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Tom Robinson's Trial

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I am reading To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and I am on page 260. This section of the book is about Tom Robinson’s trial. Tom is a black man accused of raping a 19-year-old girl. Atticus is Tom’s lawyer and he tries his best to help Tom. Even though there is strong evidence of why Tom is innocent he is found guilty. In this paper, I will be characterizing Tom Robinson and evaluating Mayella’s motive to lie.
Do not judge a book by its cover. People in the South during the 1930’s judged blacks, because of their race. Tom was one of the blacks they poorly judged. The public stereotyped him. They thought that all blacks are immoral beings. They thought that all blacks lie. Most importantly they believe that all blacks cannot be trusted …show more content…

One of Mayella’s motives is her being lonely. Mayella does not have any friends. When Atticus asked her if she had friends, Mayella reacted like she does not know what a friend is. When he asked her the question, she thought he was making fun of her. Mayella has seven siblings yet none of them help her with her chores. They just ignore her and do their own thing. Also, she likes Tom’s company. She kept asking him to do chores because she liked having him around. Tom was one of the few people that was nice to Mayella. He never took advantage of her. She realized what a great person he is she kissed him. She did not know that a black and a white person kissing made broke a code of their society. She just wanted to show Tom that she is grateful for his company. Another reason she lied was because she is scared of her father. Her father told her to lie. Bob Ewell does not like black people. When he saw Mayella kissing Tom, he flipped out. When Mayella was giving her testimony, she would look to her father as if to ask for the answer. Mayella would leave gaps between her statements. She needed time to think of the right answer. There is enough evidence pointing to the fact the Bob beats Mayella. Mayella was bruised on the right side of her face. She would have to have been beaten by a left-handed person. It could not be Tom because he cannot use his left hand. According to Tom when Mr. Ewell saw Mayella kissing Tom, he called her a w***e

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This means they have no other elders to help; Mayella is left to make decisions by herself. Because of her living conditions, her judgement is impaired, leading to conducting wrong resolutions. Also, Mayella was lonely and this is a major factor that contributes to her indecisiveness. This is proven when Scout says, “When Atticus asked had she any friends, any friends, she seemed not to know what it meant.” This reveals she is lonely and Tom

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Is in perfect condition to beat Mayella using the dominant left side of the body. Having seen Bob seduce Tom and giving her a gruesome beating the only way to save oneself is to blame a low-class black man. Bob is a man of low morality and ethics, having taken an innocent man and setting up to destroy this man’s life solely to be not classified as an unethical moran and not having raised the children properly; which is not the case as by framing this innocent man he is proving thyself as unethical. Despite getting to know the truth of the case the white male jury still had the nerve to rule Tom guilt with the charges of Tom raping and beating Mayella. “The one place where a man ought to get a square deal is in a courtroom, be he any color of the rainbow, but people have a way of carrying resentment to the jury box.”(Lee

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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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This part of the story has two versions. The Ewell’s version is that after that while they were inside the house he grabbed her by the neck and threw her into the ground and Bob Ewell heard the commotion and ran fast to his house as fast as he could. Suddenly Bob saw Tom on top of Mayella and ran inside, but Tom escaped

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Bob Ewell claims that on the night of November 21st, he was out gathering kindle and heard Mayella “screamin’ fit to beat Jesus”. He ran towards the window to discover Mayella being raped by Tom Robinson. When Bob Ewell enters the house to assist with Mayella’s situation, Tom had already left the residence through the front door. After adjusting to the situation, Bob raced to Heck Tate to inform him about the issue. Bob Ewell provided that he saw the room was “slung about” as if “there was a fight”, resulting in Mayella to be “on the floor squallin’”.

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Atticus proves that Bob Ewell is left-handed by having him sign his name, while there is no way for Tom to be left-handed due to his crippled left arm. “His left hand was fully twelve inches shorter than his right, and hung dead at his side”(211) Therefore, there is no way that Tom Robinson could have struck Mayella with his left hand. Second, Mayella’s and Bob's stories don’t match up.

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Ironically tom would show kindness and compassion to Mayella he would often help her bust up a chifforobe for no charge and for no reason just feeling that it’s the right thing to do. When Tom was on the stand he explained that she would offer him money but Tom would not take it “she said, I reckon I’ll have to give you a nickel wont I? ‘no ma’am there aint no charge” (pg. 191). When Tom would help Mayella he would do it out of the kindness of his heart for no money, this shows how kind Tom is even thought he is poor he still turns down money from Mayella.

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The Tom Robinson case in Maycomb clearly exemplifies the prejudice rolling through the South, as Tom, a black man, is wrongfully accused of the beating and rape of Mayella Ewell a white woman. Tom Robinson is blamed by Bob Ewell who is Mayella’s, racist, cruel, degenerate, abusive father. Tom is defended by the Maycomb’s best lawyer, Atticus Finch, who represents the good in the county. Tom is not able to rape Mayella as his left arm has been crippled since he was twelve as his arm was caught in a cotton gin and the muscles were torn loose making his left arm extremely short. Mayella’s bruises and marks are on her right side, making it nearly impossible for Tom to strike her with a crippled left arm.

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Mayella Ewell was beaten on the right side of her head, meaning that it was a left-handed person who beat her. Bob Ewell was left-handed. On page 237, it states, “ You’re left-handed, Mr. Ewell.” This means that he is a suspect for who beat Mayella Ewell. In conclusion, Tom Robinson was lame in his left arm, Mayella Ewell was beaten on the right side if her head, and Bob Ewell was left handed; making him a suspect for the person who beat Mayella Ewell.

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Yet another factor contributing to Mayella being pitiful is that she is very lonely. Mayella's lonesome is due too many reasons namely, she has no companions. During the trial, Atticus asks her if she has any friends, and she appears to be confused and feels insulted even by the question. (Lee, ?) She is so lonely, she can't even comprehend the concept of having friends.

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She tried to kiss Tom Robinson, but he wouldn’t accept her advances. Her father then came home and he saw Mayella trying to kiss Tom. Her father then, presumably, beat her and called Heck Tate to tell him a story about how Tom Robinson raped Mayella. Even though Tom did not rape her, she didn’t stick up for him because of her fear of her father and her hurt at being rejected by Tom. If she would have known what friendship was, she would not have lied and pressed charges against him.

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However, Mayella actually has little to no values in her life. She is a fragile girl from a crippled family, so she never even had the opportunity to experience what a family with morals is like. When her mother died, Mayella was mentally on her own, and had no one in her life that genuinely cares about her; Scout once said, “She is lonelier than Boo Radley,”

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Essay In the novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee, there are many important messages shown throughout the book. However the primary focus was set on racial prejudice that existed in the 1930s-1940’s in the fictional town of Maycomb County. The racism in the novel was very much a reality in 1930s-1940s America. A very good example of the racial prejudice that existed was in the courtroom during Tom Robinson’s trial, an innocent Negro man held against his will for a crime he did not commit.

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Tom Robinson is a young African-American who's been accused of raping and abusing Mayella Ewell, a young and closeted white woman. Racial discrimination is hinted throughout Tom’s trial as Atticus Finch explains to Jem that a white man’s word will always win over that of a black man’s - "... In our courts, when it's a white man's word against a black man's, the white man always wins. They're ugly, but those are the facts of life" (220). Atticus explains to Jem that in the courts of Maycomb, a black man’s state of innocence or guilt is truly determined by a white man’s testimony.

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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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