Bob Ewell's desperate attacks of the Finch children are foreshadowed many times in preceding chapters of To Kill A Mockingbird. The first example comes on the very first page of the novel, when Scout's narration first introduces Jem's broken elbow and her comment that "the Ewell’s started it all." Atticus hints at Bob's abuse toward children in Chapter 3 when he tells Scout how the Ewell children are "crying from hunger pains." Atticus tells Scout that Bob will never change. "Are you going to take out your disapproval on his children?”. Bob's threat become more direct when he spits in Atticus' face and "told him he'd get him if it took the rest of his life." (Chapters 22-23.) In Chapter 23, Atticus tries to calm Alexandra and the children