The Ewell family

Mayella and Bob Ewell

• We know they are important in the novel because on the first page, Scout says "I maintain that the Ewells started it all. 'Atticus said the Ewells had been the disgrace of Maycomb for three generations.'"
• Burris Ewell appears at school on Scout's first day. Filthy and rude, he announces that he won't come to school again that year. Chuck Little describes him as "a mean one, a hard-down mean one".
• Mayella Ewell is the oldest of Mr Ewell's eight children and attempts to look after her siblings.
• She is 19 at the time of the trial.
• We sympathise with her to some extent as she did try to be clean and tidy, and grew red geraniums to brighten up her home. She has no friends: Scout realises "Mayella Ewell must have been the loneliest person in the world".
• She was so attracted to Tom that she saved up over a whole year to get enough money to send the younger children to buy ice creams and give her an opportunity to be alone with him.
• However, our sympathy dies because she lies about Tom Robinson raping her. She sticks to her story, even when it is obvious she is lying.
• Mr Bob Ewell is a rough man, described "as a little bantam cock".
• He has no job and lives off social security money. He uses the money for drink: his children scavenge for food on the tip near the family's shack.
• He is rude and ill-mannered at the trial - he calls the judge "Cap'n".
• He is racist, ignorant and hate-filled.
• He is proved to be a liar at the trial when Atticus shows him to be left-handed: the injuries Mayella suffered were inflicted by a left-handed person.
• He is bitter at having been shown up by Atticus during the trial and plots revenge, finally attempting to kill Jem and Scout.

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