This quote from Bob Ewell takes place in Chapter 17 during his testimony in the Tom Robinson trial. His comments refer to the location of Maycomb's primary African-American neighborhood, The Quarters, which are situated in close proximity to Ewell's own property. The irony of the statement is that the Ewell property, adjacent to the town dump, is the trashiest (and possibly least valuable) property in the town. The house's
... roof (was) shingled with tin cans hammered flat... the cabin rested uneasily on four irregular lumps of limestone. Its windows were merely open spaces in the walls... the plot of ground around the cabin look(ed) like the playhouse of an insane child.
The yard was covered with discarded items mostly ravaged from the dump.
There is probably nothing truthful about the statement. The peaceful people of The Quarters were not dangerous, and the Ewell property was devalued more from the proximity to the dump than the homes of The Quarters.
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