When Atticus goes up to perform his cross examination on Mayella, he uses miss or ma'am. Mayella takes offense to those courtesy terms because she hasn't heard those in her life. Atticus asks her basic questions and acts like he doesn't have a good mind. She tells Atticus about her home life and about her education. She is not very smart and she stays home from school to do work around the house. Only a few children in their family know how to read and write. Bob Ewell spends the checks that they get and spends it on alcohol. He goes out into the woods and doesn't come back for a few days. Their mother is dead and the children have to take care of themselves. Their life is full of poverty and ignorance. Atticus asks her if she has any friends and she doesn't know what that means. Mayella thinks that Atticus is making fun of her again. Atticus also asks if her father loves her and she doesn't get what that means either. I feel bad for Mayella because she doesn't know what this means and she is in poverty. Atticus starts to have a sharp mind and starts being strict on her. He asks Mayella if Tom raped her and makes Tom stand up. His left arm is crippled because it got caught in a cotton gin and it tore out his muscles. Tom couldn't beat Mayella because she was beat on her right side and Tom can't use his left hand. Atticus starts to ask her a lot of questions and she doesn't answer them. Mayella finally walks up and tells the jurors they are cowards if they don't protect her from what Tom did to her. This gets the men to be protective over Mayella. Atticus is going to call up Tom Robinson for his witness after the short break.
I feel like Atticus could have still had a sharp mind, but not saying questions all at once because he made her get of the witness stand and walk away. This is bad for Atticus because he needs to get more evidence to show that Tom isn't guilty. Mayella uses emotion to get that protective instinct from the jurors and emotions shouldn't matter in a trial. Atticus is trying to use evidence in this trial, while other people are using emotions to get the jurors to be protective over Mayella. Atticus is going to have to come with something on his direct examination on Tom Robinson.
Reflections on Harper Lee's classic novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" from Blessed Trinity 8th graders.
Wednesday, December 5, 2018
TKAM Post
After Bob Ewell came up to testify, the next witness was Mayella Ewell. She was described as a thick bodied girl, walking up to the stand. Mr. Gilmer then presented his direct examination. Mr. Gilmer asks Mayella where she was and what had happened the night of her rape. She didn't want to answer, however, because she was scared of Atticus. Judge Taylor reassured her that Atticus would not do anything, and she continued on with her story. She was on the front porch and Bob had told her to chop up a chiffarobe for firewood, while he went off into the woods. She saw Tom Robinson walking by and called him over. She said she would pay him a nickel to chop it up for her. When she had walked inside to go get the nickel, that is when it had happened. She said he snuck up from behind her and surprised her. She claimed she hollered and fought back. All the sudden, she saw her father run in and yell, "Who had done it?". That was all from Mr. Gilmer's direct examination.
Next, Atticus came up to perform his cross examination. Atticus pretends to have a faulty memory. He asks her simple questions, like how old she was and addressed her with formal names like "miss" or "ma'am". She finds this insulting, and thinks that Atticus is mocking her. This tells us that she isn't really respected at home, and she's not very educated. Once Judge Taylor explains to her Atticus isn't being rude, Atticus then asks her about her siblings and her education. The Ewells aren't very educated, and she has to stay at home to work. Atticus then builds a picture of their homelife. The Ewells have to work hard for daily needs, and they are usually everyone for themselves. What's sad is that Mayella does not even know what a friend is. Then, Atticus proceeds to ask Mayella if she loves her father. She doesn't even know what this means, so she says he is tolerable until he starts drinking. Then, she claims that her father had never touched her. Atticus proceeds with his cross, and starts to boil on Mayella. He gets her confused, and asks if Tom Robinson was really the man who had raped her. Atticus made Tom stand up and Tom was crippled on his left arm. This makes it impossible for Tom to attack her since the attacker had to be left handed. Then, Atticus asks Mayella if her father was the one who beat her. She lost it and got into a dramatic rant, leaving off in a good stance for the prosecution, but not the defense.
First of all, I think that there's an obvious lie between Mayella and Bob's story. The first thing wrong with their stories is that Bob said he was an eyewitness, meaning he saw everything and who had done it. In Mayella's story, she said that her father ran in asking who had done it. This means that Mr. Ewell did not witness what had happened. The second one would be that Mayella was in charge of getting firewood. In Bob's story, he said he was the one getting firewood. There is an obvious hole in this part. I think it's sad that Mayella has to live with her father honestly. She doesn't know what friends are and does not know what really love is either. Her father probably abuses her, and he tried to make this a trial a cover up. The last thing would be that I was surprised that Mayella bursted out at the end. That was a good part on her end, but how will it affect the jury? Will the next witness, Tom Robinson, have a better influence on the jury because of his cripple?
Next, Atticus came up to perform his cross examination. Atticus pretends to have a faulty memory. He asks her simple questions, like how old she was and addressed her with formal names like "miss" or "ma'am". She finds this insulting, and thinks that Atticus is mocking her. This tells us that she isn't really respected at home, and she's not very educated. Once Judge Taylor explains to her Atticus isn't being rude, Atticus then asks her about her siblings and her education. The Ewells aren't very educated, and she has to stay at home to work. Atticus then builds a picture of their homelife. The Ewells have to work hard for daily needs, and they are usually everyone for themselves. What's sad is that Mayella does not even know what a friend is. Then, Atticus proceeds to ask Mayella if she loves her father. She doesn't even know what this means, so she says he is tolerable until he starts drinking. Then, she claims that her father had never touched her. Atticus proceeds with his cross, and starts to boil on Mayella. He gets her confused, and asks if Tom Robinson was really the man who had raped her. Atticus made Tom stand up and Tom was crippled on his left arm. This makes it impossible for Tom to attack her since the attacker had to be left handed. Then, Atticus asks Mayella if her father was the one who beat her. She lost it and got into a dramatic rant, leaving off in a good stance for the prosecution, but not the defense.
First of all, I think that there's an obvious lie between Mayella and Bob's story. The first thing wrong with their stories is that Bob said he was an eyewitness, meaning he saw everything and who had done it. In Mayella's story, she said that her father ran in asking who had done it. This means that Mr. Ewell did not witness what had happened. The second one would be that Mayella was in charge of getting firewood. In Bob's story, he said he was the one getting firewood. There is an obvious hole in this part. I think it's sad that Mayella has to live with her father honestly. She doesn't know what friends are and does not know what really love is either. Her father probably abuses her, and he tried to make this a trial a cover up. The last thing would be that I was surprised that Mayella bursted out at the end. That was a good part on her end, but how will it affect the jury? Will the next witness, Tom Robinson, have a better influence on the jury because of his cripple?
The Good Guy Mr. Gilmer
We have just finished reading. While reading in class we only had a few pages to finish but there is one part of the end of this chapter that stands out to me. Since we first started to talk about the trail in the book I thought that all most everyone in the book would be single minded or just play along with the things that everyone was saying. This seems to be the cass for most of the people in the book but it has been shown that people can change. For example Mr. Cunningham. In one of the past chapter Mr. Cunningham is shown in a mob going to kill Tom Robinson so the truth won’t get out. Scout is able to change his mind by breaking his mob mentality. Even if his mind was only changed because of his son and for a short second his mind was still changed.
This shows how if you look into someone's life and realize they are human and have gone through different situations in their life you can understand them a little better. For all we know when Mr. Cunningham got back into his car to leave he was thinking of another plan to kill Tom Robinson. I don’t think his happened though because of the amount of guilt Mr. Cunningham would of had. To connect this to chapter 18 that we just finished, Mr. Gilmer is the lawyer for the plaintiff. During this whole trail he has been putting a small amount of effort into trail. Until now I thought this was because he just assumed he would win the trail with little to no evidence and just win of edmonton. Then in this reading Scout says something interesting.
She basically says that Mr. Gilmer was not trying to win the case because he knew the truth and secretly wanted the jury to say that Tom Robinson is not guilty. For me this part of the book changed who I saw Mr. Gilmer. He might not be the bad guy I thought. At the end of reading this chapter the one question I have left is how does Tom Robinson even fit into the story. Atticus has proven that there is no way that Tom could have rapped Mayella. The fact that none of the other children saw anything and weren’t there makes me think that the Ewells are just making the story up to get money. This still doesn’t explain how Tom fits into the story. By the end of the book I hope that we find this out. If the book ends on a cliffhanger I will be really disappointed.
The Pressure is Real!
So the rest of chapter 18 is when Mayela goes up to the stand and Mr. Gilmer just tells her what happened in that day in her own words. Which she did, then it's Atticus turn. When he came up Atticus called her miss, and when Atticus called her that, she did not like it because she thought she was therathing her. So she said that if he keeps mocking her she is not going to awnser his questions, then the judge told her that he is not mocking him and Atticus is just calling her to show respect and that is his way since he started to be a lawyer. Then he started asking questions about the story she just told and about her life.
Like one question Atticus ask is if she had friends, and she did not even know what that meant because she never had any which is really sad. Then a critical question to mayela was when Atticus ask her about her her father and if he abused her, then she said no and she was positive that is was tom. Then Atticus told Mayela to look at Tom and he told Tom to stand up and then she froze like she knew that it was not him because of his left hand and she said that she was fighting back and if she was fighting back Tom probably would lose. Since all her injuries were in the right side, Tom could not caused the injuries. Then in the, mayela burts down into real tears and she told the jury if she does not believe her, then all of them are cowards and this was critical to Atticus because now the jury would want to do something to help mayela.
Also something to pint out in the chapter that you know that mayella is hiding something is when she stutters a lot. Like when Atticus told her if she is hiding something and she was really close of saying she is, but then she said no. Then when Atticus starts to rain questions on her and she did not awnser all the questions, accept the last one. This was also critical because the jury would believe that Tom could not do it because of his left arm. Now they will think it was her father, Bob, also you can tell that Mr. Gilmer is not even trying because he knows that Tom is innocent.
In my opinion I think at the end Tom will be innocent because it's clear that Tom is innocent because his left arm and all of mayella's injuries are in her right side and that will be impossible for Tom to hit, and Bob is left handed so he had to beat Mayela up that day. In the same time the jury might do something because in the end she called the jury cowards if they don't do guilty. That its really critical because like I said they might want to help her. I just really hope that Atticus and Tom wins because they are really innocent. I also think when Tom goes up their he is going to prove that he is really innocent.
Like one question Atticus ask is if she had friends, and she did not even know what that meant because she never had any which is really sad. Then a critical question to mayela was when Atticus ask her about her her father and if he abused her, then she said no and she was positive that is was tom. Then Atticus told Mayela to look at Tom and he told Tom to stand up and then she froze like she knew that it was not him because of his left hand and she said that she was fighting back and if she was fighting back Tom probably would lose. Since all her injuries were in the right side, Tom could not caused the injuries. Then in the, mayela burts down into real tears and she told the jury if she does not believe her, then all of them are cowards and this was critical to Atticus because now the jury would want to do something to help mayela.
Also something to pint out in the chapter that you know that mayella is hiding something is when she stutters a lot. Like when Atticus told her if she is hiding something and she was really close of saying she is, but then she said no. Then when Atticus starts to rain questions on her and she did not awnser all the questions, accept the last one. This was also critical because the jury would believe that Tom could not do it because of his left arm. Now they will think it was her father, Bob, also you can tell that Mr. Gilmer is not even trying because he knows that Tom is innocent.
In my opinion I think at the end Tom will be innocent because it's clear that Tom is innocent because his left arm and all of mayella's injuries are in her right side and that will be impossible for Tom to hit, and Bob is left handed so he had to beat Mayela up that day. In the same time the jury might do something because in the end she called the jury cowards if they don't do guilty. That its really critical because like I said they might want to help her. I just really hope that Atticus and Tom wins because they are really innocent. I also think when Tom goes up their he is going to prove that he is really innocent.
Rest of Chapter 18
Atticus is tries to make Mayella to admit that Bob gets violent when he drinks, and beats her up. Mayella's hesitation tells us in the book that Bob probably was the one who had beat him, and since he is left handed, and not Tom. Atticus then acts confused, so Mayella can tell her side of the story again, and to lure her into a sense of confidence to trick her. Atticus memory then starts to become sharp, and he starts to ask questions to Mayella. Atticus then tells Tom to stand up nice and tall, and we find out that Tom his left arm is crippled because he got it caught in a cotton gin. This had tore Tom's muscles apart. This means that Tom could not have possibly beat Mayella up because since Mayella was beaten on the right side of her body, then someone that is left handed must have done this. Tom could not done this because his left hand is crippled, and it is impossible to hit someone on their right side of their body with your right hand.
Mayella had told Atticus that she was fighting back, then Atticus says how was it possible for Tom to rape her, since she was fighting back. Atticus keeps giving question to Mayella, but she does not even answer Atticus' questions. This means that she is not answering the questions, because she lied, and if she had answer them, then she would have told the truth. Mayella finally starts to cry, and tells the jury that they are cowards because they are not protecting her from Tom, and what he had did. Mayella did not say any evidence, about Tom raping her, here emotion towards the jury was the evidence. This was effective because it appeals to men about protective instinct, and they do want to be seen as cowards. Few of Bob's children can read, Atticus tells her if she has any friends, Mayella does not know what a friend is, and what love is. At the end of the chapter, Mr. Gilmer seems to know that Tom Robinson is innocent and he is prosecuting reluctantly. Mr Gilmer is barely objecting to Atticus, and he is barely trying to help Mayella with this case, because Mr. Gilmer seems to know that Tom is innocent. Mayella leaves the witness stand, and the court stands in recess, people did not move. The judge then tells Atticus if they can finish the case this after noon, Atticus that he thinks that he can, but he just needed to call up one more witness to the stand.
I think that Atticus is being really smart here, because he gave questions to Mayella, and she did not answer them. This is because she knows that she was caught in Atticus trap, and this also means that she was lying this whole time, and Bob was probably the one who had raped her. This was Atticus' plan to make Mayella fall into his trap, and catch her lying. This had back fired at one time, when Mayella burst into tears, and called the jury cowards that they would not protect her, of what Tom Robinson had did. This is what I think about what Atticus planned to do, so he could trap Mayella, so she can tell him the truth, and Tom would be innocent, and he could go back to his family and his three children.
Mayella had told Atticus that she was fighting back, then Atticus says how was it possible for Tom to rape her, since she was fighting back. Atticus keeps giving question to Mayella, but she does not even answer Atticus' questions. This means that she is not answering the questions, because she lied, and if she had answer them, then she would have told the truth. Mayella finally starts to cry, and tells the jury that they are cowards because they are not protecting her from Tom, and what he had did. Mayella did not say any evidence, about Tom raping her, here emotion towards the jury was the evidence. This was effective because it appeals to men about protective instinct, and they do want to be seen as cowards. Few of Bob's children can read, Atticus tells her if she has any friends, Mayella does not know what a friend is, and what love is. At the end of the chapter, Mr. Gilmer seems to know that Tom Robinson is innocent and he is prosecuting reluctantly. Mr Gilmer is barely objecting to Atticus, and he is barely trying to help Mayella with this case, because Mr. Gilmer seems to know that Tom is innocent. Mayella leaves the witness stand, and the court stands in recess, people did not move. The judge then tells Atticus if they can finish the case this after noon, Atticus that he thinks that he can, but he just needed to call up one more witness to the stand.
I think that Atticus is being really smart here, because he gave questions to Mayella, and she did not answer them. This is because she knows that she was caught in Atticus trap, and this also means that she was lying this whole time, and Bob was probably the one who had raped her. This was Atticus' plan to make Mayella fall into his trap, and catch her lying. This had back fired at one time, when Mayella burst into tears, and called the jury cowards that they would not protect her, of what Tom Robinson had did. This is what I think about what Atticus planned to do, so he could trap Mayella, so she can tell him the truth, and Tom would be innocent, and he could go back to his family and his three children.
Ewells Officially Exposed
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| Bob trying to understand their questions |
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| Mayella realizing she got exposed |
I personally think that Bob Ewell has been officially exposed, he was definitely the one that beat Mayella. In the chapter that we read today it was revealed that Tom Robinson is crippled on his left arm, from it being torn with a machine for cotton when he was little. There was no possible way that Tom Robinson was any way involved with beating Mayella and raping her, I do kinda feel bad for Mayella. I think that she doesn't want to admit the truth because if she did her father would begin to beat her more at home if she did. I hope that the Jury can figure all of this out and that they don't side with the Ewells. Bob Ewell was definitely the one that beat Mayella, she is just afraid to admit it. Overall, Atticus is a genius for exposing the Ewells with the evidence provided from the case, he basically outsmarted the Ewells and they couldn't keep up. Do you agree? Do you disagree? What do you think?
Tuesday, December 4, 2018
Mayella's Direct and Cross Examination
In the beginning of chapter 18 Mayella went up to the witness stand and she looked innocent at first but when she started to sit and speak everyone knew that she was filthy. Mr. Gilmer started telling Mayella what happened in her point of view. Mayella told Tom Robinson to come over and chop some wood for a nickel. When Mayella went to get her nickle she claimed that Tom went behind her and started choking and beating her. The next thing she knew Tom Robinson was gone and she saw her father stand in front of her asking who did it. Both stories that Bob and Mayella told were different from each other because Bob said he witnessed the rape happen but Mayella told everyone that Bob told her who raped her which means that one of the witnesses are lying. Mayella started getting emotional so that it would affect the jury into thinking that they must protect the poor girl. There was nothing further so Atticus was called up to preform the cross examination.
Atticus was addressing Mayella to "miss", but she didn't like being called "miss" because she thought that Atticus was mocking her and making fun of her. Judge Taylor had to jump in to tell Mayella that Atticus is just being polite in his way. Atticus started asking Mayella about her personal life like if she had any friends or if she knew what love was. I thought this was sad because she has never experience friendship and love in her life because of her dysfunctional family. When Atticus told Mayella if her father ever beat her she took a pause and told him that her father has never laid a finger on her. The slight pause was indicating that her father has beat her and it could of been her father who has beaten her instead of Tom. Atticus then told Mayella that his memory was foggy and he wanted her to answer his questions truthfully. When Atticus told Mayella if she was sure that Tom beat her, she said she was completely sure. Atticus then told Tom to stand up and it appears that his left arm has been damaged and it is shorter than his right hand. Everything connects and it proves that Tom wasn't the person that beat Mayella because it is physically impossible for him to beat Mayella and choke her.
I thought Atticus was very clever because he just connected everything together that made sense and he didn't use a lot emotion to just try and win the trial. He used the sense of doubt and evidence to show everyone that Tom wasn't the one who beat Mayella. It was likely Bob that beat Mayella because he is left handed and not disabled in any way. This could possibly move onto a new trial that Mayella's father was the one who beat her. Atticus also showed that Bob isn't a good father and he would even go far to beat his own daughter up just to accuse a man that is innocent. I think this is wrong and messed up just to go far to accuse someone who is innocent. I think that Bob should have charges against him because of what he did. It was embarrassing for the Ewells because the trial basically told everyone much more than just a rape. It showed that Bob is a terrible father and why his children are so filthy and rude.
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