Boo! A Halloween Summary of to Kill a Mockingbird

For many, Halloween is the time to brave the consumer crowds, dress up like our favorite villains and superheroes, and invest in a dental plan. For those of us who are too old (or too sober) to put on a Halloween costume, however, this is the perfect time to curl up by the radiator and indulge in a scary story.

Harper Lee’s American classic To Kill a Mockingbird may not be the first thing that springs to mind, but if you strip the story of its youthfully innocent narration and happy summertime exploits, the plot is downright creepy.

The story centers around “Boo” Radley, the neighborhood shut-in who allegedly earned his imprisonment by stabbing his father with a pair of scissors. Unsurprisingly, the townschildren try to avoid the Radley place for fear of being seen/abducted/barbecued by the prisoner, who hasn’t gone out in public for decades. The story’s heroine/narrator, “Scout” Finch, is therefore none too thrilled when her older brother and best friend begin obsessing over Boo, making plans to investigate his lair and telling ghoulish stories about his crimes. That’s enough to make any 6-year old want to change the bedsheets.

Worse yet, Boo begins to leave “offerings” for the Finch kids to find as they pass his house on their way to school every day. These range from seemingly innocent (but potentially deadly) trifles like chewing gum to painstakingly carved and terrifyingly accurate soap figurines of – you guessed it – the Finches themselves. (Nothing says “trustworthy” like carving children in your free time.) When a neighbor’s house burns down in the middle of the night, Scout, who is watching the disaster unfold on the street, suddenly realizes that Boo has draped a blanket over her shivering shoulders – and that she didn’t even notice he was behind her.

While Boo’s ghostlike ability to pass unnoticed through the night gives Scout plenty of food for thought, the real horror story begins when Tom Robinson, a crippled black local, is wrongfully charged with – and convicted of – raping a white woman. In case you like your tragedy with a twist of irony, the woman only accuses him after having been caught making some serious moves on the guy. Then, when Tom tries to escape from prison, he is shot no less than seventeen times.

Scout’s father, Atticus Finch unsuccessfully represents Tom in court, earning him the animosity of the townspeople and outright hatred of the so-called victim’s father, Bob. In a drunken fit, Bob attacks the Finch children on their way home from the Halloween pageant. Luckily, Scout’s sizeable ham costume – not to mention, the miraculous intervention of Boo Radley – save her from Bob’s knife, leaving her brother unconscious but only mildly injured. Bob is later found dead on the street, and those in the know agree to call the death “accidental” to protect Boo.

The end of this To Kill a Mockingbird summary and the Finches’ fateful encounter with the not-actually-all-that-scary Boo Radley teach us a valuable lesson: if you do decide to partake in the Halloween activities, don’t let your imagination get the best of you. But bring a ham costume just in case.

Boo! A Halloween Summary of to Kill a Mockingbird