to kill the mocking bird

To Kill a Mocking Bird: The Ewell Residence

In To Kill a Mocking Bird, Harper Lee gives us a very detailed description
of Robert Ewell, his family, and how he lives.

A good example is the passage in which Robert Ewell testifies in
the Tom Robinson Trial. This is a description of the Ewell's home as well
as an insight into the Ewells themselves. We learn what kind of a father
Robert is and the kind of life into which he has forced his eldest daughter,
Mayella. We also see how the county of Maycomb cruelly discriminates
against the black community even though they are more respectable than
people like the Ewells. Lee uses such detail in the account of the Ewell
cabin because the best way to understand the Ewells is to understand how
they live. For example, she states, "The cabin's plank walls were
supplemented with sheets of corrugated iron, its general shape suggested
it's original design: square, with four tiny rooms opening onto a shotgun
hall, the cabin r...