haha i think you mean the "rabid dog"... not rapid.
Interesting question though.
Normally the rabid dog is related to or is chosen to symbolise prejudice. And how Atticus so willingly and skillfully shoots it down. And just like prejudice, it "is just as dangerous dead as alive," whether prejudice is alive = when tom robinson loses because of prejudice. or dead = even if tom robinson wins prejudice in rumours against him will spread throughout the town. Yeah.
Back to how Tim Johson relates to boo radley. Boo ended up the way he is because of his misadventures when he was a teenager. He did not know at that time the consequences of his actions would be so big. The rabid dog too probably didnt knowingly get his rabies. As a result, Boo Radley is forced out of the society by his dad for those misadventures as tim johnson is for getting infected with rabies.
Both are also feared by the society. Boo Radley is seen as a "molevolent phantom", while the dog is seen as rabid. We see this fear when we see that the doors of the neighbourhoods lock up as the dog approaches, and "the trees were still, the mockingbirds were silent, the carpenters at Miss Maudie's house had vanished." The fear of Boo is too shown by the actions of the society, for example "A Negro would not pass the Radley Place at night, he would cut across to the sidewalk opposite and whistle as he walked." and "A baseball hit into the radley yard was a lost ball and no questions asked" - children are so scared of the molevolent phantom that they don't even dare ask for their ball back - "from the Radley chicken-yard tall pecan trees shook their fruits into the school yard, but the nuts lay untouched by the children".
What else??
maybe you could also say that tim johnson could think straight because of his disease, just like the maycomb people who cant think staright cos of prejudice.
and...
both of the characters are victims of rumours that are not true.
(quotes available in book)
:D
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