The End

Did the ending of the novel surprise you? If you were the author, would you have ended the story differently?

The ending of the novel surprised me, because having read many books, I expected that Bob Ewell be sentenced to jail or be persuaded to have a change of heart. Instead, he dies accidentally, either by falling on his own knife or getting killed by Jem accidentally. Usually, in a novel, the antagonist has a definite death, instead of a mysterious one which requires the reader to decide how they think Bob Ewell died. In a novel, the antagonist usually dies in the hands of the protagonist purposefully, instead of accidentally, which resulted in this novel being rather confusing and interesting, a new experience instead of being, as I mentioned above, a usual novel.

If I were the author, I would not have ended the story differently. The mysterious ending of the novel lets the reader decide how they would prefer Bob Ewell to die, instead of telling the reader directly, this mystery causing people to keep thinking about the novel or discussing about it and thus, the message of the novel would stick in the mind instead of just forgetting the novel and thus, the message, the next day. The ending of the story, other than inspiring thought due to the accidental death, is also rather different from other usual novels, thus, people would not be bored and feel that it is just a common novel with an often-repeated message.