After Bob Ewell's testimony, the clerk calls in Mayella Ewell, Bob's oldest child and daughter. Before the trail starts, Mayella starts to accuse Atticus of badgering her father into accusing that he is left handed, and she fears that Atticus would do the same to her. I do agree with Mayella here. I do know for sure that Atticus will not badger Mayella in any way, but I do understand her frustration. If she knows her father was badgered by this lawyer, she will be more careful and emotional when she gets to the witness stand. After she accuses Atticus for badgering Bob, she starts getting emotional. Since she did this, the jury now has a sense of protection over Mayella, and they are more inclined to find Bob guilty than innocent.
When Mayella starts talking, we find out that her story is not like Bob's story. This is how it goes: on the day of the crime, November 21, Mayella was relaxing on the Ewells' porch, and she saw Tom Robinson wall down the street. She called him over when she offered up a nickel for his services. Tom accepted the nickel, and when they got into the house, Tom knocked her over and started choking her, and then he raped her. After Bob entered the house to "save" his daughter, Tom ran away from the scene. She never mentioned a beating in her direct-examination, she was only choked and raped. This only furthers the fact that the rape was just a make believe story to cover up Bob's potential beating of Mayella. This is the beauty of the case-in-chief. There are so many witnesses with so many different views on the incident, and sometimes they can accidentally reveal the true nature of the story.This is what Mayella just did. Atticus built up his case so much during the testimonies of Mr. Tate and Bob Ewell, that it only took one more witness to destroy the credibility of the prosecution. Mayella accidentally revealed it wasn't Tom that beat her, it was someone else.
Reflections on Harper Lee's classic novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" from Blessed Trinity 8th graders.
I do agree with Mayella and you on how she was nervous for Atticus to question her because he destroyed Bob's confidence and whole story. You did a good job of providing things from the chapter. This helped to really point out how Bob Ewell and Heck Tate's stories don't line up.
ReplyDeleteYou had a very good summary about what Mayella said in her testimony.I also agree that the stories did not add up. Mayella did not mention a beating in her story, and there were also some more things that didn't add up as well. I agree when you said that this testimony could have just exposed everything and this revealed that there might have been a different story. It also tells us that Bob could have beat his daughter, but used Tom to cover it up.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, you were very specialic on the summary about Mayella's testimony and how it must affect the jury. I agree with what you said about Mayella, she must have been nervous when going up to the witness stand. She didn't want to seem like a fool like how Atticus did to her father, however remember that she is also lying under an oath. I also agree that their stories don't line up, Bob claimed that Tom beat her but Mayella didn't say that. I do think that Bob was the one that beat Mayella, Tom's left arm is sripped and can't move it so how would he be able to beat and rape her. Bob also gets drunk a lot, maybe it has to do with the death of his wife? Overall, Great blog post.
ReplyDeleteGood job pointing things out and your summary. I also agree with Mayella because she is nervous that Atticus with destroy her credibility too. A also agree that Bob's story and Mayella's story don't add up because she didn't say there was a beating in the direct examination.
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