The trial of cotton worker Tom Robinson, who was accused of raping nineteen year old Mayella Ewell back in November, has begun. Robinson was arrested on November 21 after Mayella identified him as her attacker. The accused worked for Mr. Link Deas and is married with three children. None of the other Ewell children nor their father were home at the time. The trial started off with the first witness Sheriff Heck Tate. Horace Gilmer, the prosecutor, started off with the questions. He asked what had happened on the night November 21. Mr. Tate said he was leaving his office when Mr. Ewell came “very excited”, he told him that some black man had raped his girl. It was Atticus Finch, Tom Robinson’s lawyer’s turn to question the Sheriff. He …show more content…
He was asked to recount the events on the day of his daughter’s attack. He was coming from the woods, when he heard Mayella screaming. He said he saw Tom Robinson “rutt’n” on his daughter. Mr. Finch asked Mr. Ewell if he could write. He could, demonstrating for Finch using his more prominent hand, his left. The victim, Mayella Ewell was called to testify. She was also asked to retell what happened to her. She started off with how she asked the defendant to come and cut the chiffarobe, and she went to fetch a nickel. She said ’fore I knew it he was on me. Just run up behind me, he did” Mayella was asked if she knew the accused, she said he passed by everyday. Mr. Finch asked her to identify the person who raped her, she pointed at Tom Robinson. The defendant was asked to stand up. His left hand was crippled. Mr. Finch called his client to the stand. He like the other witnesses was asked to tell his side of the story. He said that Mayella asked him to help with the chiffarobe long before the day of her attack. On that specific day he said she asked him to fix the door hinge. Next thing he knew Ewell had “jumped on him and kissed him”. He said he tried to leave, but he saw her father and ran for his
To Kill a Mockingbird is a book that is full of life lessons. The book opens with Jean Louise Finch, better known as Scout, telling of their family history. One day, while outside playing, they find a little boy named Charles Baker Harris, also known as Dill. These three start to get into many shenanigans, including investigating the mystery of Arthur "Boo" Radley; he hasn't been seen in years. There are a lot of theories surrounding him and why he doesn't come out, but we finally find out why at the end of the book.
In Maycomb, Alabama they faced change. It is a dreary town without much action, then Mayella Ewell accused Tom Robinson of raping her. I went to the trial and the result the jury handed out was the wrong decision. Mayella’s and her father, Bob’s testimonies were both false and staged. It was evident Bob was the one who raped her.
Chapter 17: The first person called to the witness stand was Heck Tata, the local sheriff, Heck Tate exclaims how Bob Ewell called him over to the house saying that Mayella, his daughter, had been raped. Tate said that when he got to the house he found Mayella bruised and beaten up. Bob Ewell is then called to the stand. Bob says that he came out of the woods with kindling and he heard Mayella screaming he then says that when he looked into the window to see what had happened and he says that he saw Tom Robinson raping Mayella.
In the news today, the biggest things are the killings of African Americans like Mike Brown, and Eric Gardner; and how their lives didn’t matter because they are black. In a novel written by Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Tom Robinson is accused of raping a nineteen year old girl, and he is given an unfair trial just because of his skin color. Depending on what kind of situation someone is in, their character and personality are going to change. Most people are just going to want to finish their job and get it over with and go home, but then when they are put under pressure they snap and can’t focus. Other times they might be the most caring person out in the world, and is trying to help people out.
During the trial of Tom Robinson, Atticus is the defending lawyer. He tries to turn the jury towards Bob Ewell the father of the rape victim. Atticus shows the jury that Mr. Ewell could have easily beat his daughter. The main idea that Atticus uses is that Tom Robinson didn’t hurt Mayella Ewell it was Bob Ewell. Although, at the end of the trial, Tom is found guilty and Bob Ewell grows a personal vendetta against Atticus.
In Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, the trial of Tom Robinson serves as the pivotal and highly-anticipated moment in the novel which displays the power a white woman has over a black man. Tom Robinson is accused of raping a young white woman named Mayella Ewell. The Ewell family lacks education and money, representing the lower class. The Ewells were described as living a vile lifestyle, “...behind the town garbage dump in what was once a Negro cabin” (Doc A).
In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, one of the themes is that people should not be quick to judge others based on the labels given by society. During the story, the children judge Boo Radley based on what other people have gossiped about him and what comes from their imagination. “Jem gave a reasonable description of Boo: Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that’s why his hands were bloodstained-if you ate an animal raw, you could never wash the blood off. 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.”
The United States of America claims in its constitution that all men are created equal, but for three and a half centuries that was not the case. In To Kill A Mockingbird Harper Lee places the reader in Maycomb, Alabama 1963. Lee places us in the eyes of A eight year old girl named Jean Louise Finch, Scout, living during the Great Depression and this time of prejudice. She lives with her father Atticus, her maid Calpurnia, and her older brother Jem. While Scout refuses to become the ideal southern lady she also learns the dark realization in her hometown of Maycomb that people are racist.
Even though the jury found Tom Robinson guilty of raping Mayella Ewell, in that matter Atticus Finch, lawyer defending Tom Robinson, said that Tom Robinson was not guilty because he only has one arm and there is no way that Tom Robinson was able to hurt her while Bob Ewell is perfectly fine and
Everyone in the courthouse on the night of the trial knew that Tom Robinson was innocent. But at the end of the trial, that didn’t matter. Tom Robinson was a black man, and because of this difference that should not make a difference, he had no say over the family of whites, the Ewells. Tom Robinson was wrongly convicted of raping and beating Mayella Ewell. The evidence of the case leads to the conclusion that Bob Ewell, Mayella’s father was responsible for this misfortune.
Mr. Heck Tate was the first witness to testify at the trial. He says that Bob Ewell told him that Mayella was being raped, so he rushed to the scene. When he arrived at the Ewell property, Mayella was badly injured, with bruises on her arms and face, and there were finger marks on her throat. He notes that most of injuries were on the right side of her face, meaning that the beater was likely left handed. He also notes that no doctors brought to examine Mayella despite her injuries.
Ewell begun her testimony. With much emotional difficulty, she struggles but tells a shaky account of how she called in Mr. Robinson to the house to chop some furniture, when she was suddenly attacked. Mr. Finch then questioned Ms. Ewell with inquiries about her personal life, and brings up previously stated injuries to which Ms. Ewell struggles to confirm. Mr. Finch also points out Mr. Robinson’s left hand is heavily crippled from previous permanent injury. Ms. Ewell after this refuses to answer a series of questions from Mr. Finch, then refuses any more questioning at all.
Atticus asks Mr. Ewell, “Mr. Ewell, can you read and write?” This is a strong point in proving that Tom Robinson is innocent on hurting Mayella because if Tom were to have hit her, her left eye would be black, not her right. “Will you write your name and show us?” He asks again, in which Mr. Ewell stands and writes on the back of envelope; he writes left-handed. This is a strong point that Atticus’s used to persuade the jurors to show Bob Ewell’s left hand would have had to connect with her right eye, not Mr. Robinsons right hand.
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”.
The trial puts the Ewell's evidence against Tom Robinson's evidence. According to Mayella Ewell, she had asked Tom to do some work while her father Bob Ewell was