Lee uses these chapters to provide an exquisite ending to a powerful novel by allowing circumstances to come full circle. Scout finally attains her childish wish to see Boo Radley in person just one time. To her surprise, he is a nice, gentle man who appears to be somewhat sickly — not at all the monster of her imagination.
Scout realizes, too, that she, Jem, and Dill affected much of the same sorts of prejudices on Boo that Maycomb did on Tom Robinson. When she recognizes him, Scout sees that he couldn't possibly be capable of the rampant rumors she's always heard. And she's able to understand on a new level how some of Maycomb's residents feel about those who are on the fringes of society. Heck Tate hoped that Atticus could free Tom; he's going to make sure that Arthur Radley is not put in the same situation: "'To my way of thinkin', Mr. Finch, taking the one man who's done you and this town a great service an' draggin' him…into the limelight…[is] a sin, and I'm not about to have it on my head.'"
For the endless hours Atticus has devoted to teaching Jem and Scout about human nature, compassion, and responsibility, it is Scout who has to remind him that charging Boo Radley with murder would "'be sort of like shootin' a mockingbird.'" The lessons Atticus has most hoped to teach his children are given back to him with that statement. At the beginning of the novel, Atticus engages Scout in a white lie about their reading together to keep her in school without unduly embarrassing Miss Caroline. Here, this lesson comes full circle when Scout reminds Atticus that the white lie about Ewell keeps the town safe without jeopardizing Boo Radley.
