We can first start with the people of the trial, Walter Lett is the inspiration of Tom Robinson. Like Walter Lett, Tom was accused of rape by a poor white girl named Mayella Ewell; or Naomi Lowery. One of the main similarities is the actions that happened in the trial, especially with Naomi/Mayella. Like Naomi, In To Kill a Mockingbird, When Mayella was being questioned over and over by Atticus and Judge Taylor she started having bouts of rage and would never give clear evidence and sassed them out. Another example is the unstable evidence given to the court about what happened the “no hard evidence” in to To Kill a Mockingbird was the bruises and scars from the “rape” on Mayella.
In To Kill a Mockingbird, the character Mayella Ewell is a victim of rape that never happened, which is similar to the Scottsboro trials of Victoria Price.
Then some people thought that Tom was innocent but the judge decided to make Tom go to prison. In the book it said that Mayella hugged and kissed Tom on the cheek. From this I can infer that Mayella is desperate and can get away with this because Tom Robinson is a black person. This reminds me of a couple southern movies I’ve watched where black people are always the first to suspect because of their color. Tom Robinson on trial for his life said Bob Ewell yelled “whore I’ll kill you” when he saw Mayella kiss Tom from the window.
Ewell takes a stand to defend Mayella in the courtroom when Atticus starts to realize that Mr. Ewell could’ve been guilty for Mayella’s rape. Atticus tries to prove that Mr. Ewell is guilty by intentionally asking Mayella questions, but Mayella refuses to prove that Mr. Ewell is guilty and responds to this saying “I got somethin’ to say an’ then I ain’t gonna say no more. That nigger yonder took advantage of me.. “ (Lee 251). This quote symbolizes the judgement that Mayella made on Tom Robinson to prove that he’s guilty.
To Kill a Mockingbird is a roller coaster of a story in the perspective of a young girl named Scout Finch. The main conflict in this story is the trial between Mayella Ewell and Tom Robinson. Tom Robinson is accused of raping Mayella Ewell. Tom pleaded guilty, he then was shot and died. Racism plays a big part in this book and that is one of the reasons that Mayella accused Tom.
She based some of the characters in To Kill a Mockingbird on people involved in that trial. For example, Tom is similar to the nine boys in the original trial because they were both defending themselves against the word of a white person. No matter the evidence that was presented, it was not possible for an African American to win. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus says “In our courts, when it’s a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins.”
In the book To Kill a Mockingbird, the author, Harper Lee, uses the character of Tom Robinson to give her insight on the recent crime of Emmett Till. The trial was a very controversial case in the 1950s, involving the brutal murder of a young black boy, in racist Mississippi. In the real-life case, there is a woman named Carolyn Bryant who accuses Till of cat-calling and using vulgar language. However, Till was innocent, yet received punishment. Lee also recreated the persona of Carolyn into Mayella Ewell, who is the women that accuses Tom Robinson of raping her.
The first similarity between two books is the display of morality and ethics. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus is assigned by Judge Taylor to defend Tom Robinson in trial. Atticus chooses to defend Tom Robinson honorably, despite the color of his skin and the alternate opinions from most of the people of Maycomb. When Scout asks Atticus why he is defending Tom Robinson, Atticus explains to Scout that is the right thing to do, and that he couldn’t live with himself if he didn’t give Tom Robinson a fair trial.
Injustice The Scottsboro Case shed light on the racial practices expressed in law that made a great impact on the legal system today. The actual victims of the Case did not receive a fair trial due to the color of their skin. The ones who played the victims planned the crime, and their stories made no sense. But like many of the trials during the time it wasn’t based on the actual evidence that was found,or even the defendants ' stories.
Additionally, the Tom Robinson case has to do with an African American male being wrongfully convicted of raping a white woman/Mayella Ewell. Overall, Harper Lee's writing was profoundly shaped and influenced by societal forces surrounding her. Her experiences with racial tensions, gender roles, and growing up in a patriarchal small town infused her novel To Kill a Mockingbird with a coherent understanding to readers of the human experience in the
How is the racial problem of the southern states of USA in the 1930s portrayed in To Kill a Mockingbird? INTRO In the 1930s the Southern states of America suffered from a strong discrimination and racial hatred towards colored people. They had no rights, no respect and were not allowed to go places white people went. In other words they were segregated from the rest of the society.
Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird is about a man named Atticus and his two kids Jem and Scout. Atticus was appointed to defend an African American, named Tom Robinson. Tom was accused by Bob Ewell for raping and beating his daughter, Mayellea Ewell. During the trial scene, everyone in that courtroom finds outs the truth that Tom is innocent against the accusations from Bob. The truth is that Mayella kissed Tom and Bob saw what she did.
Mr. Ewell leaned back again. ‘Except when he’s drinking?’ asked Atticus so gently that Mayella nodded” (Lee, 245). Furthermore, while Tom Robinson is being questioned he reveals: “She reached up an‘ kissed me ’side of th‘ face. She says she never kissed a grown man before an’ she might as well kiss a nigger. She says
In Harper Lee’s symbolic category of a “mockingbird”, the themes of innocence and wrongful prosecution are evident (Chura). Lee is saying that killing a mockingbird is the equivalent to destroying innocence. This category can represent Tom Robinson, who is an upstanding citizen that helps out Mayella Ewell in exchange for nothing, yet he is accused and prosecuted for a crime he didn’t commit (Chura; Smykowski). Another theme present in To Kill a Mockingbird is justice (Johnson). In the novel, Mayella Ewell lied and accused Tom Robinson of raping and beating her which resulted in the conviction of Tom Robinson, However,in actuality, Mayella Ewell was trying to seduce Tom Robinson and was beat up by her father, Bob Ewell, when he caught them together.
In the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, there are many similarities between the narrator, Scout, and the author, Harper Lee. For instance, both grew up in the time of the great depression with little money to do extra things; therefore, they relied on their imaginations to entertain them for hours (Haggerty) . Comparatively, both were tomboys in their youths and grew up in small towns where girls were expected to wear dresses and act like a lady. Also, both Harper Lee and Scout both grew up with their fathers being lawyers for their town and would often hear of cases that they worked on (“Harper Lee”) . Similarly, when writing her book a “mad dog warning” was released, no doubt giving the idea for the episode of the mad dog Tim Robinson.
