Tom Robinson Trial Essay

If the jury understands what really happened then there is a better chance they will make the right choice. “We don’t know, but there is circumstantial evidence to indicate that Mayella Ewell was beaten savagely by someone who led almost exclusively with his left.” Atticus says this in hopes of making the jury comprehend that there is no way Tom would have been able to beat Mayella with his left hand because he is crippled and Bob Ewell is left handed. This implies that Bob Ewell, Mayella’s father, was the man who beat her. Atticus speaks about how it is evil to think that all negroes are immoral beings and he states “Which, Gentlemen, we know is in itself a lie as black as Tom Robinson’s skin, a lie I do not have to point out to you.” The jury for Tom’s trial is incredibly biased and racist and Atticus points out that skin color does not mean anything about a person’s personality or

Bob and Mayella Ewell lied for a few reasons during the court case. A reason that Bob lied is that he does not like blacks and he would do anything to put Tom in jail. It was not very hard for the jury to decided who to convict because they take a white man’s word over a black man’s regardless of what the story is. In court when Atticus was questioning Bob and Mayella it was very clear that they were hiding something, some of the answers that Bob and Mayella gave did not make sense. One example of this is when Bob is talking about Mayella’s injuries, he says they were substantial but he never called a doctor.

The town saw their family as the lowest income white family in the town, so the people would turn a cheek to their life. This made Mayella lonely and hungry for attention. She had feelings for Tom and he would come and see her. When her dad Bob Ewell, A drunk and abusive father caught them, he beat and raped his daughter. Instead of Mayella pressing charges on her dad, she saw it as a way to get the attention she needs. That’s when she decides to press charges on Tom because she knows the town will look their direction and get the attention that she wants. The situation with Mayella is very similar to Ruby bates during the non-fictional Scottsboro trial. Ruby lived in the black community and Society turned an eye towards their family as well because of their poorness. This makes her similar to Mayella because they both are

Although there were doubts regarding Bob Ewell’s testimony and Atticus pleads the jury to give Tom equal standing under the eyes of the law, the jury still convicts Tom as being guilty to rape of Mayella Ewell. This lead to Jem’s mistrust in the legal system as Jem was old enough to understand the events that were occurring, but he wasn’t old enough to understand the reasoning behind Tom’s conviction as nothing has yet

However, Atticus knows since Tom is a black man he will not get a fair trail since the jury is all white and since people back then didn’t favor or teach color people this is why Atticus had to defend Tom which was a man who was wrongly accused for raping a white woman which her name was Mayella Ewell ; she was a very poor white woman the oldest of many children which was in her family .

“she became what she was, a thick-bodied girl accustomed to strenuous labor” (page 239, Scout Finch) is how Scout describes Mayella. During her testimony, she says that Tom beat her and raped her. She said she invited Tom to come into her yard to help her chop up an old chiffarobe. She said she would pay him a nickel, but when she turned to face the house, Tom grabbed her and started strangling her. “and I turned around, and ’fore I knew it he was on me” (page 241, Mayella Ewell). She said she screamed, and the next thing she knew, her dad was standing over her, and then she blacked out. When Atticus starts asking her personal questions about her house and her dad getting drunk, she becomes scared and seems to soften up, like she’s going to admit something, but then she screams that Tom is most definitely

Once upon a time Bob Ewell might have once been a good guy but it was never shown through out the book. One thing that was shown was how terrible of a father he is to Mayella. Although it was never actually said Bob did beat up Mayella, but why? Did he know that he could hae gone to jail for that? What did Bob get from beating up his own daughter? Did he get mad for her falling in love with Tom because he doesn't want his family legacy to go down the drain? He most likely saw an opportunity when he saw Tom. Most likely Bob didn’t want to go to jail for beating up his daughter so he took advantage of the man that made him beat up his daugter. Bob knew that he had a very good chance of winning against a colored man in court and he knew that he could get Mayella to betray Tom. For a man who didn’t get any education he had a very smart plan.

Mayella Ewell accused Tom Robinson of raping her, but her father, Bob Ewell, never consulted a doctor to verify her being raped. This relates to the original court case because when Ruby Bates and Victoria Price were tested for rape, the doctors had found no evidence. Atticus Finch asked Bob Ewell if he took his daughter to a doctor and he replied that he had not. The problem is that Bob Ewell testified seeing his daughter being raped from a window three feet from the ground (Lee 233). His confession is questionable because it was dark outside and three feet is quite a distance to make out things clearly. It was then, when Tom Robinson tried to explain his side of the story, that he was denied Due Process. It was a white man’s word against a black man’s word. Both of these court cases were very similar to one another and showed how all the defendants, including Tom Robinson, were denied Due

When Tom Robinson was convicted of a crime and sent to a trial that he had no chance at winning, he had lost any bit of innocence that he would ever get. In a time where the black community faced constant prejudice and discrimination, it was near impossible for any African American to be let off as innocent for any crime. And the sad part to it is that a lot of the blacks sent to trials and jail weren't even guilty of any crime at all, they were innocent. Tom Robinson was sent to a trial for the rape and beatings of Mayella Ewell. No one believed Tom on his innocence and when Atticus, his lawyer at the case, hands down proved his innocence, he was still going to be convicted as guilty. If it had come down to where they had to sit in front of another jury and do the same thing over and prove his innocence again, he still would probably be convicted as a guilty man. In the end Tom would be sentenced as guilty on not fact, or logic but by wrong prejudice ideas. With the broken judicial system and sideways beliefs of the time Tom Robinson lost any little hope he could ever wish for, he was completely stripped of his innocence.

There are also ways these cases are different. In “To Kill a Mockingbird” Tom Robinson is accused of rape. In the case of Emmet Till, he is accused of disorderly conduct. There are also age differences, with Tom Robinson being a grown man and Emmet Till being a teenager. The location of these cases are different as well. Tom Robinson’s case happened at Mayella Ewell’s house, while Emmet Till’s house happened in a grocery store.

Bob Ewell firmly believes that the death of Tom Robinson was caused by his daughter, Mayella Ewell. “I didn’t wanta harm her, Mr. Finch, an’ I say lemme pass, but just when I say it Mr. Ewell yonder hollered through th’ window.” (221). Tom was suggesting that Bob was yelling at Mayella and not himself. Again in the text it says, “Tom Robinson swallowed again and his eyes widened. “ Some-thin’ not fittin’ to say- not fittin’ for all these folks’n chillun to hear-” (Atticus) “ What did he say Tom? You must tell the jury what he said.” Tom Robinson shut his eyes tight. “ He says you g**d*** w****, i’ll kill ya”” (221) Bob wants everyone to think that he doesn’t harm Mayella in anyway and that Tom did.This shows that Bob Ewell blames his daughters attraction towards a crippled black man. Bob wanted Mayella to only love him, and only want him. Bob does want someone to be blamed for what’s happened to Mayella and he doesn’t want that to be himself even though

Tom should not have been declared guilty for three reasons: Tom’s story had no flaws whereas Bob’s did, Tom and his defendant Atticus Finch were very respectful, and finally Mayella was unbelievably rude during the trial.

The trial itself provides Harper Lee with the opportunity to examine the attitudes of people like the Ewells and the presumably more respectable members of the jury. Bob Ewell emerges as a drunken, bullying, child-abuser with little respect for the law and even less for truth and justice. But however low in the social order he is, Bob Ewell can still look down on black people. At the beginning of his testimony he complains about a 'nest' of them near him bringing down the property values of his shack by the town dump. Tom's account of Mayella's actions suggests that he may have indulged in some form of incest with his daughter, but the taboo against relationships between white women and black men is so strong that even Bob Ewell is shocked and horrified by it. He responds first by savagely beating his daughter and then by accusing Tom Robinson of rape.

The first reason that Bob Ewell is the most guilty for the death of Tom is because he was the one who forced Mayella to prosecute in the first place. If Bob weren’t a drunk, then he would not have hurt Mayella, and he would not have to blame the bruises on Tom. Atticus said, “...it’s

In the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, Tom Robinson, the black man falsely convicted of rape, had absolutely no chance of a fair trial. There is proof of this in the time period in which it occurred as well as evidence from the novel itself. Tom Robinson had an unfair trial because it was his word against the Ewell’s, a white, trashy family.