Who Is The Protagonist In To Kill A Mockingbird

Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, teaches its audience valuable lessons about racism and injustice, using many of its complex characters. One of them being, Bob Ewell, the main antagonist in the story who plays a crucial role in the novel’s plot and themes. He lives in Maycomb, Alabama, during the Great Depression where racism is still a huge problem. He is a poor, racist, uneducated and abusive man who lives with his eight children behind the town's garbage dump. He is a member of the lowest class of Maycomb's social hierarchy and is quick to blame his problems on the black community. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Bob Ewell selfishly lies to convict an innocent black man which supports the theme of, it is bad to destroy the

He is an example of the injustice and prejudice that exists in the heart of his home city, Maycomb. Bob Ewell is a man of low integrity and has a manipulative personality. In his hatred for African Americans, Bob testifies against Tom Robinson in court and falsely accuses him of raping Bob’s daughter, despite the overwhelming evidence in Tom’s favor. Tom is an honest and hard working African American male, who has done no wrong to Bob or his family. Still, Bob Ewell uses his status as a white man to deceive the jury and the judge into believing his story. He manipulates the jury and appeals to their inner prejudices. Although Tom Robinson is innocent, the jury convicts him, because of the color of his skin. He is thrown in prison, where he is later killed for attempting to escape. Still, Bob Ewell feels no remorse for taking this innocent man's life away, showing his disregard for other people's

Although he successfully throws Tom Robinson into prison, he is still not satisfied and holds grudges towards those involved in the case. He is willing to do whatever it takes to protect his reputation and maintain his position of power, even at the expense of others. Not even Tom Robinson’s lawyer, Atticus, is safe from Bob. Just a few days after the trial concluded and Atticus was distraught from the conviction, “Mr. Bob Ewell stopped Atticus on the post office corner, spat in his face, and told him he’d get him if it took the rest of his life” (Lee 290). Bob still feels embarrassed and ashamed that Atticus provided unwavering evidence that he is the guilty one, so he begins threatening and harassing Atticus as an act of revenge and payback. He even threatened Tom Robinson’s wife and tried to burgle the judge of his case, Judge Taylor. His ludicrous actions embody the definition of how bad it is to destroy the good just because you do not like