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Significance Of Tom Robinson Trial In To Kill A Mockingbird

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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, …show more content…

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

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Ewell case, who let their own personal opinions influence the verdict made. On the day of the trial, a jury of twelve Maycomb County members, sat to make a verdict on whether or not Tom Robinson raped Mayella Ewell. After hearing three stories from Bob, Mayella, and Tom. The jury came to a unanimous decision, without any evidence, that Tom was guilty of rape. SCENE

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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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The Mistreatment of Tom Robinson Tom Robinson was a falsy accused man, all because of the community's biased opinion. Tom Robinson’s court case was shown in the story To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Tom Robinson, was accused of beating and raping Mayella Ewell. Since the town of Maycomb thinks all African Americans are harmful, it is nearly impossible for him to win this court case. Even though the evidence did not line up to where it could not possibly be Tom, he still lost.

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Another important point is that not only did the Ewells lie, they made Heck Tate the sheriff lie. Atticus states that, “Which, gentlemen, we know is in itself as black as Tom Robinson’s skin, a lie I do not have to point out to you. You know the truth, and the truth is this: some Negroes lie, some Negroes are immoral, some Negro men are not to be trusted around women-black or white. But this is a truth that applies to the human race and to no particular race of men. There is not a person in this courtroom who has never told a lie, who has never done an immoral thing, and there is no man living who has never looked upon a woman without desire.”(Lee

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In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the story is set in the 1900’s, Maycomb, Alabama. During this time there was racism in the south and segregation which separated the whites and blacks from everything. There was also the Great Depression, the whole country was poor and people living in the country had to trade and do other jobs for people to either pay them off or to buy something from them. The trial in this book is about Mayella and Bob Ewell, two white people, claiming and arguing that Tom Robinson, a black person, raped Mayella Ewell. This trial is really important because at that time in the south, white people took advantage of black people and their kindness and thought they would take that or shut up just because they were black.

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Tom was accused of raping a white woman who was Mayella Ewell, Mayella said he raped her while he was helping her with chores. She later on tells the readers that it was false allegations. The reason why she didn 't tell the truth at her first trial was because, Mayella was afraid of being embarrassed because she kissed a black male. She rather have an innocent man get charged with a crime than that. “However, Robinson was transferred from the state prison to Maycomb 's county jail on Saturday, two days before he stood trial on Monday, and Atticus had to defend him against a lynch mob”.

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For one, Bob Ewell’s family name is low in the social hierarchy. His family isn’t reputable. In addition, he is known to abuse alcohol which causes him to act irrational. Therefore, these factors could lead to Bob Ewell accusing an innocent black man, Tom Robinson of raping his daughter. Meanwhile, the evidence shows that himself was committing these bad crimes to his very own daughter.

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Tom, and African American living in Maycomb county, is accused of raping Mayella Ewell, a poor, white female. When Tom is accused of beating and raping Mayella, many people around the town think that he’s automatically guilty. Atticus, Tom’s defending attorney, agrees to take on the case to help Tom because

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“Mr. Ewell’s face grew scarlet. He stood up and pointed his finger at Tom Robinson”(196). Following Ewell was his daughter. Mrs. Mayella Ewell’s testimony relayed the above information along with the details of the crime. However, when Finch questioned Ewell, Finch began to find uncertainties in Ewell’s account.

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Tom Robinson probably new already that he was going to lose the trial because most people would believe a white folk then a black person. Most people that were black and were accused of rape or murder were almost always going to be lynched.

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People don’t like Tom because of the color of his skin. Classmates and others were not happy and teasing her because her father defends an African American person. (Lee, 110) Tom is convicted of raping Mayella, Bob Ewell’s daughter. After all the evidence presented, it was clear Tom was being

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Tom Robinson is a black man who is wrongfully convicted of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell. This novel goes through Scout's life from when she was 6, till she is 9. She lives in the town of Maycomb Alabama, and lives an innocent life until about halfway through the story, where she begins to ask questions. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Scout shows the readers that racial inequality creates an unjust society through the African American community, through the people surrounding colored folks, and through Tom Robinson’s Case. The first example of the consequences of racial inequality is the African American community in Maycomb.

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The Ewells could have been lying because most likely Mayella tempted Tom. Back then if you were involved with a colored person you were disgraced by the whole town. Mayella could have been trying to cover this up and get Tom arrested so he wouldn't be able to tell anyone. The jury convicted Tom Robinson because he was colored and back then white people believed they had to stick together against the colored people. This shows that based on the evidence Tom Robinson was only convicted because of his skin color.

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The saddening thing is, that the whole scenario started because Mayella attempted to seduce Tom, and her father found out. Filled with rage, Mr. Ewell beat his daughter, he found it unacceptable that his daughter fancied a black man. Then, he claimed that Tom raped his daughter to cover everything up. There are even cases such as Tom’s happening to this day, such as the case of Miguel Angel Peña Rodriguez Vs. Colorado. The jury was corrupted by bias thoughts which resulted in an unfair trial.

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’”(pg 187). This evidence shows that Mayella had nothing to say because she knew that she was caught lying and he showed the jury that they were lying. Therefore the Ewell family is not telling the truth in every response and is more likely Tom is not

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