To Kill a Mockingbird Chapter 17 Summary

Scout finds Mr. Tate less terrifying in normal clothes.
The prosecutor, Mr. Gilmer, comes from Abbotsville rather than from Maycomb, and only visits the town for trials.
Scout finally settles down and starts listening to Mr. Tate's answers to the prosecutor's questions.
Mr. Tate says that on the night of November 21st Bob Ewell brought him to the Ewell house, where he found Mr. Ewell's daughter, who had been badly beaten. When Mr. Tate asked her who did it, she said Tom Robinson, and when he asked her if Robinson had raped her, she said yes. Then Mr. Tate went and got Robinson, had the Ewell girl identify him, and then arrested him.
Next, it's Atticus's turn to question the witness. He asks (three times) if Mr. Tate called a doctor to tend to the Ewell girl's injuries, and (all three times) Tate says no. Then he asks Tate to describe those injuries, and he says she had bruises and a black eye. Atticus asks which eye was the black one, and Tate, after giving him a what-kind-of-stupid-question-is-this look, says it was her left. Atticus gets him to clarify that it was the left from his perspective, which means it was the girl's own right. Tate, after another question from Atticus, goes on to describe her injuries further: the right side of her face (where the black eye was) was heavily bruised, and there were finger marks all around her throat.
That ends Mr. Tate's testimony, and he leaves the witness stand.
Scout thinks it's all rather boring and dry, not at all the high drama she had expected.
Bob Ewell is called to the witness stand by his full name, Robert E. Lee Ewell (it's not clear if the E. actually stands for something, or whether it's like Mr. Billups's X).
Scout thinks about the Ewells: they're always on welfare and they live near an African-American settlement in a shack behind the dump, which they scavenge.
Beside the trash and the old cars in their front yard, there's one thing that stands out, or rather six: a set of chipped jars holding well-tended bright red geraniums, which are said to belong to Mayella Ewell.
Scout remembers a drive past the Ewell place when she went with Atticus to drop off their Christmas tree at the dump: while the nearby African-American houses were warm and inviting, the Ewell residence was not. Scout makes her point clear: “All the little man on the witness stand had that made him any better than his nearest neighbors was, that if scrubbed with lye soap in very hot water, his skin was white” (17.67).
Mr. Ewell answers the prosecutor's first few questions rudely, until the judge steps in and politely chews him out.
Mr. Gilmer asks Mr. Ewell to describe what happened that night, and Mr. Ewell does: he came home to hear Mayella screaming inside the house, ran to the window and saw Tom Robinson raping her.
At his last words the crowd explodes, and Judge Taylor has to bang his gavel for a full five minutes before they calm down.
Reverend Sykes tells Jem to take Scout and Dill home, but Scout refuses to go and Jem doesn't want to leave, so they all end up staying.
Mr. Ewell is pleased with the effect he has had on his audience, but Judge Taylor is not.
The judge says that there's been a request to clear the court, or at least to save the tender ears of the women and children by kicking them out, but that he'll let everyone stay – unless they misbehave, in which case, he'll have them up for contempt of court.
Mr. Ewell continues his testimony: he ran to get into the house, but the man ran out before he could catch him, so he ran for Mr. Tate.
Mr. Ewell's so hasty to get off the witness stand that he collides with Atticus, who'd gotten up to question him.
After Ewell settles back down in the witness chair, Atticus begins his questioning, which begins with the same query he directed at Mr. Tate: whether Ewell called a doctor, or even thought of it. Ewell says no, and furthermore he's never called a doctor for any of his family, as it would cost five dollars.
Atticus continues by asking Ewell about his daughter's injuries, and he confirms that the sheriff's description was correct.
The next question Atticus asks is whether Ewell can read and write. The prosecutor objects, but the judge allows Atticus to continue. Ewell answers yes, with a joke about signing his welfare checks that Scout thinks goes over well with the crowd.
Scout is getting nervous, since she doesn't see where Atticus is heading with these questions.
Atticus has Ewell write his name, and then states what that action demonstrated: Ewell is left-handed.
Mr. Gilmer asks Ewell if he's ambidextrous, and the man angrily says no, though he doesn't actually know what the word means.
Scout notices that Jem is excited, and he whispers that they've got him now, but Scout doesn't see it; Tom Robinson might be left-handed too, and from where she's sitting he certainly looks strong enough to have beaten up Mayella.

Chapter 18

Chapter 16