To Kill a Mockingbird

Tom Robinson is convicted by the all-white jury despite Atticus Finch's thorough dismantling of the Ewells' testimony, which shows that Mayella was not raped by Tom but had instead made advances toward him and was then beaten, likely by her father Bob Ewell. Atticus is hopeful the guilty verdict can be overturned on appeal, but before that can happen, Tom is shot and killed while allegedly trying to escape from prison. The conviction and Tom's death badly shake Jem's faith in justice, while the trial leaves Bob Ewell feeling humiliated rather than vindicated, since Atticus exposed him as a liar and abuser in open court.

Ewell, consumed by resentment, spits in Atticus's face, tries to break into Judge Taylor's house, and menaces Tom Robinson's widow. His campaign of revenge culminates on a dark night after a school Halloween pageant: he ambushes Jem and Scout as they walk home, fracturing Jem's arm and knocking him unconscious. In the chaotic struggle, a mysterious figure intervenes and carries the injured Jem back to the Finch house. Scout, piecing together what happened, realizes their rescuer is Arthur "Boo" Radley, the reclusive neighbor she and Jem have feared and fantasized about throughout the book.

Sheriff Heck Tate arrives and reveals that Bob Ewell is dead, killed by a knife wound during the attack. Atticus initially assumes Jem must have killed Ewell in self-defense, but Tate makes clear he believes Boo Radley did it. To spare the pathologically shy Boo from the ordeal and unwanted attention of a public inquiry or trial, Tate insists on officially reporting that Ewell fell on his own knife during the struggle. Atticus, after some hesitation, accepts this, effectively agreeing to let the matter rest rather than expose Boo.

Before he slips away, Boo asks Scout to walk him home. She does, and after saying goodbye to him at his front door, she never sees him again. Standing on the Radley porch afterward, Scout imagines the neighborhood and the past few years' events from Boo's perspective, gaining a final measure of empathy and understanding. The novel closes with Atticus sitting up with the recovering Jem, and Scout, now older and wiser about both the cruelty and the quiet decency of the people around her, drifting off to sleep as her father reads to her.