Mayella's Cross Examination

   From the bottom of page 242 is where Mayella's cross examination starts. So far, Mayella has been very emotional in her direct examination. She even expressed her feelings towards Atticus as she said that she was afraid of him. She was afraid that Atticus would do her like he did to her father, Bob Ewell. During the cross examination of Mayella, Atticus slowly builds up the case. Towards the end of the cross examination, Atticus proves probably the most important and the biggest piece of evidence in the case. In my opinion, I think that Atticus is a very intelligent man, and he is an amazing lawyer. It seems to me like he is very patient, and he doesn't right away try to criticize the witness. In the beginning of the cross examination, Atticus has a comforting and calm tone by the way he speaks. 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. As a lawyer, Atticus plays smart and is tricky. He asks questions that Mr. Gilmer can object. However, Mr. Gilmer doesn't object, and through this, 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 indeed living a rough life. Mayella is the victim of poverty and ignorance. She doesn't have any friends nor does she knows 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. 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. Most importantly, Atticus proves that Tom Robinson could not have been the person who beat her since his left arm is crippled, and the person who beat Mayella is left-handed based on where her injuries were, on the right side of her body.

When Atticus starts to rain questions on Mayella, and she doesn't reply 

   In my opinion, Atticus is incredibly intelligent and smart. When conducting his cross examination, he does not right away criticize the witness and try to prove them wrong. He starts off slow, and towards the end, he starts going for the witness. He slowly builds up. He plays smart, and he uses clever tricks that I could not have ever thought of. He manages to trick Mr. Gilmer to the point that Mr. Gilmer did not even object to any of his questions during the cross examination of Mayella. Through this, he got out the most important pieces of evidence. He started off with a calm tone. However, towards the end, he just started to fire at Mayella. He got the witnesses to admit so many pieces of evidence without them even knowing it. In my opinion, Atticus is truly intelligent and clever. He knows what he is doing during the cross examination, and he manages to trick others. He comes up with so many clever tricks and ways to prove the witness and the prosecution wrong. He is very smart, clever, and he knows what he is doing in the cross examination. However, he just doesn't show his plan and tatic right away.