Robert Lee “Bob” Ewell is a character in the book ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee. At the beginning of the book we are only introduced to him second hand. We hear about his son – Burris Ewell – in Chapter 3 when the narrator of the story, Jean-Louis “Scout” Finch, describes how she attends her first day at school. Scout’s teacher, Miss Caroline Fisher, is new to Maycomb County and she does not understand the personalities of the town’s inhabitants. So when a “cootie” (head lice) crawls out of Burris’ hair, the class try to aid her in understanding why the Ewells habits are so alien. We understand the most about Bob Ewell when it comes to the court case that makes up the main part of the story. Bob accuses a black man called Tom Robinson of beating and raping his nineteen year old daughter, Mayella. Atticus Finch – Scout’s father and lawyer appointed to defend Tom Robinson in the case – twists Bob into revealing himself before the court room. From Atticus’ questioning we discover facts that point to Bob as the one who beat Mayella, rather than Tom. Even though the evidence is pointing in the direction of Bob, the jury are less likely to convict him. This is because at this point in American history in a southern county like Maycomb, a black versus white case is always going to favour the white. Bob knows this, and this makes him cocky and arrogant about the whole affair. He is not only trying to hide his evident violence towards his daughter, but also to win some fame in the minds of his fellow townsmen. But his plan to gain some sympathy fails when Atticus reveals to the town Bob’s true nature and how spiteful he really is. Through a variety of literary techniques Harper Lee creates a character in Bob Ewell who is very much despised by the reader.

Even though the Ewells are an old, white family, they are still considered outsiders in town society. Each and every one of the families in Maycomb except the Ewells has something in common. The most similar family to the Ewells is the Cunninghams. Both suffer from the Great Depression, which caused tremendous hardship at the time the novel is set. They are both poorer than most everyone else, but the Cunninghams are much more honest and live in slightly less poverty; more important, they retain self-respect. The Ewell children only go to school for the first day of the school year, then do not return for the rest of the school year and are marked down as absent. They live on a small patch of land behind the town dump. The house is run down and very shabby. Much of their day to day objects are scrounged from the dump. If a Ewell child wants to have a bath, he has to fill the collect the water himself and pour the bath, which usually consists of cold water. Because of this the young children rarely wash, as we find out from Scout when she describes Burris’ appearance as “the dirtiest person she had ever seen”. Because of the conditions in which the family live in, and the fact the Bob Ewell has not got a steady job, the Ewell family are obliged to receive welfare cheques from Maycomb Town Hall to help them get by in life. But this money is rarely put to good use. Bob uses his welfare cheques greedily and selfishly, buying only alcohol for himself. This leaves less money for his family and keeps them in poverty. It is as if Bob will not even try to help his family. The story is set in America in the nineteen thirties, less that a century after slavery was abolished. Black people were freed from slavery, yet in southern states where slavery had been a big part of life, old traditions were not forgotten. Black people were still regarded as below the lowest class. This means that even though the Ewells live in the worst poverty, and are the poorest in the town, they still rank higher than the black population in town society. Bob knows this and it gives him an edge in the court case against Tom Robinson. He knows that even though he can be exposed in court, he still has the upper hand and that the jury wouldn’t convict him, even if the evidence against him were so strong. Even though Bob is obviously guilty he still wins the case against Tom. What I do not like about Bob straight away is his arrogant and selfish manner, and that he spends his welfare money on drink instead of helping his family. More loathsome, though, is his arrogance he knows he has the advantage in the court case.

Harper Lee really shows us the contrasts between the Ewells and the other Maycomb families. Her comparison between the Ewells and the Cunninghams really show us how lowly the Ewells are. An important contrast Lee creates is when she compares the evil of Bob Ewell with the innocence of Tom Robinson. She shows how weak Bob is in court when he squirms under Atticus’ questioning, whereas Tom explains himself clearly and with full detail. We also see how much Bob is corrupted and his twisted evil is exposed under Atticus’ questioning in court and his following of proper values. In the last few chapters of the book Bob Ewells has sunk so low that he tries to murder Atticus’ children, Scout and Jem. But when he attacks them at night, the children are saved by their childhood fascination, Boo Radley. We see that even though the children lived in fear and excitement of Boo during the first half of the book, he shows his goodness when he saves the children from Bob Ewell’s evil rage. From all of these comparisons we can see that Bob Ewell is evil in every way. This escalates our dislike for him further and we hate him even more.

Lee fully develops Ewells as a despicable character during the trial and in its aftermath. After reading Bob Ewell’s testimony in the court case we can understand that Bob abuses his family. While in the court room, Bob hardly even tries to be formal. He uses a lot of slang and shows disrespect for the law on numerous occasions. His cocky attitude is visible when he answers the courts questions indirectly, like when he is asked a simple question “Are you Mayella Ewell’s father?” he replies with “Well, if I ain’t I can’t do nothing about it now, her ma’s dead.” Even though he ‘wins’ the trial he still shows hostility to those who opposed him in the court room. He spits in Atticus’ face in while Atticus is in town. Atticus thinks that Bob has ‘got it all out of his system’ by doing this and he does not expect any more hostile behaviour from Bob. But he is wrong. Bob is also suspected of trying to burgle Judge Taylor’s house late one night. These events eventually lead up to the attack on Atticus’ children one night after a Halloween party at the school hall. At this point there is no doubt that Bob Ewell is truly evil when he stoops so low in his revenge to attack a pair of children. When Atticus and Sherriff Heck Tate are discussing the attack afterwards, Heck describes how Maycomb would be better off without the likes of Bob Ewell. The story that the rest of the town hear about the attack is that Bob Ewell fell on his own knife, and that is what killed him. But we, the readers, and Atticus and Heck know that it was Boo Radley who actually turned the knife on Bob and stabbed him. But because of the Radley’s secretive nature Heck and Atticus decide it would be better to tell the town that Bob fell on his own knife. This is because if the town knew Boo stabbed Bob, they would give him unwanted attention for ridding society of such an evil man. This likely reaction from the townspeople confirms that Ewell is a character to despise.

Harper Lee has used various techniques to show the different angles of Bob Ewell’s hate-inspiring personality. She uses different settings to show how Bob reacts with distaste to the rest of the town’s inhabitants. Contrasting the Ewells with other families shows how different they are and even though in their society black people are ranked lower, I think that the blacks are better than the Ewells. When Tom Robinson gives us his testimony in court it is completely innocent and we instantly trust it. On the other hand Bob’s testimony is undoubtedly a lie and we do not believe him. Robert Lee “Bob” Ewell is by no doubt one of the most hateful and loathsome characters that I have ever encountered.