Towards the end of Chapter 1 of To Kill a Mockingbird, Miss Stephanie tells Jem about Boo Radley and his family. She tells the story of when Boo stabbed his father in the leg, but his father did not press formal charges against him because he did not feel that Boo was a criminal. It is stated that, "the sheriff hadn’t the heart to put him in jail alongside Negroes, so Boo was locked in the courthouse basement" (pg. 11). After some time, however, it was felt that Boo would become ill if he stayed in the damp basement, so his father agreed to have him come home. It is also said that, "nobody knew what form of intimidation Mr. Radley employed to keep Boo out of sight," (pg. 12) which means that Mr. Radley must have been using some sort of fear to keep Boo in line. This is interesting because it seems as if Boo is a young child based on the punishment, but he is actually a grown man by this point in his life.
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