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Chapter 28
“But I found it and looked down to the street light. A man was passing under it. The man was walking with the staccato steps of someone carrying a load too heavy for him. He was going around the corner. He was carrying Jem. Jem’s arm was dangling crazily in front of him.”
In Chapter 28, after being set upon by an unknown attacker who is later revealed to be Bob Ewell, Scout sees someone carrying an unconscious Jem. Although she doesn’t yet know it, this is her first real glimpse of Boo Radley.
“Mr. Tate found his neck and rubbed it. ‘Bob Ewell’s lyin’ on the ground under that tree down yonder with a kitchen knife stuck up under his ribs. He’s dead, Mr. Finch.’”
This revelation from the end of Chapter 28 answers the question of who attacked Scout and Jem, but poses a variety of new ones—primarily, who killed him?
Chapter 30
“‘Scout,’ he said, ‘Mr. Ewell fell on his knife. Can you possibly understand?’ Atticus looked like he needed cheering up. I ran to him and hugged him and kissed him with all my might. ‘Yes sir, I understand,’ I reassured him. ‘Mr. Tate was right.’ Atticus disengaged himself and looked at me. ‘What do you mean?’ ‘Well, it’d sort of be like shootin’ a mockingbird, wouldn’t it?’” “He turned out the light and went into Jem’s room. He would be there all night, and he would be there when Jem waked up in the morning.”
In Chapter 30, Atticus and Sheriff Heck Tate argue about the circumstances of Bob Ewell’s death. Atticus is convinced that Jem killed Ewell and doesn’t want to shield Jem from the truth of what happened, while Heck Tate is adamant that Ewell “fell on his knife.” Ultimately, Atticus realizes what Heck Tate is really saying—that it wasn’t Jem who killed Ewell, but Boo Radley. Boo saw what was happening, emerged from his house with his own kitchen knife, and stabbed Ewell to save Jem and Scout. The official story, Sheriff Tate says, will be that Ewell fell on his knife in the scuffle. Scout understands completely. Boo is a recluse, and to put him in the spotlight, even as a hero, would be a disservice to him. Read more about this quote in Quotes by Symbol: Mockingbirds.
