4 (c) i.

How does Harper Lee inject humour and yet create a sense of tension and danger in this passage?

Harper Lee also injects humour through the use of irony in this passage. The irony is present in the
situation where Bob Ewell can be seen trying to provoke Atticus. Bob Ewell “approached him, cursed him,
spat on him, and threatened to kill him”. However, Atticus simply “took out his handkerchief and wiped his
face and stood there”. This calm reaction was definitely unexpected and it clearly contrasts with Bob
Ewell’s hot-headedness. This is humorous as we see the build up of tension between the two characters,
only to anti-climax as Atticus do not give Bob Ewell the reaction he had originally thought he would receive,
leading to Bob Ewell appearing as simply making a mockery out of himself. This can be seen further
emphasized through the sarcasm Scout employs, describing Bob Ewell as a “veteran of an obscure war”
indicating his oblivion towards the fact that he is only making a fool out of himself.

Harper Lee also injects humour through the use of the innocence of the narrator. Scout, the
narrator, can be seen making several witty and funny comments as she does not see the danger of the
situation due to her young age. The comment made by her, “After all, we would starve if Mr Ewell killed
him, besides being raised exclusively by Aunt Alexandra” show the reasons why they do not wish Atticus to
die is totally unexpected, bringing out once again their innocence, thus humour is injected. The fact that
they see Aunt Alexandra bringing them up worse than having their father to die brings out humour as the
triviality of the issue to these innocent children is entertaining.

Harper Lee however also creates a sense of tension and danger using contrasts in this passage.
There is an intentional sudden interruption by Scout after the entertaining recount of the confrontation of
Bob Ewell and Atticus, with Scout saying, “Jem and I didn’t think it entertaining”. The abruptness and
straightforwardness of the comment shows large contrast to the previous paragraph and thus further
emphasizes the fact that Jem and Scout were very affected that their father was subjected to such attacks.
The dialogue also adds on to the tension and danger, as Jem said, “You know he wouldn’t carry a gun,
Scout”. This shows danger as Atticus is clearly not protected and tension is present as Jem is worried sick
about his father who do not seem to be viewing this situation as worrying as the children. There is again
danger when Scout says, “[we were] not eating, taking little interest in our normal pursuits, Atticus
discovered how deeply frightened we were”. The fact that the children were going to such extremes just to
inform their father of their concern shows tension and danger, as Atticus doesn’t even seem to realize the
severity of the situation. Atticus being put in such a vulnerable position further adds on to the tension of
relationships between the children and him as the children will only feel more insecure and uneasy about
the situation since they cannot help protect Atticus.