Finch and Ewell: Opposites

If the world was black and white, ninety-eight percent of the population would be gray. Only a handful would be black & white; which in this case, is a synonym for complete opposites. It just so happens that in Harper Lee’s only novel: To Kill a Mockingbird in the main setting of Maycomb County there exist a pair of opposites. Yes, Attics Finch and Bob Ewell represent the extreme opposites of Maycomb’s society; in their contrasting viewpoints, considerations/thoughtfulness and impressions.

To begin with, being opposites, they hold the different viewpoints held in Maycomb’s society. Firstly, the most influential thing concerning a person’s viewpoint is their inner psyche, which can be portrayed by a literary device which shows a person’s stream of consciousness. Now, the only character that Lee really gets into is Scout. But, through Scout’s innocent eyes we see Atticus Finch and Bob Ewell as they really are. And it shows us on many different accounts that Atticus believes in equality for all. This does concur with some of Maycomb’s residents. The evidence that Bob Ewell is totally different, however, comes in the verbal output. Where Bob Ewell explicitly says at the trial: “I seen that black nigger yonder ruttin’ on my Mayella.” We can clearly see how he regards coloured people like Tom Robinson. He cannot even be bothered to refer to him by his name, and instead uses derogatory terms. Lastly, when it comes to expressing a viewpoint, knowingly or unknowingly, body language is often the best teller. Take for example the Atticus’s cool and impeccably courteous manner, even when being shouted at by Mayella, he kept his head, or rather his body, in check. Contrastingly Bob Ewell is rather easy to read with his short temper and such. ...

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... Finally, the culmination if all the afore-mentioned aspects results in the overall personality of a person. One sees Atticus Finch: cool, calm and collected. Now take that and bury it in a pile of disgusting droppings, boil it in a pot of vile excretions, add a few drops of poison, wrap it in a pile of used bandages and throw the whole thing into a room full of decaying bodies. Perhaps that would be a fair representation of Bob Ewell.

In conclusion, one can see that there are major differences between Atticus Finch and Bob Ewell when it comes to their viewpoints, considerations, and impressions. These differences represent the diversity of the people in Maycomb in which Atticus and Bob act as the opposite poles of a magnet. Inevitably securing their paths to cross as opposites attract. Perhaps it should be said: for every view there is an equal and opposite one.