To Kill a Mockingbird
Harper Lee

CHAPTER 27

As the autumn wears on it seems that the furor in town over the trial has begun to die down. In the meantime, Bob Ewell has given Maycomb something new to gossip about.

First of all, Bob Ewell is fired from his WPA job on account of drunkenness.

NOTE:

The WPA, or Works Progress Administration, was set up in 1935, during the Depression, to give work to the unemployed. Very seldom was anyone fired. This incident is one more piece of evidence of Bob Ewell's incorrigibly bad character.

Also, Judge Taylor, who presided over the Robinson trial, scared a prowler away from his house late one night.

And last of all, Helen Robinson has been followed and threatened by Bob Ewell on the way to her new job working for the wealthy planter Link Deas.

In spite of these signs that Bob Ewell has not forgotten his grudge against everyone connected with the trial, Atticus is not unduly worried. Mr. Deas has promised that Bob Ewell will be sorry if he bothers Helen again, and Atticus assumes that Bob is too much of a coward to continue in the face of such warnings.

By the end of October, Maycomb has forgotten about Bob Ewell, and turned its attention to a Halloween fair that is to be held in the high school auditorium. In addition to games and booths, there will be a special pageant. Some of the children are going to represent the various agricultural products produced in Maycomb County, and Scout, much to her dismay, is cast in the part of a ham. Her costume is a bulky affair constructed out of chicken wire and brown cloth that makes it almost impossible for her to see or even to walk without difficulty.  

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