Bob Ewell Character Analysis

The novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee includes the contradictory characters Atticus FInch and Bob Ewell. The setting of this book takes place in Maycomb County, Alabama in the 1930s. A small town where everyone in the town knows everyone. Atticus Finch is a well known lawyer, who works hard at his job, he is well respected around the town of Maycomb County. Atticus also cares deeply about his two kids. Jem and Scout, that he raises on his own with the help of Calpurnia, the maid for the Finch family. Atticus takes on a case about a young man, Tom Robinson who is accused of raping a young girl, Mayella Ewell. Which brings us to our next character, Bob Ewell.
Maycomb County is a small town, and everybody knows who Bob Ewell is. Ewell

is the laziest man you will ever meet in Maycomb, he is unemployed. He was hired to work at a desk, but he lost it for being too lazy to even work at a desk! He is known as one of the “poorer” people of Maycomb, Bob Ewell has eight children. His oldest daughter is Mayella Ewell, the young lady from the rape trial.
He is possibly known as the worst father, he is suspected to be the man who actually raped Mayella, his own daughter.
Atticus Finch and Bob Ewell are similar in some ways, but not many. One similarity between these two is that they both have kids. They may not take care of them the same, or have the same respect from their children, but they have children. Only one of them is actually a ‘good’ dad. These two only have one similarity in my case, because they have so many differences. The two men live totally different lifestyles, one has a steady and another doesn’t.
The differences between Atticus and Bob starts with how they are seen by the people of Maycomb.

Atticus is more well respected by the people of the town than Bob is. Atticus is a lawyer, and he works hard. Bob Ewell though is not a respected person at all in the town, because he is rude to everyone. Also, he is lazy with no job. One example of how Bob is unrespected is when the author wrote, “ this morning 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.” A second difference between the two characters is that Bob is a bad father to his eight children at home, he is the one actually suspected to have been the one to rape Mayella. Bob Ewell neglects his kids, and abuses them all. He spends his relief checks on green whiskey, since that’s all he spends it on his kids have no food. The Ewell kid’s stomachs growl and they cry from their hunger pains. On the other hand though, Atticus is a great father to his two kids. He is a good example for his kids, and cares about his kids. He has respect for his kids and treats them as adults, and Scout and Jem treat him with the same respect. Atticus expects his children to stand up for what they believe in, and does the same for himself. He does not feel he can tell them one thing then do the something

else.
A theme these two characters share is that Atticus and Bob teach a lesson by their flaws, personalities, and choices they make. If Bob would have not attacked Scout and Jem then the ending could have been different for Bob, and the FInch family. Harper Lee used these characters to ultimately teach us a lesson about how people are respected by their reputations and personalities.