"Guilty...guilty...guilty...guilty."
This trial made me the angriest I've been in TKAM, I practically had steam coming out of my ears! Even though the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach told me this was going to happen, there was still that naive sliver of hope that the trial would have a happy ending and justice would win. In the trial, Bob Ewell first stated his recollection of how the events went from his POV, but his explanation is riddled with holes made from sharp questions from Atticus. We find out that Bob is left handed, making it perfect for him to slap Mayella across the right side of her face. After Bob has insulted his way out of the witness seat, we get an account of the story from Mayella but like her father's story, it's filled with flaws and holes. Mayella pulls the pity card and bursts into tears after saying Tom choked her and refuses to answer more questions. I wanted to slap this girl across the face so bad, how could you lie so shamelessly? She is removed for the testimony area and Tom is sent up. As he stands, we see that he's crippled and that his left arm is much shorter than his left. This should've made it obvious that Bob and Mayella were lying, but I guess white supremacy always wins over the black truth. He tells his story, completely contradicting Mayella and Bob, and we are sent to wait for what should've been an obvious verdict. The Judge counts the votes, saying 'guilty' over and over again, causing my heart to boil with rage. Even in the current day, we haven't fixed the prejudice that we have against blacks, shown in multiple trials and convictions of blacks, as well as racial discrimination.
So, the big problem here is that even though we've improved, we're still not a completely unbiased, unracist nation and still discriminate. Maybe it's time to completely get rid of that.
Until Next Time!
-Nicole
I was also hoping for a happy ending, and I was disappointed as well with the end result of the trial. But I wouldn't blame Mayella Ewell for lying in court. Bob Ewell was the one who beat her and then lied about it on the stand as well. I also would have been afraid to tell the truth in court for fear of another beating at home. It also would have been unwise at the time to admit that you tried to get extra friendly with a black man, especially in such a public place in front of such a hateful audience towards black people amd those affiliated with them. It didn't matter that she lied anyway. She gave them evidence that worked against the claim of Bob Ewell. And the jury was the group of people who declared TR guilty anyway, so it was really their fault that he was convicted, despite the evidence that it wasn't TR who beat Mayella or raped her.
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ReplyDeletei think that it all came to an answer from our point of views when we read the part were Atticus made Mr.Ewell to do things its like it all fit perfectly and it made him look so blameful. But i would blame Mayella more because this could of all just ended if she just told the truth from the very beginning. Mayella was the main part of this that created this situation. i liked how you were descriptive in the beginning and connecting on how you would of reacted if you were in the trial
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