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What are three threatening events in Maycomb by mid-October?
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By mid-October, Maycomb faces three threatening events. First, Bob Ewell is fired from the WPA for laziness and blames Atticus Finch, escalating tensions. Second, Judge Taylor discovers someone prowling at his home, causing him to sit armed with a shotgun. Lastly, Bob Ewell harasses Helen Robinson, Tom Robinson's widow, until her employer intervenes. These events highlight Ewell's ongoing vendetta against those connected to Tom Robinson's trial.
At the beginning of chapter 7, Scout states that though things are beginning to calm down in Maycomb following Tom Robinson's trial, three events occur in mid October which are a little out of the ordinary.
First, Bob Ewell, the forever unemployed head of the Ewell family, is the first person to be fired from the WPA for laziness. He goes back on welfare and begins to blame Atticus for the loss of his job.
Second, Judge Taylor is home alone one Sunday evening when he goes to investigate a scratching sound he can hear at his back door. He sees nothing but his door swinging back and forth and someone's shadow disappearing around the corner of his house. When his wife returns, Judge Taylor is sitting in his study with a shotgun across his lap.
Third, Bob Ewell starts to follow behind Helen Robinson as she walks to...
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work, muttering foul words to her under his breath. He only stops when Helen's employer, Link Deas, threatens him with jail.
Aunt Alexandra seems to attribute all three events to Ewell and his anger at the outcome of the trial.
I don't like it, Atticus, I don't like it at all... That man seems to have a permanent grudge against everybody connected with that case.
Although "things did settle down, after a fashion, as Atticus said they would," October soon became even more tumultuous for some of the citizens of Maycomb.
BOBEWELL'SJOB. Bob actually gets a job, but then loses it--"the only man I ever heard of who was fired from the WPA for laziness." Of course, Bob blames Atticus for "getting his job."
JUDGETAYLOR'SPROWLER. One night while his wife was at church, Judge Taylor hears a noise on his porch. He finds his screen door open and sees a "shadow on the corner of the house." He spends the rest of the evening with "a shotgun across his lap."
BOBSTALKSHELENROBINSON. Tom Robinson's wife, Helen, gets a new job working for Link Deas, but every time she tries to walk past the Ewell house on the way home, Ewell "chunked at her." Deas warns Bob, so he stops the chunking, but starts stalking--following behind Helen "crooning foul words." This time Deas threatens to have Bob arrested, and the trouble with Helen stops.
JEMANDSCOUTAREATTACKED. Of course, the most brutal occurrence of violence comes when Bob Ewell attacks Jem and Scout on their way home from the Halloween pageant, only to be intercepted by Boo Radley. Although Jem suffers a badly broken arm, Ewell is knifed to death, and Maycomb becomes a much safer place to live.
Atticus decides not to attend the pageant because he is "all in"--too tired--after a week in Montgomery. Because Alexandra has been decorating the stage all afternoon, she is "too worn out" to attend. The resulting events will forever make them regret their decisions.
As for Bob, his multiple threats against Atticus--after he spits on him outside the post office and remarks that his firing is Finch's fault--it seems logical to assume that he is also the prowler at Judge Taylor's house. In Bob's mind, Judge Taylor allows Atticus to insult and degrade him, and Bob probably wants revenge against the judge as well. Until Bob actually makes his fateful attack against Jem and Scout, it is never certain that he will harm anyone; alcohol seems to propel Bob's emotions, and up until this time, he has not hurt anyone (although we know he was capable of it because of his treatment of Mayella). But revenge apparently haunts Bob, and he is bound and determined to make someone pay.