Emily Callan Due Date: Tuesday, November 4th I am reading the book To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee and I am on page 281. In this journal I will be predicting and…
I predict that Tom Robinson will be convicted of raping Mayella Ewell because of the racism and bias he is facing. The trail from To Kill A Mockingbird takes place in the year 1934, when racism was a common practice to most people. During this time Jim Crow laws were extremely common, Jim Crow laws were guidelines that said what was socially and lawfully expectable for African-Americans at the time. During the trail while Tom is being cross-examined he violates a Jim Crow law by saying how he felt sorry for Mayella. He could not directly speak about her in a negative light,
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This is especially true when the trial occurs in Alabama. Most townspeople are used to witnessing and participating in racism, so when a case like Tom’s arises it is safe to assume the verdict. Steaming from the racism of the town there is a large bias against Tom. The jury is made up of farmers from the outskirts of town, and the same people who had gone to the jail with the intention of severely hurting Tom. For all these reasons I strongly predict that Tom Robinson will be convicted of raping Mayella Ewell. In this paragraph I will be questioning the Ewells’ reasoning for lying. While reading the court scenes, I got the feeling that Mayella and Bob had separate motives for trying to convict Tom. There are quite a few reasons that Bob would want Tom Robinson convicted. His most demanding motive would have to be the need to cover up the fact that he abuses his children. If word got out about Mr. Ewell physically and sexually abusing his own children the town would lose the last sliver, if any, of respect they had for him, not to mention the fact that he would be arrested. Besides needing to keep any respect he still had, he could possibly receive more. If Mr. Ewell were to catch and convict a rapist then