Reflections on Harper Lee's classic novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" from Blessed Trinity 8th graders.

Tuesday, December 4, 2018

Mayella and Cross Examination!!!

 Mayella is very emotional in her direct examination. From the beginning of her direct examination,  She is scared of Atticus for what he did to her father. During the cross examination Atticus slowly builds up his case. Towards the end of the cross examination Atticus proves the most important evidence in the case. In my opinion, I think that Atticus is a very intelligent man otherwise he wouldn’t be doing it like this and he is an amazing lawyer. It seems that Atticus is very patient and he doesn't right away try to criticize the witness. Or he might be objected from his question. In the beginning of the cross examination Atticus has a comforting and calm tone by the way he speaks. He is trying to make Mayella feel very comfortable However, towards the end of the cross examination, Atticus all of sudden starts shooting questions at Mayella that she does not even reply an answer. Because she is afraid se might spell out the truth.  Atticus plays smart and is tricky to all of his witness. He asks questions so good that Mr.Gilmer does not even object, Atticus gets to prove many facts and pieces of evidence to the jury. Through his tactics and tricks used in the cross examination, Atticus makes it clear that Mayella is living a harsh life. Mayella is the victim of poverty and ignorance. She doesn't have any friends she does not even know what one is, and most importantly, she doesn't know what the word love means. She thinks that Atticus is making fun of her even though he was just being polite and courteous. She is like this because she has never been treated the same why Atticus is doing in court. Through how he smartly conducts this cross examination, Atticus gets Mayella to admit that Bob gets violent when she drinks, and Bob overall may have been the one who beat Mayella. Bob is a bad father. Because he didn’t even call a doctor for Mayella  Most importantly, Atticus proves that Tom Robinson could not have been the person who beat her since his left arm is crippled, since he was four so it could not have been him and the person who beat Mayella is left-handed based on where her injuries were, on the right side of her body. And the only person who we know that is left handed is Bob Ewell.
In my opinion Atticus is a very smart guy because all of his questions have not been objected. I liked how he build up every person by bit by bit. If he would've done it in another way he would probably not get the information he wants. I can tell that she was lying because she started to startled to the question has your father ever beaten you up. I think Atticus can get away with it because he has shown a lot of evidence and he still has Tom Robinson. But at the same time not because the jury are all white and back then they were racist,however I still think he has a chance.  What do you think?
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