Cassy
Mr. Salsich
English 8
September 16, 2009

FINAL DRAFT

The Mysterious Radley's:

The Unsolved Puzzle

Albert Einstein once said a very beautiful statement, "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious." The quote I chose really stood out to me, because it fit in so well with the fact that the whole town thinks the Radley family is extremely bewildering. Albert Einstein's statement is amazingly true. A mystery is beautiful, but there are times where it's not so beautiful, for example, the Radley family. The Radleys are not a beautiful mystery; their mystery is too disturbing in some aspects.
The most mysterious family is living next to Jem and his sister, the Radley family, but they can't figure out what is so strange about them. Its not so often when you find a strange family living right next to you. The Radley's son, Boo, is known for causing lots of trouble. For example, one day "Mrs. Radley ran screaming into the street that Arthur [Boo] was killing them all, but when the sheriff arrived he found Boo still sitting in the living room, cutting up the Tribune" (Lee, page 13). Jem and his sister thought that it was a little scary to be living next to such a strange family. In addition, the Radley family has quite the reputation, known for there peculiar ways. Odd stories fly around the town about the Radley family; "from the Radley chicken yard tall pecan trees shook their fruit into the schoolyard, but the nuts lay untouched by the children: Radley pecans would kill you" (Lee, page 11). The people of the town all believed that there was a "malevolent phantom", which might seem true since it is such a uncanny family. Finally, all the stories seem hard to believe, until you realize they are actually true. The Radley Family is truly crazy. The siblings didn't dare talk to their neighbors; it was just too spine-chilling. The siblings couldn't explain what it was like to live next to the craziest family of the town. That fact was too hard to talk about because they were so confused. Everyone always wondered if they would survive being apart of the Radley family. Most of them decided that they probably wouldn't.
At my mom's condo building there are two brothers who live together but they always seem very strange to me. For example, coming home from school, is about the time the brothers are home from work, but for some odd reason when they see that we are parking the car they just stop walking and just stare at us. It is a bit creepy. One time I got locked out of my condo because there was a fire drill, and he was out there, and he made small talk with me, which was extremely awkward. I think this is very much like Jem and his sister's situation, because they are neighbors with the strangest, and scariest family of the town. In addition, I try to tell my mom that they scare me, but she says they are completely harmless. When my mom tells me that they are completely harmless, it might be quite different than the Radleys. The Radley's are very dangerous and mystifying. I believe that my situation is similar to Jem and his sister but also different, because there are stories about Boo stabbing his dad in the leg with his scissors. Finally, I must say that I will always be rushing in the condo building before they catch up with me (even though they are quite slow) and strike up a conversation. I must be very careful that they don't get the wrong idea about me, thinking that I'm a hateful person and I'm not friendly, so I must not make it obvious that I do not want to talk to them. The brothers are supposedly very friendly, I must try and not make judgments to fast. Don't make judgments about a person before you get to know them.
The mystery of the Radleys will always remain unsolved. Nobody will really be frustrated if they can't solve the puzzle of the Radleys because they are one puzzle that would probably be best left unsolved. I will never solve it. Like everyone else I might be too afraid what is behind all of the mysteriousness. There are many strange people or families out in the world, but not everybody is perfect. They all have their different mysteries; some are beautiful and some are not.