Arthur and Nathan Radley’s father. According to Jem, Mr. Radley didn’t do anything, while Miss Maudie explains that Mr. Radley was religious to the point where he wasn’t interested in anything to do with the outside world, hence his family’s solitude and unwillingness to mingle in Maycomb. Due to possible abuse, he may be the reason for Arthur’s unwillingness to leave the house as an adult. He dies when Jem is a child, but Jem, Scout, and Dill resurrect him as a character in one of their summer dramas.
Mr. Radley Quotes in To Kill a Mockingbird
The To Kill a Mockingbird quotes below are all either spoken by Mr. Radley or refer to Mr. Radley. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 5
Quotes
“There are just some kind of men who—who're so busy worrying about the next world they've never learned to live in this one, and you can look down the street and see the results.”
Related Characters:
Miss Maudie Atkinson (speaker), Jean Louise Finch (Scout), Mr. Radley, Nathan Radley
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
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Mr. Radley Character Timeline in To Kill a Mockingbird
The timeline below shows where the character Mr. Radley appears in To Kill a Mockingbird. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
...tormenting a parish official, and rather than allow his son to attend the industrial school, Mr. Radley kept Boo at home from then on. Then—according to the neighborhood scold, Miss Stephanie Crawford—when...
(full context)
Chapter 4
...and her look scared. He doles out parts (Scout is Mrs. Radley, Dill is old Mr. Radley , and Jem is Boo) and chastises Scout for being scared of Boo, whom he...
(full context)
Chapter 5
...just stays in the house. Scout wants to know why, so Miss Maudie explains that Mr. Radley was a “foot-washing Baptist.” This confuses Scout. Miss Maudie says that foot-washers think anything pleasurable...
(full context)
