At one point Bob Ewell comments that the "nest [of black families] down yonder" is "dangerous to live around 'sides devaluin' my property."What is...

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

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... 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.