To Kill a Mockingbird: chapter 17 quotes Flashcards
‘I saw that nigger yonder ruttin’ on my Mayella’
Bob Ewell tells his side of the story to Atticus in court. His explicit language and tone of voice imply he is angry and has something to lose.
‘Did you, during all that running, run for a doctor’
Atticus puts the Sheriff and Bob Ewell on the spot by repeatedly asking why they didn’t try to help Mayella after the rape was committed, conveying Bob is still hiding something.
‘She was banged up on that side of her face’
‘Mr Ewell, can you read and write’
‘You’re left handed, Mr Ewell’
Atticus leads Bob Ewell into a trap, asking if he can read and write. Slightly insulted by this, Bob doesn’t hesitate to write down his name on a piece of paper when asked to by Atticus. This gives Atticus the answer to a question he already knows the outcome of. He then proceeds to suggest that Bob beat Mayella as the bruises and Black eye are on the left side of her face.
‘We acquired no traumas from watching out father win or lose’
Shows how mature Scout and Jem really and the way they believe in their father comes to show how much Atticus has prepared them emotionally for the trial.
‘Well, if I ain’t I can’t do nothing about it now, her ma’s dead’
Bob Ewell tries to make a witty comment in court, until he is shut when Atticus repeats the question, only this time with more authority and compulsion. His behaviour in the court of law shows his ignorance and that he doesn’t take anything very seriously, thinking everything is a joke.
