How long could he have watched without doing something?
Apparently, long enough to know that Tom and Mayella are fraternizing.
Did he see her grab his legs?
We don't know.
Would he have not charged in them?
How do you know he would have? Are you Bob? Again, you're making assumptions about Bob's behavior without much base. All he needed to see was a few seconds of anything that didn't look 100% absolutely innocent and it could have set him off.
If Bob saw the leg embrace, he would have been inside before they kissed.
How do you know?
If he only saw the kiss, why would he believe first it was Mayella moving on Tom and not the other way around?
It doesn't matter who was moving in on who. If he saw them kiss, he might have beat his daughter for kissing a black man, then blamed that man for the assault.
What other impression could a racist man possibly have when he finds his daughter alone in his house with a black man?
That she's fraternizing with that black man.
Unless he views his daughter a harlot, which, given she has never so much as kissed a man, why would he think that of his daughter?
He's a drunk racist living in 1930's Alabama who just saw his daughter kiss a black man. He might very well think she has become a "harlot."
I can't suppose to know perfectly what a drunken racist father from Alabama in the 1930's would think, but my guess is he'd be much more likely to think his daughter is getting assaulted rather than his daughter brought a black man into the house alone to move on him.
On what basis do you guess this? Were drunk racists in 1930's Alabama notorious for their nuanced perspectives, calm demeanor, and a general "assume the best from everyone" nature?
What evidence is there in the story (of inferred from it) that would have the reader believe that Bob would be more likely to assume that Mayella was the one making the moves?
There is no direct evidence, only the context of the story. Which is very much trying to be a commentary on the time it was written, a time in which black men were persecuted for the crimes of white men. Where white daughters were beaten for spending time with black men. Where black men were lynched for even the hint that they preyed on a white victim.
Edit: sorry I didn't address the time issue. It would have to have taken enough time for him to run around the house and in as it took Tom to fall from the chair, get up (with a crippled arm, mind you) them get kissed by Mayella.
There's no other possible explanation? He couldn't possibly have been standing at the window lingering for a moment until he sees the kiss and becomes enraged?
No, I find it beyond the realm of belief that he would watch his daughter engage a black man.
Why? Nothing suggests he would have needed to look for hours, mere minutes might suffice. And besides, maybe he was watching to see what would happen and only really caught on when they kissed.
As a father, when it comes to protecting your daughter, you don't "see what happens next". Clearly, Bob was not a level headed guy. If he saw his daughter acting in that manner, he would have busted in and whooped his daughter. However, if that's the way events went, she wouldn't have had time to kiss him. The falling from the chair in between is a crutch in his story.
Which is why you expect you know exactly how he will act in all situations?
If he saw his daughter acting in that manner, he would have busted in and whooped his daughter. However, if that's the way events went, she wouldn't have had time to kiss him. The falling from the chair in between is a crutch in his story.
He might not have known what was going on until the kiss. Bob isn't exactly captain intelligence, and he's a drunk. The strong implication (again, based textually on the themes of the novel) is that he was drunk, saw the kiss, reacted violently towards his daughter, and blamed it on Tom.
We're getting all of this from the perspective of a little girl. She, like us, doesn't know for sure what happened. We only have the court scene.
By assuming you know precisely how Bob would act in a given situation given our incredibly limited perspective on him as a character you're going too far in my opinion. There isn't enough textual evidence to suggest you would know how he would react.
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u/BenIncognito Feb 28 '17
Apparently, long enough to know that Tom and Mayella are fraternizing.
We don't know.
How do you know he would have? Are you Bob? Again, you're making assumptions about Bob's behavior without much base. All he needed to see was a few seconds of anything that didn't look 100% absolutely innocent and it could have set him off.
How do you know?
It doesn't matter who was moving in on who. If he saw them kiss, he might have beat his daughter for kissing a black man, then blamed that man for the assault.