Guilty Without Surprise In Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, Tom Robinson, a black man, was wrongly accused and convicted of raping Mayella Ewell. There are clues and evidence that the time in history of when it occurred, racial hatred, and other clues found in the novel predicts the final verdict. In the 1930s racial tension was all around and especially in the southern town of Maycomb, Alabama. Lee sends the reader a message of what was ahead when he describes the jury being made up of all white men from out of town. They didn’t know who the Robinsons or the Ewells were. There is no way a white jury, not knowing the Ewells, would side with a black Tom Robinson. Scout states, “In our courts when it’s a white man’s word against a …show more content…
When Scout asked him, ”Atticus, are we going to win? No, Honey.”(p.76) He also talks to Uncle Jack, “It couldn’t be worse, Jack. The only thing we’ve got is a black man’s words against the Ewells… The jury couldn’t possibly be expected to take Tom Robinson’s word against the Ewells.” (p.88) Since Atticus knew he couldn’t win why did he take the case? Maybe deep down, he believed that racism was just wrong. The fact that a black man’s word was never taken over a white man’s may have encouraged him. “ I ain’t ever seen any jury decide in favor of a colored man over a white man,” Reverend Sykes said. (p.208) Even though Atticus was surprised the jury takes so long to decide the verdict, maybe it is a sign that his heroic work may have made people start to think that racism is …show more content…
Atticus proved Tom couldn’t have used his bad left hand and beaten Mayella up on the right side of her face where she was hurt. Bob Ewell was ambidextrous and could have used his strong left hand to hurt Mayella when he saw her kissing Robinson. When Tom was asked why he helped her for free he replied, “Yes suh I felt right sorry for her, she seemed to try more’n the rest of ‘em” (p.197) Mr. Gilmer then yelled, “You felt sorry for her, you felt sorry for her?”(p.197) Because a black man with all of his problems says he feels sorry for a white woman, this doesn’t help his case and seems to make the all white, racist jury angry. Why didn’t Ewell take Mayella to the doctor to prove a rape took place? Lee’s evidence is strong and laid out to persuade the reader that there is no way Robinson will lose. It’s just too obvious that Robinson is only convicted because he’s a black man accused of raping a white