To Kill a Mockingbird: Chapters 26 to END dD

Once again, the children return to school! Everyday they pass the Radley residence, but aren't into the old superstitions that used to shroud it in mystery.

Mrs. Gates teaches them about Hitler, and about democracies and dictatorships and whatnot. While this is happening, Scout probably connected the dots, and is wondering why negroes were treated so poorly, and why that's comparable in a way to how Hitler treated Jews.

And thus begins mister angry eye's Bob Ewell's campaign of evil! After being an insanely lazy worker, he gets fired, and Atticus gets his job, which doesn't make him anymore happy than he was previously. After Bob's welfare agent, Ruth Jones, told Atticus about that, Atticus told her that he can come see him himself to discuss the job.

Bob Ewell then attempts to rob the judge's home, because why not.

Link Deas has to yell at Bob to keep him from harassing the family of Tom Robinson, specifically Helen on her routes to and from work.

Various Halloweeny things ensue.

Bob Ewell then attempts to assault the children via deadly force, but he's stopped by the mysterious Boo Radley! Scout had somewhat mistaken him for Jem at the time though.

On a side note, Scout's costume acted as good armor.

Now's the point that it's revealed that Bob Ewell was the assaulter, and that he perished during his last attempt at evil, due to a kitchen knife being stabbed into him.

Now they get a chance to speak with Boo Radley. I'm reminded about how the last thing Scout wanted to see before she died was what Boo Radley looked like. Luckily her absurd ham costume was well armored against sharp objects! (which is kind of ironic since you normally cut ham with a kitchen knife)

I feel like Bob Ewell really tried way too hard to get revenge, and most of his attempts either backfired or failed, esp. the last one where he ended up dying. I'm pretty sure killing someone elses's kids because you don't like that person doesn't prove strength or that you're a good person. Infact, it causes people to think the opposite, because it is a cowardly, distasteful act.

Anyhow, Boo Radley was the one who finished off Bob Ewell. I knew Boo Radley had some importance to the story when he was being discussed and fussed over heavily, and still even referenced in chapters that weren't focused on him.

Atticus tells Scout that most people are nice when you finally get to know them as she falls asleep, which is quite true, and is a reference to how nice Boo Radley actually was compared to back when they thought he was a vampire or something. This can also be compared to Tom Robinson, who was innocent and fairly nice but few really valued that because segregation malarkey.

And thus the book comes to a conclusion! This has been a pleasant experience that I hope continues to occur in the future, but I'd really appreciate no more 6 chapter long extravaganzas, those are harder to fit into my scheduling compared to 3 chapter long extravaganzas.

Overall, the story has presented me with many things to think about, regarding time periods, segregation, and even more interestingly, the mind of a child as she matures. This book captures the growing up, and also blends the time period and aspects regarding segregation in really well.

As always,
Thanks,
~B.E.

dD datadyne