Many characters throughout To Kill A Mockingbird were abused and traumatized. Harper Lee included abuse as one of the main themes in her book To Kill A Mockingbird. Boo Radley, Mayella Ewell, and Dill were all abused in different ways. Abuse happens a lot in our society, but isn’t talked about much. Abuse has a lasting impact on every person that it happens too. It causes people to feel like they’re worth nothing and hopeless. Boo Radley is one of the characters that experienced abuse. Boo was a troubled teenager growing up so his father secluded him inside their home all of his life. He did many things as a kid and was going to be sent off somewhere. But, Mr. Radley thought that would be an embarrassment to the family name. One day Boo snapped and stabbed his father with scissors and spent sometime in the courthouse basement. Mr. Radley later had him removed and kept him inside their …show more content…
Bob Ewell forced Mayella to lie and say Tom Robinson raped and beat her. Atticus defends Tom Robinson in court and shows Maycomb that Bob beat his daughter. Even though Atticus has evidence that Tom didn’t do it they convict him anyways. Mayella was beaten and bruised all over her body. Mayella was scared if she told the truth her father would do worse to her. Although Mayella wanted to tell the truth on the stand, she was forced to lie. Mayella lied on the stand therefore, an innocent man was killed. Tom tried to escape and got shot seventeen times being killed. Bob Ewell beat Mayella since, he was white it didn’t matter to anyone. Bob Ewell was a very continuous person and as cold as ice. He tormented many people including Helen Robinson, Scout, Jem, and Atticus. Mayella’s father beating her had a lasting impact on her. She has to think about what she does because she knows she will suffer the consequences from her father. Although Mayella wanted to tell the truth on the stand, she was forced to
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Show MoreMayella Ewell, the prosecutor, blamed Tom Robinson, the defendant, of rape on the night of November 21, 1935 at Mayella’s home in Maycomb, Alabama. The trial brought up included Tom Robinson, Mayella and Robert Ewell, Heck Tate, and Atticus Finch. Heck Tate and Robert Ewell were the witnesses for Mayella’s side and Atticus was the lawyer to Tom Robinson. This was such an important trial, whether the event actually happened or not, because Tom is a black man and Mayella is a white woman. The evidence provided shows that Tom most likely did not rape or beat Mayella, but her father was the one who could have beat her.
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.
None of the kids have saw him a day in their life, but they hear countless stories of how terrible he is and that he has been locked up for a very long time. Boo (Arthur) Radley has been getting locked up basically his entire life. Boo drove a scissors into his father’s leg it stated on page 9. This is the start to Boo Radleys life in solitude. After he was tried in court for the stabbing Boo was locked in the courthouse basement because no one had the heart to put him in jail with the Negros.
The evidence heavily supports that Tom Robinson could not have beaten Mayella Ewell. Robert not only lied in court, but he also beat Mayella himself. After seeing Mayella kiss Tom, Mayella’s father, who is extremely racist, beat Mayella which caused Tom Robinson to run away in fear, making him look guilty. Mayella Ewell has been abused by her father, sexually and physically, but he refuses to take the blame. Mayella Ewell unwillingly lies in court to sacrifice an innocent black man to keep her father free of accountability.
Tom Robinson is already considered guilty because he is black. When Mr. Ewell comes up for his testimony, he was already showing his prejudice feelings about black people in Maycomb. Bob Ewell says, “-I seen that black nigger yonder ruttin’ on my Mayella” (173). This quote shows the anger Bob Ewell feels and how his racism contributes to that. When Mayella Ewell gives her testimony she is really angry because Atticus is questioning her about the assault.
Similarly, Atticus is giving his final testimony about the trial. Atticus says, “What did her father do? We don’t know, but there is circumstantial evidence to indicate that Mayella Ewell was beaten savagely by someone who led almost exclusively with his left”(232). Who ever it was, Mayella had to suffer through a beating which everyone knows that it was bob because of the evidence. Mayella is innocent, she may have kissed Tom Robinson but that wasn’t any reason for her father to beat her.
Cruel Times The cruelty in this book is seen through the situations of Tom Robinson, Boo Radley, and Maycomb's reaction to Atticus taking the Tom Robinson case It is very unsettling. Tom Robinson's case was a very unique in that he did absolutely nothing wrong and was still in court all because of his skin. "There's something in our world that makes men lose their heads they couldn't be fair if they tried.
To Kill a Mockingbird Essay Plan Thesis: The three main protagonists of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird (Scout, Jem, and Dill) both learn and demonstrate empathy through the story. Directional Statement: The characters demonstrate empathy to Boo Radley both after the trial and after Scout walks him back home, and they learn about empathy during Tom Robinson's testimony. Body Paragraph 1: Point: Jem demonstrates empathy towards Boo Radley after Tom Robinson is convicted of raping a white woman. Proof: Right after the trial, and Tom Robinson has been convicted of raping Mayella Ewell, Jem starts to understand why Boo Radley doesn't come out of his house: "I think I'm beginning to understand why Boo Radley's stayed shut up in the house all the time...
Think you know Boo Radley? Boo Radley is a shy, mysterious character from Harper Lee’s: To Kill a Mockingbird. Throughout the book, Boo is thought of as a monster within the book’s setting of Maycomb county. He’s also know to be mentally ill and violent due to many stories about his past.
There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten, his eyes popped, and he drooled most of the time.” Little do they know that Boo Radley will play a huge part in their survival at the end of the book when the crazy Bob Ewell Attacks them and Boo Radley protected them, something that Jem and scout would’ve never imagined, But something that the reader could foreshadow. Due to Boo’s acts of kindness like when he returned Jem’s pants sowed after he got them caught on the barb wire fence while he was snooping and around and also the gifts he left in the knot of the tree that helped him build a deeper sentimental relationship with Jem and Scout even if the kids did not know it. Boo had built such a relationship with them that he had done something extremely courageous and protects Jem and scout from Bob
During the trial, Tom Robinson revealed that Mayella’s father verbally and sexually abuses her. Tom states “She says she never kissed a grown man before. She says what her papa do to her don’t count.” (Doc. B) After Mr. Ewell caught Tom and Mayella, he called Mayella a “goddamn whore” and threatens her by saying “I’ll kill ya.” (Doc. B)
100) Scout soon learns that Bob Ewell is the prosecutor in the case. In chapter 18, Atticus proves that Bob was actually the person who beat up mayella. It takes an enormous amount of courage to beat you daughter and then blame it on someone else. At first, he said Tom assaulted her, but then changed the charge to rape.
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee many characters are victims of the harsh conditions of Maycomb County. Often those who are seen to be metaphorical mockingbirds are punished the most. A mockingbird is one who only wants and attempts to do good. Characters such as Boo Radley, Jem Finch and Tom Robinson are exemplars of mockingbirds in Maycomb. In the novel it is explained by Atticus that killing a mockingbird is a sin because they do not do anything to harm to us like nesting in corncribs, or eating up the gardens, they only sing for us.
All one has to do is look around us and they can see that the world has a lot of Social inequalities. Think about in school or work. Is there a Boo Radley? Someone who is isolated because they may be different. We've all seen racism on TV with all of the shootings and protests.
Decide how the relationship between Scout and Boo Radley evolves providing sufficient evidence In ‘To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, Scout develops a strange relationship with a mysterious character, Boo Radley. Scout, Jem, and Dill are interested in Boo Radley because of the mystery that dominates around him and the Radley house. The town people poorly judge Boo Radley and hearing stories from Miss Stephanie Crawford frightens Scout and Jem. Although the relationship starts out as fear and mystery, as time passes, Scout begins to realize that Boo isn’t the monster they described him as, he is rather a nice and caring person.