In To Kill A Mockingbird, Tom Robinson and the Ewells share their stories. But their stories do not add up so one of the parties has to be lying. I know that Ms. Mayella is lying for many reasons and now I will tell you why I think the Ewells are lying and why they would lie. First off I know that she is lying because of her body language. In the book it has many tell tales, for example Mayella repeated her answers and answered herself which is a large telltale of a lie. The second reason I know she is lying is that she got hostile with Atticus which according to “The Time” is a sign of lying. As well as it shows how immature she is with her breaking out in tears for the smallest thing. The last reason I know that Mayella is lying is because …show more content…
All of this information tells us that she did lie but why? I have analyzed this answer and now I will tell you why think that she lied. First, she lied because a woman trying to tempt a black man, especially with kids, is a disgrace to the town. If the town would have found out, she would never be able to set foot in the town again because of the unwritten rules back in the nineteen hundreds. The second reason that Mayella lied was that if she told the truth she would have probably been hurt by her dad who beat her when he saw her with Tom Robinson. In the book even Atticus said, “so if spitting in my face saved Mayella one extra beating, that’s something I would gladly take” (Lee 292). The only way for her to wipe the slate clean is to get rid of Tom Robinson. If she does not she will face unbearable shame from the town and from her family. This would bring an extra to the Ewell name that Mr. Ewell would never allow and he already hit her so just imagine what he would do to her if Tom as free to tell his story. As you can see the Ewells are a cheating, lying, and deceitful familly that will do anything, even lie under oath to get rid of a …show more content…
This is a major point because it should make the jury think what else they have been lying about. Along with this the town knows that the Ewells are a distasteful family. for instance, “Atticus said the Ewells had been the disgrace of Maycomb for three generations” (Lee 40). Most of the town must know who the Ewells are so they can not trust them. The final reason that Tom will be found innocent is that the evidence supporting his involvement is enormous. The two main reasons that support Tom’s virtuality is his left arm that is useless and is unable to hit the right side of Mayella's face which was bruised by an obvious left handed punch. The second piece of evidence that proves his innocence is that he answered every question that Mr. Gilmer gave swift and clear answers that only a person who actually went through with it could know. Now with the good evidence and reason there is always a shadow of doubt that Tom could be found guilty. For one, Not even Atticus believes they could win, even with the evidence for Toms uninvolvement. Even the town is against Atticus defending Tom so the verdict might still be against
Atticus had enough evidence to prove to the Jury that Tom’s right arm did not work and that would mean that Tom could not have pulled Mayella to the ground and bruised her as the policeman described. The crowd was surprised but the Jury and the Judge did not believe Atticus’s evidence. They were prejudiced and if Atticus came up with the best possible explanation the Judge still believed the Ewell family and they did not come up with a reasonable explanation about Tom. “As you grow older, you’ll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don’t you forget it whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash” (Atticus) chapter 23. Prejudice hurts people who are black and people who were different and young
So far in the novel we have seen Atticus prove multiple cases to show that Tom Robinson is not guilty. One of his biggest leads came when he proved Mayella Ewell was beaten on the right side of her face, Mr. Ewell was left-handed, and that Tom Robinson barely had a left hand. Most people were confused why Atticus asked these crazy questions, but all along he had an intricate plan in order to prove his side. I predict that in the end, Atticus will be able to prove Mr. Ewell guilty. The Ewells were very hard to work with in court because they are seemingly very uncivilized people. They are not used to Atticus’ way of speaking and addressing others, so they feel offended and misund...
At this point, Atticus receives his call to adventure and has to determine whether to take the case or not. In the beginning, Atticus realizes the attention that this case will bring and what it’ll mean for his family. He knows that it will expose his children to the cruelties of society that he’s tried to protect them from. Atticus comes to the conclusion that if he refuses the case, there will be no one else to take it and he’d essentially be declaring Tom guilty from the start. He knows that the chances of Tom getting off innocent is slim, although he needed to try for the sake of his own conscious and for everything he tries to instill in his children. This is where the psychological journey for Atticus and his family begins as they battle their own morals against the widely held prejudice in the
Mayella Ewell is a woman in the 1930’s and yes, women back then were not treated as citizens. As Atticus is delivering his closing argument on how the person who beat Mayella with his left, Tom cannot use his left due to a job accident. By contrasting the difference in race and gender, in the 1930’s these were a big thing, To examine the results of race, gender are way different. Mayella may be white, but in her role as a female, it just goes downhill from that. Although it is different from Tom Robinson point of view. As Atticus is delivering his closing argument after proving that Bob Ewell is left-handed and Tom Robinson is not able to use his left hand. ‘“...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…’”. Tom Robinson is unable to use his left hand due to a job accident. Mayella took advantage of Tom, she knew he would help her because he is a nice man. Mayella was not taught respect while growing up, Tom on the other hand was amiable. Mayella is anxious of her father and what he does to her. Some readers might be anxious too, but might confess up to what their father is doing to them. Since she was not taught respect from her father, she would not know much about it. “Won’t answer a word you say long as you keep on mockin’ me,’Mayella said.
Mayella (white), goes to court against Tom Robinson (African American), where Mayella is accusing Tom Robinson of rape. When Atticus asks Mayella questions, Atticus mishears Mayella. An example of Mayella’s lack of power is when Atticus closes his argument by describing Mayella’s injuries during the court case. “Mayella Ewell was beaten savagely by someone who led almost exclusively with his left.”
With lots of children to take care of Mayella was only able to get two to three years of education and she had no friends. This is why when Atticus asks her about her friends she thinks he is making fun of her. After having to live a life like this we don?t know why Mayella would like to defend her hard-hearted father, but she probably did this because she was scared of what he would do to her if she told the truth. We feel sympathetic towards her at this point but there is still a sense of hatred towards her as she is letting an innocent person being jailed who actually helped her a lot when no one did.
During the Tom Robinson Trial, Mayella is called up to the chair, asked a few questions and after she has had enough, she screams, "I got somethin ' to say an ' then I ain 't gonna say no more. That nigger yonder took advantage of me an ' if you fine fancy gentlemen don 't wanta do nothin ' about it then you 're all yellow stinkin ' cowards, stinkin ' cowards, the lot of you. Your fancy airs don 't come to nothin '—your ma 'amin ' and Miss Mayellerin ' don 't come to nothin ', Mr. Finch-" (She is scared of the town knowing that she is wrong and Tom robinson is innocent. Mayella uses this case to cover up the shame in her life because she is extremely lonely, has no self-esteem, and overwhelmed with the amount of unhappiness in her life. Mayella gets extremely defensive in this quote because she knows that everything Atticus has brung up is good evidence and she can’t hold her own. In the jury, it was full of all white men. Mayella acted timid and helpless and suggested in her comment that the man of the jury be brave and heroic. She becomes someone who is vulnerable, valuable and needs to be
As further evidence is procured, this is proven to be false. The truth is that Mayella’s father beat her for making romantic advances towards Tom. Mayella is unlike the rest of the Ewells in the sense that she likes to keep herself tidy, and lives in a more sophisticated manner than the rest of her family. This makes me infer that she is quite taciturn, and a kind-hearted person who wouldn’t lie about what happened that day if it weren’t for something taking over her conscience. Being threatened by her acrimonious father to lie about what really happened set aside what she knew to be right and pushed her to lie in the trial. Both pressure and fear make people do what they know is not the right thing to do, even though their conscience tells them otherwise. Doing the wrong thing may dispel fears or pressure that is put on for a certain instance. There are many reasons why people do what they know isn’t right even though their conscience tells them not to, but sometimes this can help them construct their values, and improve on how susceptible they are to their
In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, nine-teen year old Mayella Ewell is forced to go against Tom Robinson, an African American who is accused of raping her. Although it is obvious that the rape didn’t happen, the author portrays Mayella as a victim of circumstance. Lee makes it somewhat easy to sympathize with Mayella by describing Mayella’s homelife, indirectly characterizing Bob Ewell throughout the novel, and describing Mayella’s actions while in court.
With this being said, even though Mayella was a low class female she inherited the superiority of being white making it easy for her during the trial. Mayella used her individualistic self pity against Tom Robinson. The little town of Maycomb Alabama knew the truth, but the Ewell’s plan backfired on them. They gained no respect, and are still considered white pieces of trash. As for Mayella individually, she’s not educated but she is very smart. Mayella did have power through race, class, and
Overall, Mayella is not a powerful figure in To Kill a Mockingbird. Even though she was powerful because of her race, the areas she lacked in was her social class and gender. Despite the fact that Mayella won the trial, the only reason why she won was due to her race. She is also a very weak character since she even allowed her own father to assault her and just the way she lived in general. For the most part, this is important because if this trial happened in a different time period like today, then it would’ve been certain for Tom Robinson to win the
“... Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s garden’s. They don’t nest in the corncubs. They don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” (pg.103)Mayella is innocent because she grew up in an abusive household. The book gives hints that her father Bob Ewell sexually assaults her and leaves her to take care of her so called “brothers and sisters.” Mayella Ewell was put on stand and was made to lie to the judge and jury by her father, Bob Ewell, who beats her and abuses
All the evidence and all the fingers point to Bob Ewell, however, the jury cannot find Tom Robinson due to the racism and bias that is ever present in Maycomb. The town knows the truth in about Bob Ewell. Although nobody will explicitly say it, every person in the town realizes what actually happened the evening of November twenty first. No person wants to be the first to break the mold. Every individual waits for someone else to connect the dots and speak the truth, but because Bob Ewell is white, Tom Robinson is convicted for the crimes. Bob Ewell, even though was never sentenced to jail time, is the second looser in this situation. Although Bob Ewell is never imprisoned, Atticus’s mission is accomplished; the goal was never to prove Tom Robinson’s innocence, that was already clear. Atticus’s goal was to prove Bob Ewell’s crimes. Atticus from day one knows that he has no chance of winning the trial when he says, “Simply because we were licked one hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win” (101). Atticus realizes that, since Maycomb will not allow Tom to be found innocent, that the enviorment that Tom has been accuses in does not have the open mindedness that would even give a
"The only thing we've got is a black man's word against the Ewells'. The evidence boils down to you-did-I-didn't. The jury couldn't possibly be expected to take Tom Robinson's word against the Ewells,'" Atticus solemnly explains this to his brother. First of all, Atticus demonstrates courage when he undertakes the task of defending Tom Robinson, a black man wrongly accused of rape. Atticus knows he won't win the case and like Mrs. Dubose in her battle against morphine, he is "licked" before he begins. Nevertheless, Atticus knows that Tom is innocent and that he must fight for him, since no one else will. Atticus's strong sense of morality and justice motivates him to defend Tom with vigor and determination, giving it all he's got with one mission in mind. He wants the people of Maycomb town, whether they believe it or not, to hear the truth about Tom, "That boy might go to the chair, but he's not going till the truth's told"
Mayella is lying in her testimony 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 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.