Who or what is the real villain in the novel, Bob Ewell or racism? Bob Ewell is behind most of the conflict that plays out in the story. He is a human representation of racism for the story. Harper Lee slipped in subtle information on why Bob is so racist into the story. Racism however is not just one man, Mrs. Dubose and the drunk men who were going to kill Tom, were quite racist as well. That turns this question from black and white to a grey area.
First off, Bob Ewell is clearly racist for several reasons. His family name has been dragged in the dirt and are notorious for causing harm to themselves or others. He despises black people because at the time they were the only people he thought he was better than. He had to constantly tear them down to make himself feel better. He intimidated Helen on her way to work just for using the roads. Racism had to be directly made against Tom by another character for the story to work properly. "I seen that black nigger
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"Your father's no better than the n*****s and trash he works for!" Mrs. Dubose said this to Scout and Jem about the case. This demonstrates how ignorant the town can be, she most likely knew nothing about the case and said that to children. Another example is the missionary circle with the group of women and Aunt Alexandra. One of the ladies said that her maid had been feeling down about Tom being found guilty. She told her to cheer up or she will be fired. Another woman began talking about how it's a bad decision for Atticus to defend Tom. She said this in front of his sister and daughter. Than the men who rush to the prison to kill Tom, luckily Atticus was there and Scout and Jem followed and she later defused the situation by simply asking, “Hey, Mr. Cunningham. How’s your entailment gettin’ along?” Overall this demonstrates that Bob Ewell alone wasn't the only racist in