Discuss what happened under the tree. Post TWICE (4+ sentences each). Take one or more of the following angles:
- What does Atticus initially think happened, and what does he want to do about it? Why?
- What does Heck Tate SAY happened? Why does he say this? What does Heck Tate BELIEVE happened?
- What does Scout say would be “sort of like shootin’ a mockingbird” (370)? Why does she say this?
- What do you think happened? What evidence from these chapters supports this theory?
- What do you think happened? What evidence from earlier in the book supports this theory?
Ms Bularzik's Blog 
Heck Tate says that Bob Ewell fell on his knife and killed himself by accident. He says this to console Atticus that Jem did not kill him by accident. I think a Heck Tate believes it was Jem but he would not say anything to Atticus. Heck Tate is the sherif so he makes the decisions of who killed who.
First off, I’ve read ahead a little so, *Spoiler Alert!* Secondly, I will respond to your comment. I agree on the fact that Heck Tate “fell” on his knife, even though that’s not what really happened. I would like to say that, perhaps, Heck Tate believes Boo Radley was the killer. He is not making that the official story because Boo is a very private person, and disclosing that it was him who saved the two would only bring him unwanted attention. It wasn’t malicious, anyway, so leaving Boo out of the story completely has no negative reprocusions.
At first Atticus thinks that Jem was the one who killed Bob by a accident. He says that if it was Jem he doesn’t want to hide it and make it go away. He doesn’t want to do that because he doesn’t want people to talk about Jem behind his back for the rest of his life. He also doesn’t want people to think badly of him.
Atticus thinks that Jem killed Bob Ewell. Heck Tate wants to call it an accident but Atticus doesn’t want Jem protected from the law. I think Atticus says this because he isn’t racist. If the Finchs were black, Heck wouldn’t say it was an accident, he would say Jem did it. But because Atticus doesn’t want Jem thinking he can always have the advantage because he is white, he doesn’t want him protected by the law.
Heck Tate says that Bob fell on his knife and killed himself. Heck only says this because he knows revealing the truth will only bring worse things. He also knows that bringing attention to Boo Radley all of a sudden would make him uncomfortable. Heck believes that Boo Radley was the one who killed Bob Ewell.
What I think happened is that Boo killed Bob Ewell in self defense. I think Boo sneakily took Bob’s knife out of his pocket and stabbed him. Boo did this in self defense to protect Scout and Jem because Boo knows Bob is out to get them because he still has un finished business with them. Also Boo could have gotten the knife off the ground because Bob was running it and it could have fallen out of his pocket and Boo could have picked it up and stabbed Boo in self defense to protect the children.
Heck Tate says that Bob Ewell fell on his own knife. He creates this story to prevent the Finches from going through any more pain. Despite Atticus changing the town greatly they still got a lot of notoriety. This would just add to that because of everything that happened to Tom and Bob. It could ruin Jems future too but also Scout and Atticus.
Scout agrees with Mr Tate and only says it would be like killing a mockingbird. Earlier in the chapter Heck says that Bob Ewell is one of those people yo have to shoot before you say hi and even then the aren’t worth the bullet. Jem was defending not only himself but Scout. It would be sinful to ruin Jems future because he killed someone like Bob Ewell in self defense.
Atticus thinks Jem killed Bob Ewell by accident. Atticus does not want to protect Jem from the law even though Mr.Tate would like to call it an accident. Atticus probably thinks this because Jem was the first one on the scene and fall into someone which made him fall onto his arm. Also Atticus wants Jem to face the law because they are regular people like anyone else and should face the consequences if Jem actually did kill Bob.
What does Heck Tate SAY happened? Why does he say this? What does Heck Tate BELIEVE happened?
Heck Tate says that Bob accidentally killed himself while walking home drunk. He says this because he does not want any of the Finches to be persecuted for the crime. He also does not want Boo to get more attention than he already does. Tate thinks that Boo stabbed Bob in order to save Jem and Scout.
What do you think happened? What evidence from these chapters supports this theory?
I think that Boo did not kill Bob. Since scout saw 4 people,(Jem, Bob, and Boo were the obvious people who are known were under the tree) I believe that the fourth person was Heck Tate who knew there was a man at Judge Taylor’s house and Tate knew it was Bob. So he was keeping an eye on Bob to make sure he was not trying to hurt anyone. Tate must have been following Bob until he saw Bob trying to hurt Scout and Jem. Tate came under the tree where Bob was probably trying to keep his balance, because he was drunk, and stabbed Bob with a switch blade knife that he had. He than switched out the switch blade knife with the knife Bob was holding so nobody would suspect him of doing it. As he was doing that Boo came out because he heard Scout and Jem Screaming. Boo than helped Jem to his house under the orders of Tate. Tate is calling it an accident because he knows he did it and he does not want to go to jail for it. He also hated Bob just like most other people in Maycomb. He knew he was getting rid of the crime Bob was doing to Helen and that he was doing the town a favor. He did what he thought was best because he wanted everyone to feel safe.
Originally Atticiss thought that Jem killed Bob on accident. He was scared for reasons for Jems reputation in a sense. He did not want people knowing Jem as a murderer for his life and wanted to protect Jem from such a thing.
Heck tate said the Bob had a accident with a knife and ended up dead. I believe that the sheriff was never a bad man but racism made him go bad. I think he know that someone killed Bob but he can tell that itwas self defense. As well as Bob has been acting up lately and would end even ending himslef hecause pf desperation.
Atticus thinks that Jem stabbed Bob Ewell because of what Scout thinks what happened. He is narrow minded on the subject, as he wanted to tell the truth that he was stabbed by somebody, not that he fell on his knife like Heck said. Atticus is so focused on how his own son can stab somebody, that he does not think that anybody else, like Boo Radley, did it. Atticus is so focused and shocked by this event that he is not thinking straight, besides going by his moral code and telling the truth.
Heck Tate says that Bob Ewell fell on his knife. He says this obvious lie because he thinks that Jem stabbed Bob, and he does not want that young boy to get into any trouble. He actually believes, though, that Jem was the one that got up and killed the man who was drying to kill them. Heck’s statement on how they should lie and tell the town that he was killed by falling on the knife, not that Jem stabbed him.
First off, I’ve read ahead a little so, *Spoiler Alert!* Secondly, I will now answer question 3. Although Scout could be, and is probably intending to be talking about Jem when she mentions the Mockingbird. She is not yet aware of the fact that Boo Radley saved her, not her brother. The analogy still works after this swapping of names being compared to a mockingbird, though. Boo Radley fits the role of a mockingbird perfectly; not really bothering anyone until he’s needed, serving his purpose, and then retreating to his place of secrecy.
What does Heck Tate SAY happened? Why does he say this? What does Heck Tate BELIEVE happened?
Heck Tate says that Bob accidentally killed himself while he was drunk and fell on his own knife. He does this because he does not want Jem being blamed for the crime, or bring more drama to Boo Radley. Heck Tate thinks that Boo was the person who had stabbed Bob, but does not want to blame it on him.
What does Atticus initially think happened, and what does he want to do about it? Why?
Atticus initially thinks that Jem was the person who stabs Bob. What he thinks about it is that Jem should not have special treatment from authority because of his race. Partially, because Atticus himself is not racist, and cannot live with that fact that the action would have been tooken into an whole other perspective if a black person had done it. He doesn’t want his son to have to go through the guilt for the rest of his life.
I think what happened under the tree from what it said in the chapters is that Bob was still really mad about what happened during the trial. He was extra mad at Atticus because if it wasn’t for him defending Tom so well and bringing up so many had things about the Ewells then people would care more, but that didn’t happen. So Bob still wanted to hurt Atticus’s family because Atticus hurt his. So when he took a chance and attacked the kids under the tree, especially because he was drunk, because Scout said that she smelled whiskey breath. Then when they found Bob Ewell stabbed they said that it must have been himself, but I think that it was Boo who stabbed him with his knife. I think that the knife belonged to Boo and he might have used it for the carving, like it said from chapter before. So since they were under the Radley tree Boo of caurse saw them and since Jem and Scout are his only “friends” then he had to help.
Heck Tate said that a Bob fell on his knife and killed himself. He said that because Atticus is one of his friends and he knows that the Finch family are good people so they shouldn’t be blamed. Also he probably thinks that if they said that it was their fault that the town would hurt them, and the Finch reputation would he ruined. Also the Radley family is already feared so he wouldn’t want the town to think that now they are capable of murder.