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Abuse In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

725 Words3 Pages

Many characters throughout To Kill A Mockingbird were abused and traumatized. Harper Lee included abuse as one of the main themes in her book To Kill A Mockingbird. Boo Radley, Mayella Ewell, and Dill were all abused in different ways. Abuse happens a lot in our society, but isn’t talked about much. Abuse has a lasting impact on every person that it happens too. It causes people to feel like they’re worth nothing and hopeless. Boo Radley is one of the characters that experienced abuse. Boo was a troubled teenager growing up so his father secluded him inside their home all of his life. He did many things as a kid and was going to be sent off somewhere. But, Mr. Radley thought that would be an embarrassment to the family name. One day Boo snapped and stabbed his father with scissors and spent sometime in the courthouse basement. Mr. Radley later had him removed and kept him inside their …show more content…

Bob Ewell forced Mayella to lie and say Tom Robinson raped and beat her. Atticus defends Tom Robinson in court and shows Maycomb that Bob beat his daughter. Even though Atticus has evidence that Tom didn’t do it they convict him anyways. Mayella was beaten and bruised all over her body. Mayella was scared if she told the truth her father would do worse to her. Although Mayella wanted to tell the truth on the stand, she was forced to lie. Mayella lied on the stand therefore, an innocent man was killed. Tom tried to escape and got shot seventeen times being killed. Bob Ewell beat Mayella since, he was white it didn’t matter to anyone. Bob Ewell was a very continuous person and as cold as ice. He tormented many people including Helen Robinson, Scout, Jem, and Atticus. Mayella’s father beating her had a lasting impact on her. She has to think about what she does because she knows she will suffer the consequences from her father. Although Mayella wanted to tell the truth on the stand, she was forced to

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Ewell and his daughter, Mayella’s testimonies say that Tom jumped on Mayella, beating and taking advantage of her until she finally passed out. That is when Mr. Ewell came into the story. He came and saw that mayella was badly beaten and had been raped, but he never took Mayella to see the doctor. This sets off red flags. Bob Ewell noted that Mayella was badly beaten.

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When he was a teenager him and his friends would drink, get in trouble, and more, but nobody had the nerve to tell Mr. Radley that his son was in with the wrong crowd, because he was not the socializing type either. He was in this gang with his friends that’s how they got away with a lot of crimes because everyone was scared of them. The whole family is pretty much on lockdown, no one ever sees them and if they did not like they would want to talk to that family anyways, because everyone was scared of them. The kids are scared of Boo because the house looks really mysterious; the doors are always shut, even on Sundays when everyone else’s doors and windows are open. They are also cared of the way he looks and all the stuff they suspect he does, like they think that he looks in other people’s windows at night but they do not know for sure.

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During the trial, Tom Robinson revealed that Mayella’s father verbally and sexually abuses her. Tom states “She says she never kissed a grown man before. She says what her papa do to her don’t count.” (Doc. B) After Mr. Ewell caught Tom and Mayella, he called Mayella a “goddamn whore” and threatens her by saying “I’ll kill ya.” (Doc. B)

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Because of Mr Ewell’s way of life and his pattern of abusive behaviour, Mayella and her siblings “lived like animals”. This sad living situation is what led to Mayella’s desperate attempt at a relationship with Tom, therefore bringing the blame back to Mr Ewell. Though it is not stated it the text explicitly, it is likely that it was Bob Ewell, rather than Mayella that came up with the plan of accusing Tom of rape, as it would give Mr Ewell a chance to simultaneously publicly denounce a black man and make himself out to be the hero of the story. This is why, despite Tom’s conviction, Mr Ewell is infuriated by the results of the trial, as Atticus was still able to destroy “his last shred of credibility”, the exact opposite of what Bob had planned for the trial. This would suggest that Bob Ewell was willing to have Tom killed, not because he truly believed he had committed a crime, but rather so he could promote his own prejudiced narrative at the trial and restore to himself the power that the social structures of Maycomb had taken away.

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658 Words | 3 Pages

Think you know Boo Radley? Boo Radley is a shy, mysterious character from Harper Lee’s: To Kill a Mockingbird. Throughout the book, Boo is thought of as a monster within the book’s setting of Maycomb county. He’s also know to be mentally ill and violent due to many stories about his past.

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1153 Words | 5 Pages

The first reason why I think this is that almost everyone in their town of Maycomb, Alabama is afraid of the Radley’s, especially Boo. According to Jem, Boo is a six and a half foot monster. He also has blood stained hands from all the animals and peoples pets that he kills and eats raw. Lastly, Boo Radley has a huge, gnarly scar right across the front of his face. Also, the entire town has heard many stories about Boo, that may or may not be true.

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591 Words | 3 Pages

There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten, his eyes popped, and he drooled most of the time.” Little do they know that Boo Radley will play a huge part in their survival at the end of the book when the crazy Bob Ewell Attacks them and Boo Radley protected them, something that Jem and scout would’ve never imagined, But something that the reader could foreshadow. Due to Boo’s acts of kindness like when he returned Jem’s pants sowed after he got them caught on the barb wire fence while he was snooping and around and also the gifts he left in the knot of the tree that helped him build a deeper sentimental relationship with Jem and Scout even if the kids did not know it. Boo had built such a relationship with them that he had done something extremely courageous and protects Jem and scout from Bob

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491 Words | 2 Pages

100) Scout soon learns that Bob Ewell is the prosecutor in the case. In chapter 18, Atticus proves that Bob was actually the person who beat up mayella. It takes an enormous amount of courage to beat you daughter and then blame it on someone else. At first, he said Tom assaulted her, but then changed the charge to rape.

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724 Words | 3 Pages

The three kids were chatting and Dill wondered what Boo looks like so Jem describes Boo as “about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that's why his hands were bloodstained… There was an long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most or the time.” (Lee,16) This is the result of what happens when rumors are spread, people are misjudged and sometimes avoided like how Boo is shown throughout the book until the end. Boo Radley is wrongfully judged and admonished when it is just that not many people are circumspect.

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556 Words | 3 Pages

All one has to do is look around us and they can see that the world has a lot of Social inequalities. Think about in school or work. Is there a Boo Radley? Someone who is isolated because they may be different. We've all seen racism on TV with all of the shootings and protests.

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1112 Words | 5 Pages

With their unbeknownst number of kids the Ewell brood, specifically Bob Ewell becomes jealous and outright angry that Atticus would oppose him in the court of law by representing Tom Robinson. Although against the odds Atticus feels empathetic towards the Ewells not necessarily Bob but instead for Mayella, he understands what she is being put through, Suffering through domestic abuse, and in court Atticus even goes so far as to state that he feels sorry for Mayella. To add to this he implies that the man truly guilty of beating Mayella is in the courtroom (Bob Ewell). This did nothing to calm Bob Ewell’s seething manner instead it only escalated it, and in an attempt to get back at atticus he tries to kill his children whom are saved by an unseen and unknown force which killed Mr. Ewell. The precursor towards this however was when Bob Ewell spit on Atticus but even through this Atticus was rational, he thought about it.

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722 Words | 3 Pages

To Kill a Mockingbird Essay Plan Thesis: The three main protagonists of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird (Scout, Jem, and Dill) both learn and demonstrate empathy through the story. Directional Statement: The characters demonstrate empathy to Boo Radley both after the trial and after Scout walks him back home, and they learn about empathy during Tom Robinson's testimony. Body Paragraph 1: Point: Jem demonstrates empathy towards Boo Radley after Tom Robinson is convicted of raping a white woman. Proof: Right after the trial, and Tom Robinson has been convicted of raping Mayella Ewell, Jem starts to understand why Boo Radley doesn't come out of his house: "I think I'm beginning to understand why Boo Radley's stayed shut up in the house all the time...

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878 Words | 4 Pages

Cruel Times The cruelty in this book is seen through the situations of Tom Robinson, Boo Radley, and Maycomb's reaction to Atticus taking the Tom Robinson case It is very unsettling. Tom Robinson's case was a very unique in that he did absolutely nothing wrong and was still in court all because of his skin. "There's something in our world that makes men lose their heads they couldn't be fair if they tried.

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149 Words | 1 Pages

Bob Ewell, Mayella 's father, gets drunk and abuses Mayella. He possibly even sexually abused Mayella. Not to mention, Mayella had enough of the abuse and got an idea. In addition to this, Mayella thought since she was a white woman she could blame an African American man, Tom Robinson, of rape and if her father sees, he will

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892 Words | 4 Pages

Decide how the relationship between Scout and Boo Radley evolves providing sufficient evidence In ‘To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, Scout develops a strange relationship with a mysterious character, Boo Radley. Scout, Jem, and Dill are interested in Boo Radley because of the mystery that dominates around him and the Radley house. The town people poorly judge Boo Radley and hearing stories from Miss Stephanie Crawford frightens Scout and Jem. Although the relationship starts out as fear and mystery, as time passes, Scout begins to realize that Boo isn’t the monster they described him as, he is rather a nice and caring person.

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