During the dark walk home, Jem and Scout fall victim to something that only the most cowardly of men would do. They get attacked by Bob Ewell. He, armed with a kitchen knife, tries to “get back at Atticus” for his humiliation by trying the lowest possible act. Killing the innocent children of the grudge. His plan, however, fails, because of someone, who Scout assumes to be Jem. Said “someone” pulls Bob Ewell off of Scout and in a tussle ends up stabbing him with Ewell’s own knife. p. 288 - 290. After this terrifying incident, Scout finds her way out into the lit street, a man, whom she doesn’t recognise at first, ends up carrying Jem out of the yard. We later discover that the man is Arthur Radley himself. When it is brought to Atticus’ attention that Ewell has been found dead, he initially assumes that it was his son who did it, in an act of self-defence. …show more content…
In an argument with Atticus, Tate tries to convince him that it wasn’t Jem who killed Bob Ewell. He, instead, states that he fell onto his own knife, killing himself. A heated verbal collision arises between the two men, with Atticus saying it isn’t right to defend Jem here and stands his ground until Heck Tate explodes, saying: “God damn it, I’m not thinking of Jem!” (p. 302). Essentially, I didn’t understand who Tate was referring to, but turning to the next page made me realise it isn’t Jem whom he’s defending. It’s Boo Radley. On page 303, Tate says that he thinks it’s a sin to drag a man like Arthur into court, knowing his unwillingness to speak to people at all, as that would shatter his privacy and make him extremely uncomfortable. Tate also shows a potential way Bob Ewell could’ve fallen onto the knife, in an attempt to prove his theory. To me, that’s what makes his statement more convincing and partially