Question:
Did the ending of the novel surprise you? If you were the author, would you have ended the story differently? Explain.
Personal Response:
I have to say that the ending of the novel certainly surprised me. Firstly, I never expected Bob Ewell to target Atticus's children, Scout and Jem, and of course I didn't expect him to take revenge on Atticus to the extent that he will actually attempt to kill his children. This was the part which surprised me the most, the extent which Bob Ewell took to take revenge on Atticus. Although I understand that Atticus actually defamed Bob Ewell's family name by showing the rest of the Malcomb society that Mayella Ewell actually liked a Black, I never expected him to be that mad with Atticus to the point that he would actually kill his 2 children and in order to gain revenge.
Another section of the ending which surprised me was the fact that Bob Ewell died at the end. Something else which adds on to this surprise was that he died by FALLING ON HIS OWN KNIFE. I find that although this part is quite hard to believe, it is still quite startling because I never expected Bob Ewell to die. Furthermore, how he died is actually quite weird and in fact quite... stupid. It keeps occurring to me that Bob Ewell wanted to kill Scout and Jem, but instead, he killed himself in the process without even achieving his aim. That was just my feelings when I read the ending.
If I were the author, truthfully, I would not change a single aspect of the ending. Firstly, the ending is UNEXPECTED. Most good stories have unexpected endings which surprise the reader and in this story, Harper Lee manages to achieve just that goal. She surprised me with her ending and it adds more excitement to the story and makes it more interesting. In addition, with an unexpected but yet interesting ending, it also allows the reader to remember the story constantly since the ending leaves the most impact. The second reason why I won't want to change the ending is also how it actually fulfills its goal as an ending and actually sums up the entire story in a very nice way. I especially liked how the story ends off with the interaction and conversation between Atticus and Scout. It neatly packages the entire story as a whole and brings out the purpose of the story in a quiet but effective way from just that one conversation.
So that's my opinions on the ending! What are yours? :D
Cheers,
Raphael
Bob Ewell was full of hatred against Atticus for defaming his family, showing that Mayella Ewell fell for a black man. However, in his sane mind, he would never have dared to try and harm Atticus or his children. He was drunk, and was not thinking straight. When people are drunk, they expose all the things that they are hiding in their mind, that they would never do when sober. This illustrates Bob Ewell's hatred was to that of such an extent that he would hurt Atticus's love ones just to get back at Atticus. Thus, this further strengthens the situation; that Mayella Ewell fell for a black man was the ultimate, largest disgrace ever for the whole Ewell family.
ReplyDeleteWen Hong
Hi Raphael!
ReplyDeleteI agree that with Wen Hong that Mayella falling for a black man was a large disgrace for Bob Ewell and that Bob was full of hatred against Atticus. However, I disagree that he would hurt Atticus' loved ones just to get back at him. In my opinion, he did not want to confront Atticus because he was plainly a coward who attacked the helpless. Atticus was well-respected by Maycomb, so Bob would not even dare touch him. However, his children were defenseless against him, thus he already thought of killing them before he got drunk. Of course, like Wen Hong said, he got sober and could not think straight.
Raphael, I have just one thing to say. In my opinion, the ending was unexpected, but it was CONFUSING. It confused me quite a lot, yet again it was an appropriate end to such a story to make it unique from normal stories.
Regards,
Kai Xiang
2I105
Raphael,
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kai Xiang's point. The ending was very confusing. It is also very unexpected. However, I feel that I would want to change the ending as it was too fast and it was hard for me to accept suddenly. I would build up to the climax and then Bob Ewell dies. Bob Ewell deserve a worse death. In my opinion, he deserves a worse retribution.
Wen Hong's point about Bob Ewell being a coward is also agreeable. I also thought that he hated Atticus Finch so much that he wanted to kill his children. I did not see from another perspective and see it as Bob being a coward.
2I125
You're absolutely right. The ending is unexpected. When I was reading the part about the play in school, I stood up many times to get a sweet, preventing myself from falling asleep. I was like okay... okay... when suddenly a mysterious figure came out of nowhere. Kee Xuan's right. It was too fast for me to comprehend. It was only after reading that chapter for the second time that I managed to figure out what was going on. It seems mysterious for me, how Boo Radley knew that Scout and Jem were in trouble. The most logical reason I can give is that Boo Radley was expecting their return from school and that he wanted to say hi or something.
ReplyDeleteI loved the story. It was full of surprises. Maybe it is because the book is written in a different time from ours.
Shiyao
I agree that the story was very unexpected. The assault on Jem and Scout was very sudden and I was hence confused by the sudden climax. I had no idea why Bob Ewell wanted to attack the children. I think that Wen Hong's point is the most reasonable, where Bob Ewell wanted to take revenge as Atticus defamed him by letting everyone know that Mayella was in love with a black.
ReplyDeleteAnother point that surprised me was that Bob Ewell died by accident, impaled upon his own knife. Even though I had expected Bob Ewell to die, I did not actually predict such an ending. However, I thought that he would be executed by the law.
One other point that left me wondering was, like Shiyao said, how Boo Radley managed to know the children were in trouble. I think it is because he had been watching the children for a long time, even to the extent of leaving them trinklets earlier in the story.
Goh Xian Fong 2I1
It is confusing because it is told from the point of view of Scout, who was encased in a wire-mesh ham costume and couldn't see anything. There are several versions of what's happening: Scout's account (which is wrong), Atticus' belief about what happened based on Scout's account (which is wrong), and Sheriff Tate's version (which is made up)-- which he provides to cover up Arthur Radley's involvement, in order to protect him from the intrusive limelight. Bob Ewell died during his struggle with Arthur Radley.
ReplyDelete