Sheriff Heck Tate only appears in a few chapters of
To Kill a Mockingbird, but they are among the most memorable and
pivotal of the novel. Tate first appears in Chapter 10 when he is called in to take care
of the mad dog, Tim Johnson. Tate is described as
... tall as Atticus, but thinner. He was
long-nosed, wore boots with shiny metal eye-holes, boot pants and a lumber
jacket.
Although there is no
mistake that Tate is in charge, he nevertheless hands his rifle to Atticus to finish off
the dog, nearly causing Jem and Scout to faint. But Tate knows Atticus' secret--that he
is the finest marksman in the county--so Tate wisely chooses the best man for the
job.
In his testimony during the Tom Robinson trial, we
find that Tate is competent but unremarkable. He reports the facts of the case, but we
find that he fails to have Mayella checked by a doctor; and he does not recognize that
the bruises on her right eye could only have been made by a left-handed
man.
In Chapters 28-30, Heck takes the spotlight. He
manages to set the record straight for Atticus, who incorrectly believes at first that
Jem has killed Bob Ewell. His humane nature is evident at the end, when he decides to
falsely declare that Bob has died of a self-inflicted wound instead of bringing the
reclusive Boo Radley into the "limelight" of an investigation. Atticus and Scout agree
afterward that it was the right thing to do.
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