Personally? No, Harper Lee did not write Bob Ewell in a way that makes me able to empathize with him. I'm sure that there are some readers that have read To Kill a Mockingbird and very much empathize with him. I would assume those readers are in similar life situations as Bob Ewell himself. If I go with that, then I would have to answer yes to your question. Yes, Lee wrote Ewell in a...
Personally? No, Harper Lee did not write Bob Ewell in a way that makes me able to empathize with him. I'm sure that there are some readers that have read To Kill a Mockingbird and very much empathize with him. I would assume those readers are in similar life situations as Bob Ewell himself. If I go with that, then I would have to answer yes to your question. Yes, Lee wrote Ewell in a manner that makes it possible for at least one person to empathize with him in some way.
But like I said at first, no I don't empathize with Bob Ewell. I don't think most readers empathize with him either. He's a lazy, bigoted drunk. He gets pleasure from being a jerk to just about everybody. He's even a snot to his own lawyer.
Mr. Ewell was Mr. Gilmer's witness, and he had no business being rude to him of all people.
"Are you the father of Mayella Ewell?" was the next question.
"Well, if I ain't I can't do nothing about it now, her ma's dead," was the answer.
Personally, laziness is one of my biggest pet peeves. I can't stand to see it in the athletes that I coach. I can't stand to see it in the students that I teach. I know exactly how hard I had to work to get to where I am in life, and it wasn't easy, and it for sure wasn't handed to me. So when I see that Bob Ewell is treated as a trashy outcast of Maycomb because of his lazy drunkenness, I don't have any pity for him.
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