In To Kill a Mockingbird, what is Harper Lee's deeper message by presenting Bob Ewell opposite Atticus Finch?

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee present Bob Ewell as a foil to Atticus Finch. A foil is someone who makes another character seem better simply because of how different he is from the other. For example, even though both men are single fathers, Bob Ewell is not as good of a provider for his family as Atticus is. Atticus provides food, a nanny, affection, and guidance for his children, while Bob Ewell does not. Atticus expects his children to go to school, obey the law, tell the truth, and treat others fairly and with kindness. Bob Ewell does none of those things for his children.

By comparing and contrasting these two fathers throughout the story, readers feel empathy for the Ewell children, who suffer under a selfish and irresponsible father. On the other hand, readers feel grateful Atticus is the best father he can be for Jem and Scout. The contrast between these two fathers might seem extreme because Atticus never does anything wrong while Ewell can't do anything right, but the theme behind it goes back to how people are brought up. For example, Atticus comes from a respectable family while the Ewells, according to Atticus, "had been the disgrace of Maycomb for three generations" (30).

It would seem, then, that the deeper meaning behind people's behaviors has a lot to do with a person's education and upbringing. Based on the results of generations of examples from both the Finches and the Ewells, it is also logical to infer Lee decided to present the two men together to show the beliefs and values a family chooses to believe have a long-lasting effect on future generations. One of Atticus's mantras that shows what his upbringing and education have taught him is as follows:

"If you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you'll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... until you climb into his skin and walk around in it" (30).

Bob Ewell never learned anything similar to the goodness Atticus learned. A father will pass down to his children what he knows and values. Unfortunately for the Ewells, all they ever learn is to lie, cheat, steal, and usurp authority for selfish reasons.

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...

nouns - what do you call the person who passes the trophies to the prize giver/presenter?

The person who gives out the trophies to the winners are called award presenters. So what do u call the person who passes the trophies to the presenter? Thanks!

Is 'efficate' a word in English?

I routinely hear the word "efficate" being used. For example, "The most powerful way to efficate a change in the system is to participate." I do not find entries for this word in common English dictionaries, but I do not have an unabridged dictionary. I have checked the OED (I'm not sure if it is considered unabridged), and it has no entry for "efficate". It does have an entry for "efficiate", which is used in the same way. Wordnik has an entry for "efficate" with over 1800 hits, thus providing some evidence for the frequency of use. I personally like the word and find the meaning very clear and obvious when others use it. If it's not currently an "officially documented" word, perhaps its continued use will result in it being better documented.

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