conclusion and think what you want to .


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One response to “The Radley household”

  1. leonz Avatar
    leonz

    What you can do to improve is state the language devices that Harper Lee uses to portray Boo Radley as a supernatural character. You included many quotations and talked about them, but I think it would be better if you only stuck to two points and further developed them, rather than adding a lot of points and giving brief detail about them.

    Finally, your structure could be more organised. You talked about the house being low, then you talked about the house was once white, then you went back to talking about the house being low. Organising your paragraphs will make it easier to understand, and your meaning will be clearer.

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