What Does Bob Ewell Symbolize In To Kill A Mockingbird

“You never understand a man until you consider things from his point of view--until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”(Lee 39) To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee takes place in the 1930s during the Great Depression, in Maycomb, Alabama. It discusses important life lessons and perfectly shows what race relations in the South were like. The novel told from the perspective of a young girl named Jean Louise (Scout) Finch. You will encounter her father Atticus, who tries hard to prove the innocence of Tom Robinson, a young black man accused of rape. You will also learn about the family’s mysterious neighbor, Arthur “Boo” Radley. Boo saved Scout and her older brother Jem from a vicious man named Bob Ewell, who had also accused Tom Robinson of raping his daughter Mayella. Harper Lee uses the symbol of a mockingbird to represent innocent people who have been treated unfairly or also could have performed an incredible act of heroism. The two individuals in the book are Tom Robinson and Arthur “Boo” Radley.

Atticus Finch fought hard for Tom to have a fair trial but did not succeed. Tom was then shot and killed. Mayella Ewell is actually the guilty one--she was guilty of crossing a line socially, and, because she didn’t want to be held responsible for her actions, blames an innocent man. Atticus explains, "She was white, and she tempted a Negro. She did something that in our society is unspeakable: she kissed a black man. Not an old Uncle, but a strong young Negro man. No code mattered to her before she broke it, but it came crashing down on her afterwards" (Lee 272). Despite evidence to prove Tom is an innocent man and the charges were there to protect Mayella from what actually happened, which is that Tom is innocent and the guilty ones are Bob and Mayella