What are some examples of deceptive appearances in To Kill a Mockingbird?

The character who most illustrates that he is really something different from what people think is Boo Radley.  Boo’s existence is surrounded by rumors and myths that Scout and Jem have heard their entire lives.  Supposedly, Boo sneaks around town peering in windows, he eats cats and squirrels, stabs his mother with a pair of scissors, and his breath will freeze flowers.  His reputation is of epic proportions, and, at first, Scout and Jem believe...

The character who most illustrates that he is really something different from what people think is Boo Radley.  Boo’s existence is surrounded by rumors and myths that Scout and Jem have heard their entire lives.  Supposedly, Boo sneaks around town peering in windows, he eats cats and squirrels, stabs his mother with a pair of scissors, and his breath will freeze flowers.  His reputation is of epic proportions, and, at first, Scout and Jem believe the terrifying stories and rumors about his life.  However, we learn through Boo’s actions that appearances can be deceiving.  He leaves presents for Scout and Jem in the knothole of the tree, he covers Scout with a blanket during Miss Maudie’s fire, and, of course, he saves Jem and Scout’s life at the end of the novel.  He is kind, caring, and loves the children.  He is not the monster the children imagined but a man with problems and issues that we as readers don’t quite understand.

Other examples of how appearances can be deceiving are seen through Mrs. Dubose.  Mrs. Dubose is a symbol of the old, racist South, and her addiction to morphine represents the South’s “addiction” to racism.  Before she dies, she wants to kick her habit.  When we first meet Mrs. Dubose, she calls Atticus a derogatory word for defending Tom Robinson.  Jem is so angry that he destroys her camellia bush with Scout’s baton.  Atticus makes Jem read to Mrs. Dubose as she slowly goes through withdrawals from the effects of her morphine addiction.  In the end, we realize Mrs. Dubose’s strength to change her life before she dies, and her attempts to thank Jem by sending him a camellia flower.  The original characterization of Mrs. Dubose by Harper Lee is different from what the reader ends up believing about her.

Other characters you could put on the list of how appearances can be deceiving are Dolphus Raymond who people think is an alcoholic but isn’t, and Mr. Underwood whose original racist attitudes change when he protects Atticus from the lynch mob and when he writes an editorial supporting Tom Robinson’s innocence.