To Kill a Mockingbird

Who really killed Bob Ewell?

We are led to believe by the popular consensus that Boo killed Ewell, but take into consideration that maybe it was the sheriff for the good of Maycomb?

Just a theory.

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It was Bob's knife. You're all confusing yourselves. Maxwell, Joe, Jean Louise, and Jeremy.

@Awesome N: Yes, you made it perfectly clear. The switchblade and the location was a bit strange and not a good idea.

Jem never did kill Bob. The Sheriff used evidence, and said that maybe Jem killed Bob.

But Jem didn't kill Bob Zoe. It really was Bob himself. Heck Tate made the evidence clear that Bob killed himself.

Omer-

You made a good point there, but that's not completely true. Bob did kill himself, but he also attacked the children, ripped Scout's costume, and broke Jem's arm. Jem never killed Bob. The switchblade on Bob's kitchen knife matched the stab that Bob made on himself. Heck Tate then showed Atticus the evidence of Bob's death. Jem never killed Bob because Bob had already broken Jem's elbow.

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book

Nora,

I agree

boo

Just suppose that Heck Tate killed Bob Ewell:

- Heck Tate and Bob Ewell have a run-in "downtown" earlier in the evening and Heck Tate takes Bob's switchblade

- Bob goes home and gets a kitchen knife and goes out

- Waits for kids in the schoolyard

- kids and Bob Ewell struggle

- Boo Radley hears the noise and comes out (with no knife)

- Bob and breaks Jem's arm and Jem is out cold

- Boo wrestles with Bob and pushes him against the tree, knocking him out cold

- Boo takes Jem home

- Atticus calls Heck Tate

- Heck Tate goes out and sees Bob knocked out, gets really mad

- Heck kills Bob while he is lying down, hence no blood on his clothes

- Heck washes before he goes to the Finch house

- Heck convinces Atticus that it was Boo and that the matter should be dropped

Evidence

- Boo Radley has no blood no his hands after killing a man, standing in front of him, pushing the knife in one shot between the ribs while the man is standing up(hard to do) and the blood would have come spurting out all over his clothes, while Scout says his clothes were clean.

- Heck does a lot of "convincing" Atticus so that the matter will be dropped.

Result

- Atticus fails in the upholding of justice and the concept that "all men are created equal" because he is "prejudiced" (already believes something) - he thinkgs that Bob is bad and that Heck is good and that Boo could have done this and Atticus is motivated to cover up the crime because his son will not be blamed.

- the author has "prejudiced" the reader to believe that Boo Radley did it.

- From the beginning the 8-year old narrator is an unreliable narrator because everything we know and hear is through her vision of things

- we hear her side of the story all the way through, although we believe her because she sounds like an adult and Jem confirms things.

- At the end, Jem is taken out of the picture and we only have her "obscured" vision of things - she is feeling with her feet and feels something she could not identify.

- That brings up the question - when was Bob killed? Could Heck Tate have killed him previous to the struggle and have taken the switchblade away long ago? Could he have replaced the switchblade with a kitchen knife? Could the struggle have been with two people other than Boo and Bob? Was it Heck and Boo struggling? Why did Heck look nervously at Boo when he entered the room?

Lots of unaswered questions, but everyone believes Boo did it and did a service to the town. That is not the law of the land being upheld.

Hard to say, but even an alcoholic in the midst of a despicable event deserves a fair trial if we are to believe that "all men are created equal" in the court system.

People, people! This is not a place to have an argument. This website is for people who are too lazy to do their summer reading. If you guys wanna fight or something go to a park. Idk

Source(s)

common sense

In the sequel of "To Kill a Mockingbird" Jem wakes up in the morning and admits to Atticus that he killed Bob Ewell with his own knife (a kitchen knife). Mr. Tate did get the switchblade off a drunk, earlier, not Bob. Jem never admits this to anyone again, because he is a sociopath, and being able to pass a football is all he really cares about for the rest of his life.

We already know that the legal system is broken because of Tom's conviction, so why suffer through another trial in which a murderer gets let go for some meaningless reason;-)

Boo Radley kills bob cause bob was acting stupid , trying to kill the kids

DON'T YOU ALL SEE IT? BOO KILLED BOB YOU CAN READ IT ON THE LAST CHAPTER AFTER THE ATTACK HECK TATE SAY THAT BOB "KILLED" HIMSELF BUT IN EVIDENCE HE DIDN'T. BOO KILLED HIM TRYING TO SAVE THE CHILDREN.

In evidence, Jem did not kill Bob because Bob had already broken Jem's elbow, and was unconscious. Scout reached and felt something unfamiliar and called for Jem. Bob fell on his own kitchen knife while Boo was at the scene. Sheriff Tate told Atticus that Bob fell on his own knife, killing himself to end the fight. There was no blood on Boo's hands so the question is, "Who killed Bob?" Bob killed himself. You're all saying that Boo killed Bob but Bob killed himself by falling on his own knife.

Well it would be Boo because Bob had died and was already dead and then Boo saved Jem from being killed. So there.........

BOO RADLEY

Boo Radley killed Bob Ewell with the knife that Ewell was going to use on Jem or Scout. Boo defended the kids and removed a town problem, which is why the sheriff proclaimed that Ewell fell on the knife. Atticus and the sheriff (and Scout) knew exactly what really happened, and they all agreed to the story that Ewell accidentally fell on his knife to keep Boo from having to stand trial and/or suffer the outgoing "tender mercies" of all the ladies in town.

Source(s)

To Kill a Mockingbird

Boo. End of argument! XD.

Bob probably tripped on a tree root and drove the knife into his ribs. But it wasn't Jem or Boo.

I believe that Bob Ewell followed Jem and Scout, and that he was carrying the switch knife. He attacked them with the switch knife as we know that it did not pierce the mesh that Scout was wearing under her costume. Boo Bradley, as he was accustomed to dark saw this and carried a kitchen knife with him in order to save Jem and Scout, we can say this as he had shown quite a lot of affection towards the kids and the kids were probably the only source of entertainment for him throughout the day.

So Boo used the kitchen knide to kill Bob Ewell. Then later when Tate saw this he knew what he had to do. As the writer also tried to show that the mental condition of Boo Bradley was not well, so Tate had to defend both the kids and Boo. So he switched the knives. He kept the switch knife with him and left the kitchen knife at the crime scene.Later when talking to Atticus he keeps on insisting that it was Ewell who killed himself and Atticus probably understood and he said that it was Tom's ghost that killed Ewell, to scout as well. So that she doesn't have any second thoughts about what happened and so that no one else finds out from the kids about it.

I also believe that Tom was compared to the mocking bird by the narrator, as it was a sin to kill a mocking bird and it (Tom's death) also proved to be a bad luck for Ewell (as Atticus says to Scout that Tom's ghost killed Ewell) as he was the reason that Tom was dead.

According to the book itself, Boo Radley killed Bob Ewell. Hope this helps! (Even if it doesnt)

It was Boo. Boo ran out with the kitchen knife and stabbed Ewell. The sherif found Ewell with the kitchen knife jammed in his ribs and took Ewells switch blade off of him so it would be believable that Ewell was the one who owned the kitchen knife, attacked the kids with it and in the end fell on it.

The last speech Tate gives proves it was Boo. "I never heard tell that it's against the law for a citizen to do his utmost to prevent a crime from being committed, which is exactly what he did.. " page 276

Boo preventing Ewell from hurting Jem and Scout.

Then he explains that if the truth came out Boo will be a hero and he will be pestered by everyone in town, knocking on his door and bringing him gifts and such. Boo is a shy private man so it would be a sin to do that to him when he has been so good to Atticus for saving his kids and the rest of the town for getting rid of Ewell.

Boo Radley the creepy guy saved Jeremy and Jean-Louise

It's most likely that Arthur(Boo) did kill Bob Ewell. I was told it was Jem by a friend but after reading the pages twice it all points to Boo

.Scout said it herself that he was the only other person under the tree and Jem was knocked out

.She said she heard panting and when they got to her house Boo was panting non stop

.The tree is right next to Boo's house so he would of heard the incident

.the way Scout described the cough is how Boo's cough is described by everyone

.Why would Mr. Tate so badly want to state that Bob fell on the knife? Obviously because he wanted the case to be done so no one can go and point the evidence towards Boo

Forgot to mention Mr. Tate said he got the switchblade off a drunk downtown and when Scout felt the person that was under the tree with her she said she smelled Whiskey

Source(s)

Page 352