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Question: To Kill A Mockingbird - I don't understand a few things at the end of the novel, can someone explain it please!?
I read To Kill A Mockingbird a while ago and didn't understand a couple of things and thought it'd be good to ask here!. They're all from the very end of he book of course!.
Who really killed Bob Ewell, Himself or Jem!?
Heck Tate said "Bob Ewell fell on his knife!. He killed himself!."
He also said he could prove it and demonstrated how!. He has a point when he says that with his broken arm, Jem wouldn't have enough fight left in him to tackle and kill a grown man in the pitch dark!. But Atticus thinks Jem killed him in self-defense!? I'm thinking Heck is right but i need reassurance!.
I don't understand why Heck didn't want to tell people about Boo Radley saving Jem and Scouts life!.!.isn't that a good thing to do!? He said he didn't want to because everyone would shower him with angel food cakes!. And also because he is a shy guy!. He says it would be a sin!. "If it was any other man it'd be different!. But not this man, Mr Finch"!. (304)
I don't understand this line that Scout says to Atticus!. First he says to her after Heck left "Scout, Mr Ewell fell on his knife!. Can you possibly understand!?"
Then she says "Yes sir, i understand!. Mr Tate was right!."
Then he asks what she means and she says:
"Well, it'd be sort of like shootin' a mockingbird, wouldn't it!?"!. --What does she mean by it'd be like shooting a mockingbird!.!. I can't wrap my head around it, its driving me crazy lol!!
PS!. Sorry, i know i wrote a lot but it would put me at ease to understand what they mean!. Its my favourite book!. I hate how Tom dies :( Www@QuestionHome@Com
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
Question 1: Boo Radley killed Bob Ewell to save Jem, but i was self defense basically so they are pretending Bob Ewell killed himself because Boo was just trying to help and they don't want to make him uncomfortable or bring him into the spotlight where he doesn't want to be!.
Question 2: Boo obviously prefers hiding and doesn't want much attention so it would be cruel to tell everyone his part because it would endear him to them when they don't really know him!. It's up to him when he wants to come out!.
Question 3: Atticus is getting Scout to play along and she understnads and says it would be like shooting a mockingbird!. boo radley is like a mocking bird so it would be wrong to tell on him and how he killed bob!. all mockingbirds do is sing their hearts out for us so it would be wrong to shoot them!. boo has only tried to help so it would be wrong to make him uncomfortable or charge him for anything!. Www@QuestionHome@Com
i had to read this for school!
but i don't remember any of it!. sorryWww@QuestionHome@Com
As noted by the previous responders, Boo killed Ewell when he was going to hurt Jem and Scout!. Boo was a recluse, but a kind, shy man who had been looking out for the children, interacting with them via such incidents as the gifts in the tree and the blanket during the fire etc!. Scout realizes this when she steps on his porch at the end of the novel and is able to stand in his shoes- the real litmus test of what it means to be human- the capacity for empathy!. However, Boo and Tom Robinson are negative and positive images of the same quality(decribed as very white and, alternately, as very black) - both have only tried to be kind- they are both mockingbirds!. Their respective songs are the beauty of kindness!. Tom paid with his life for his kindness to Mayella; he was convicted wrongly!. Subsequently he was slain as he tried to escape - a mockingbird shot!. Boo could not endure the celebrity that heroism would bring him in a small town; it would be a terrible injustice to shine that kind of spotlight on him- kind of like shooting a mockingbird!. So, Scout realizes this as she agrees (ostensibly) with Mr!. Tate!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
If I'm not mistaken, the implication in the book is that Boo Radley is the one who stabbed Mr!. Ewing in the process of defending the children!. Heck Tate and Atticus Finch have the whole "Jem-couldn't-have-done-it-so-it-must-ha!.!.!. conversation for Radley's sake!. They've both figured out what happened in their minds, and they mutually decide to pin the crime on Ewing (a criminal who attacked two innocent children, and already dead, so he won't actually be tried for a crime that he didn't commit even if they blame it on him)!. They spare Radley from being persecuted for committing murder (a crime, even though he did it defending Jem and Scout)!. The reference to the mockingbird is that sending Radley to trial for doing something good and heroic would be like murdering a bird for singing a song!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Boo Radley killed Bob Ewell!. That's how Boo saved them!. The reason Heck wanted to say that Bob fell on his knife is that Boo is a recluse!. He would have been viewed as a hero for saving those kids, and that would have meant a lot of attention that Boo didn't want!.
At the end, the mockingbird part, I believe it is because at the beginning of the book they say it would be wrong to kill a mocking bird, since all they do is make pretty music!. I assumed Scout was comparing killing a mockingbird to "exposing" Boo Radley!.Www@QuestionHome@Com