In Chapter 23 of Harper Lee's To Kill a
Mockingbird we find Atticus Finch being victimized by Bob Ewell. Atticus has
basically exposed Mr. Ewell for the lies he tells and the way of life with which he
carries on in Maycomb. As a result, Ewell is mad and wishes to destroy Atticus
Finch.
The specific incident of victimization and bullying
occurs at the beginning of this chapter, when Ewell not only spits his tobacco at
Atticus, but tempts him to fight by calling him names that people would not even
repeat.
One of the questions Ewell asks is whether Atticus
is too proud to fight him. To this, Atticus answers:
No, too old, [he then] put his hands in his
pockets and strolled on.
We
as readers can conclude that Atticus is not a man of war. He would not lower himself to
the nonsensical and immature behavior of a man like Ewell. He, contrastingly, took the
situation quite lightly and simply said about it:
I wish Bob Ewell wouldn't chew
tobacco.
We also know that
Atticus refuses to get a gun, and does not seem to be too afraid of the social wrath to
which he has become exposed as a result of Tom Robinson's trial. In all, he is a
gentleman's gentleman and an extremely courageous man who does not have to show his
strength by the use of his hands, but by his appeal to common
sense.
No comments:
Post a Comment