Boo was our neighbor. He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a pair of good-luck pennies, and our lives. But neighbors give in return. We never put back into the tree what we took out of it: we had given him nothing, and it made me sad.

Neighbors bring food with death and flowers with sickness and little things in between. Boo was our neighbor. He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a pair of good-luck pennies, and our lives. But neighbors give in return. We never put back into the tree what we took out of it: we had given him nothing, and it made me sad.

– Harper Lee

To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 31. Scout looks back on the childhood and Boo Radley’s gifts to the children with sadness and compassion. She knows that Boo is a friend and neighbor, not the boogeyman she was first told he was by Jem and Maycomb gossip Miss Stephanie Crawford.

Harper Lee Quotes