Journal 4 Due date: Tuesday 24th Saylor Voss To Kill a Mockingbird I am reading To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee and I am on page 304. This book is about two kids Jem and Scout. They are brother and sister. They only have a dad. His name it Atticus, and he is a lawyer who took a case for an African American man who supposedly raped a white women. Atticus lost the case. In this journal I will be Tom Robinson is a polite man. He is polite in more ways than one. He is a hard working man and after a long day at worked he walked home just like every other day. On his way home Mayella asked if he would be ever kind to help her move a chiffarobe, and Tom being the polite man he is, he agreed to help her with no pay. He wanted To could have easily said something horrible about Mayella in court but he chose not too. Not only is this the respectful thing to do, it is polite thing to do. Mayella and the lawyers gave him multiple chances to mess up and say something he would regret, but he did not want to take the risk of getting arrested for breaking the Jim Crow laws if he was proven innocent in the end. This brings me to my next topic. Tom Robinson is also persevering. He is persevering because Tom decided to make a living and get a job and start a family. The reason he needed to persevere is because of is childhood injury to his arm. When Tom was little he got it stuck in a meet grinder and so in result one of his arms is shorter than the other. Manual labor is hard as it is, so to do it when one arm is shorter than the other must have been really hard. Another reason why Tom is persevering is because chiffarobe’s are heavy and Tom decided to help her move the larger object after a long day at work. Tom had a long day and he still helped her move it with his arm, which not to mention had to be pretty difficult. He must have been pretty tired from work and still told The first outcome is that Tom will be proven guilty. One reason I think that he can be proven guilty is because when Bob Ewell came home and Tom was nervous and on edge. He knew that he did not do anything, but when Bob saw him even though he did not do anything wrong, he could get blamed for it. Tom Robinson ran off because of this. Tom did not ant any trouble especially because he did not try and do anything with her. A reason he can be proven guilty from this is because the jury can see that he tried to run because he did do something that he actually did not. Nothing happened but the jury could look at this in a different way. Another reason why I think that Tom could be proven guilty is because he said that he was sorry for Mayella. This Is unacceptable because of the Jim Crow laws. The laws state that you cannot talk down about a white person or put them below yourself. When Tom said he was sorry for Mayella it left the jury and every other person in the court in shock. Tom is sworn to tell the truth and nothing but the truth in court, even if it breaks the Jim Crow laws. The last reason I think that Tom might loose is because he is a man of color. In the days that this book took place people of color or a different race rarely ever won in court. Even if everyone knew that they were innocent, they were more than likely still proven guilty. This is just what happened in those days. This now brings me to why I think he will be proven
Tom Robinson is a kind black man whom Atticus is defending against the charge that he raped Mayella Ewell. Atticus knows that he will lose because Tom is black, but he also knows that Tom is innocent and that he has to defend him. Tom Robinson is portrayed as a hard-working father and husband in the novel and he was only attempting to help Mayella since no one else would, but she made advances that he refused and her father saw them. On the witness stand, he testifies that he helped her because, "'Mr. Ewell didn't seem to help her none, and neither did the chillun.'" (256). Even though Tom helps Mayella out of kindness and pity, Mayella is trapped and must accuse him of raping her to save her own life. Shortly after being wrongfully convicted
Tom Robinson is not strong enough to cause those severe injuries with one hand. Mayella is the oldest sibling in the Ewell family, she sacrifices her teen life to take care of her younger siblings as well as help around the farm more due to the death of her mother. Mr Ewell failed to put himself into Mayella’s shoes to understand her, she is so lonely due to not having someone to talk to. Tom Robinson is the only person that she could talk to and Mr Ewell got rid of him. The trial ended with Bob Ewell’s last shred of pride gone.
To conclude, Mayella should be fully responsible for her actions. She is someone that should be condemned instead of pitied because she is conscious while deciding to kiss a black man, kills Tom Robinson by giving false testimony in court, and knows in advance the consequences of her actions. Tom’s miserable fate is in sharp contrast with Mayella’s, as this event in To Kill a Mockingbird is meant to reflect how white people are easily forgiven even when all evidence is pointing against them. Unfortunately, Scottsboro Boys’ end is the same as Tom’s – all but one of them were convicted and sentenced to death for something that did not happen.
People like this should never be accused unless all the evidence is proven that they committed the crime. As proven in To Kill A Mockingbird, Tom was wrongly accused for hurting Mayella. “She must destroy the evidence. What was the evidence of her offense? Tom Robison, a human being…. She tempted a Negro. She was white, and she kissed a black man.” (Lee 393). He was only accused because Mayella kissed him, and then accused him of hurting her. Out of all the evidence Atticus proves… none of it proves that Tom was even at Mayella’s house.
Not long after, Scout and Jem knowledge that their father, Atticus will defend a black man, Tom Robinson who has been accused of raping and violence attack on a white woman, Mayella Ewell in a trial. Despite disagreement and mocking of Maycomb’s citizens, Atticus stands on his decision to defend Tom Robinson. While Atticus role as the lawyer for Tom, the children face the impact. As a tomboy, Scout has been fighting with other kids a lot and led ...
This man is unfortunately victimized since his society does not believe he is innocent due to the color of his skin. Being the black man that Tom is, it is clear that “Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella opened her mouth and screamed” (241). There is no way that a black man’s words would override the voice of a white person. No testimony, evidence or speech can help Tom prove he is not guilty. Atticus understands that Tom is victimized by racism, so he explains: “When it’s a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins” (220).
...uth to fully understand that it is typical to act superior to those with colored skin. All Dill sees is a man being rude to another, just because of his skin color. While Atticus clearly shows everyone in the court that it was almost impossible for Tom Robinson to have beat Mayella, he still loses the case just because he was a black man against a white woman. Lee includes, “Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed.” (Lee 323) This enforces how it didn’t matter what Tom was really doing or why Mayella was screaming, but just by the way Tom looked they were able to essentially pin the rape and the beatings on Tom. Of course this was not true and he did not receive the justice he deserved, but that didn’t matter to Maycomb. All that mattered was the color of his skin and what the teenage white girl named Mayella Ewell said about him.
In To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Scout, the daughter of an affluent lawyer in a small town in Alabama called Maycomb. Over the summer Scout and her brother Jem befriend a boy named Dill who lives near by for the summer. Dill becomes interested in a house on their street where Arthur (Boo) Radley has lived for many years without going outside. That fall, Jem and Scout start to find gifts in the keyhole of a tree on the Radley property. The next summer Dill, Scout, and Jem try to act out the story of Boo Radley. Atticus, Scout and Jem’s father explains to them that they should try to see life from Boo’s point of view. When Atticus takes the case of a black man named Tom Robinson accused of raping a white woman named Mayella Ewell, Maycomb’s white community gets very upset. Jem and Scout get the brunt of the towns distress from other children. As the trial date comes closer the people get restless and a lynch mob forms. Atticus talks the mob down and Jem and Scout who snuck out a...
During the trial Mayella said, “Long’s he keep telling me ma’am and sayin’ Miss Mayella. I don’t hafta take his case his sass, I ain't called upon to take it”(Doc C). During the trial, Mayella was treated a lot better during the case. But on the other hand, for Tom Robinson he was treated unfairly by Mr.Gilmer since he was called “boy” and many other rude names since he was a black man. During the trial, Reverend Sykes said, “Now don’t you be so confident, Mr.Jem, I ain’t ever seen any jury decide in favour of a colored man over a white man”(Doc D). Given these points, Mayella had a better advantage because of her race since most of the county and people were racist. Also it would be very rare for Tom to win since most of the jurors judged off from race instead of actual facts and reasoning.
These injustices have begun long before Tom’s trial, but it is his trial which epitomizes the problems with our society. The first witness was simply just a misguided fellow named Heck Tate who it seems didn’t have much to offer to the case. Next, Atticus Finch called Bob Ewell to the stand. When I saw Ewell take the stand such a fierce hatred rose within me that I began to shake and tremble. Ewell wrongfully accused Tom of raping his daughter Mayella, however, with the grace of God, Atticus Finch had shown that it was very possible that it was Bob Ewell who because he was a lefty could have beat Mayella. If it were not for great men like Atticus Finch I would have lost all hope for this world. As I watched Mayella take the stand I wondered how such a kind looking person could be someone of such poor character. Her words seemed to paint a picture of a sad life; one where a father neglects her and she has fallen under hard times. Atticus, after pointing out it was probably Bob who beat her, asked Mayella who it really was that beat her. Mayella made it clear it was Tom Robinson, upon which Atticus asked Tom to stand. To the astonishment of the court Tom was handicapped! Tom was then called to the stand where he laid open for all to see the truth, explaining that it was Mayella who came on to him (that treacherous woman!). Soon enough the trial ended and every one awaited the verdict of the jury. The next few hours were the most nerve wracking of my life.
Being an African-American and living in a generally prejudiced town like Maycomb, Tom was already licked from the start. Tom was allegedly accused of raping a white person and as Atticus says, “In our courts, when it’s a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins” (295). During his trial, Tom could have lied about his reasoning for helping Mayella, to keep himself from getting into more trouble, but instead he showed real courage by revealing the real reason behind his actions: “I felt sorry for her, she seemed to try more’n the rest of ‘em” (264). Since Jim Crow laws were active in Maycomb, Tom’s answer was seen as a terrible mistake: “Below us, nobody liked Tom Robinson’s answer” (264). It showed that he, being a black person, thought he was better off than a white person.
Dear ladies and gentlemen of the jury I urge you to bring back a verdict of guilty. There are many reasons for you to find Tom Robinson guilty. Tom has the strength to hurt Mayella, he ran away very fast, and there is evidence to prove Tom had a crush on Mayella. There is no reason Mayella would want Tom and Tom felt sorry for her. This is a case of who to believe and I am going to convince you that you should believe Mayella and Bob Ewell and not trust Tom Robinson.
Despite cultures and conflicts, the fundamental bonds remain: We all belong to a common family. The book, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee is a timeless classic about coming of age in a small southern town in the 1930’s. The book follows Jem and Scout, two siblings, who must face the harsh realities of life. Hypocrisy and racism together make the two most important themes.
Acknowledging that a tragedy has occurred can be difficult to accept. The death of Tom Robinson is definitely a tragedy. Tom is a kind, honest black man who helped a young white woman, Mayella Ewell, with chores. This act of kindness is responsible for Tom being charged with rape, his arrest, a trial, and a guilty verdict even though the testimony showed that Mayella’s own father, Bob Ewell, was the one who beat his daughter. “It was Jem’s turn to cry.” He was upset with the verdict and thought it was unfair to send Tom to jail knowing that he is now in there for life. In jail, Tom tries to break free, heading over the fence and is shot seventeen times. Jem, along with the black community of the town, had a difficult time accepting and acknowledging that Tom had died after he was shoot. They all wept and mourned in the loss of Tom. Tom is innocent, but he is convicted of raping a white woman due the prejudice of p...
Tom Robinson, a Negro, represents another mockingbird. He lives a life of simplicity beyond the town dump, and attends the same church as the Finch family cook, Calpurnia. Tom regularly assists people in need, especially Mayella Ewell, but he finds himself punished for it. Mayella, a white woman, accuses Tom of rape and abuse, and her father Bob takes this matter to court and uses subterfuge in his testimony. During the trial Link Deas, Tom’s former employer, announces, “That boy worked for me eight years an’ I aint had a speck o’ trouble outta him” (195). Link tries to stand up for Tom because he instinctively knows Tom would never rape anyone, especially a white woman. Because of Link’s experience with Tom, he steadfastly believes in Tom’s innocence. However the prejudice that exists in Maycomb influences the jury to convict Tom of rape, leaving him and his attorney Atticus Finch disappointed but not surprised.