Tom Robinson's Trial

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

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