Why Is Tom Robinson Guilty In To Kill A Mockingbird

The 1930s was a very challenging time for america, it was the peak of the the Great Depression and the social oppression of women. The fictional novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is centered around the political issues america faced. The novel takes place in the fictional town of Maycomb Alabama where we look at the case of Tom Robinson against Mayella and Bob Ewell. The story goes that Tom Robinson went into the Ewell household and took advantage of Mayella and beat her. Although Mayella was actually the perpetrator, she won the case and Tom Robinson was sentenced to prison. Although due to being a poor, uneducated woman whom is treated like an object, Mayella is not a powerful character.

Mayella was powerless in gender because she was always abused. “Mayella was beaten savagely by someone who lead almost exclusively with his left” (Document B). Based on this quote it shows that Mayella’s father had beaten her sexual, verbally, and physically. Tom Robinson also was crippled in his left hand which shows her father beat her. During the trial Atticus questions Mayella about if she loves her father and she response “he tollable, except when he is drinking” (Document B). Mayella father must have been an alcoholic and raped her during the month of November. Mayella wants to try to protect her dad from getting accused of raping her when it actually happened and falsely accuse Tom Robinson.

In the book, To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, has many themes but none more evident than the losses and suffering of innocent people. For example, Mayella Ewell expiriences this theme as she is forced by her father to go along with the false accusation of rape comitted by Tom Robinson. As stated by Atticus Finch it wasn’t Tom but Mayella who committed this, "She was white, and she tempted a Negro. She did something that in our society is unspeakable: she kissed a black man.” (271). Mayella jumped on Tom and Tom couldn’t defend himself because he could hurt her. Mayella states, “ I never kissed a grown man before, what my daddy does to me does not count” (265). Mayella is beaten senseless by her father constantly and Bob Ewell witnessed Mayella jump on Tom but was disgusted by what he saw

In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, the “mockingbird symbol” to help the reader understand the innocence of many characters in the story one example of a “Mockingbird” Is Arthur Radley. Arthur has never really done anything wrong to become hated as he is at the time all he wants is to have a connection with the outside world like he used to, people change from when they were when they were younger to where they are now. In the same fashion, another example of a mockingbird’s innocence is the black man Tom Robinson. Tom is an example of a mockingbird; he is an innocent man who supposedly did bad things with Mayella Ewell. Mayella Ewell is a mockingbird example, during the trial her father forces her to lie about what happened between Tom and herself but sincerely she has no resemblance of him. Harper Lee stresses to the reader that it is immoral to harm the innocent.

Mr. Ewell is considered an underhanded, white man who falls on the outer rings in Maycomb’s

Determination is a word defined as “firmness of purpose; resoluteness” (Dictionary.com). In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, determination soaks into the mindset of a select few characters in a town named Maycomb, Alabama, during the 1930s. The few characters with the asset of being determined are Bob Ewell, an enemy of many, Tom Robinson, a hardworking man, and Atticus Finch, a greatly appreciated person who sticks to his beliefs.

According to the book To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, I believe Tom Robinson is innocent. The crime that Tom Robinson is getting charged for is that he had raped Mayella Ewell. There are many reasons of why I believe Tom Robinson is not guilty. For instance, Tom Robinson’s left arm was not strong enough nor working, so he didn’t have the strength to do what Mr. Ewell and Mayella said he did.

During the trial of Tom Robinson, for being accused of raping a white women. Some people in the town turned their backs on Atticus for taken the case. Atticus took the case and has proven that Tom is innocent but as Atticus knows since Tom is a “Black Male” that he would never be treated fairly.

In the novel: To Kill A Mockingbird, Mayella Ewell, a poor white woman, accused Tom Robinson, an African American, of rape. The Ewell’s are very indigent and her father, Bob Ewell, gets drunk and abuses Mayella. Since Mayella is very poor, this makes her not so powerful.

“‘You never really understand a person until you consider his point of view… until you climb into his skin and walk around in it’” (Lee 39). This quote from the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee includes many characters who suffer from the Great Depression and other conflicts that break out in the town of Maycomb. Racism, poverty, and domestic violence attend in the book and continue their way through to create rising conflict between the people of Maycomb county. Atticus Finch is a lawyer of Maycomb and a father of two children, Jean Louise Finch, also known as Scout, and Jem Finch. Atticus, a white man, fights to defend Tom Robinson, a black man, in a case consisting of domestic violence. Throughout

The Ewell’s seem to have trouble with telling the truth. Mayella is lying about her story in order to hide the fact that her father most likely shouldn’t be taking care of her. Mayella comes in with injuries that she blames on Tom Robinson attacking, but everyone in the room knows that her father gets really angry when he’s drinking. Then, when Mayella is asked if her father has ever mistreated her, she hesitates before answering no. The hesitation was clearly noticeable and had to mean something. When asked how Atticus was mocking her, she responds “Long’s he keeps callin’ me ma’am an sayin’ Miss Mayella. I don’t hafta take his sass, I ain’t called upon to take it.” (p. 184) this shows that she hasn’t grown up with much respect around and

Ewell's behavior is revealed to be hostile and rash. His English is informal and his behavior is rude. When Robert is proven to be lying about the story he begins to act like how his son Burris did to his teacher. It is also revealed that he was the one to give Mayella all the injuries Sheriff Taft witnessed after it was discovered that Mr. Robinson has no mobile use of his left arm. And if Mayella had a bruised right eye the person must be left handed and it is revealed that Mr. Ewell is left handed after Atticus tested him by asking him to write out his name on a piece of paper. However what Lee did by creating an attentive notion of how Mr. Ewell was the one to beat Mayella was the revealing of these facts but not actually stating he did it. Thus a tension is built up out of these annotations but Mr. Ewell will not get in trouble creates an anger in the reader. It also explains why Mayella lied on the stand, because she was scared what her father was gonna do to her if she

I am reading the book To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee and I am on page 281. In this journal I will be predicting and…

In chapters 17-24 in To Kill A Mockingbird, Jem and Scout observe their father in court defending Tom Robinson (a black man) from the accusations of the Bob Ewell (a "low grade ' ' white man). Bob Ewell accuses Tom Robinson of sexually assaulting his daughter; Mayella Ewell. Before the fate of Tom Robinson is given in the possession of the jury, both lawyers have a final attempt at convincing the jury that Tom Robinson should/shouldn 't be prosecuted.

In the successful novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, the character, Mayella Ewell, is portrayed as a victim and villain. She is a complex character who can be viewed as a lonely victim of poverty and neglect. She is also a 19 year old adult who falsely accused a man of a crime he didn’t commit. A victim is a person who feels powerless, needs lots of attention, and is passive. A villain is one who is trying to accomplish a mission, acting on personal desires, and is hiding something. Mayella Ewell is a victim.