Mayella Court Trial

In the book ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ a main part of the book showcases a court trial between a white woman and her father against a black man named Tom Robinson. ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ is set in a fictional town in Alabama called Maycomb and is set in 1933 to 1935 during the Great Depression. The narrator, Jean Louise Finch (Scout) leads us through three years of her life and shows what life was like in the South during the Great Depression. Jean Louise Finch gives us a view on how children think, learn, and understand how things work and why they work like they do. Tom Robinson, one of the main characters in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, is accused of raping Mayella Ewell, daughter of Bob Ewell, and is taken to court. Atticus Finch, father of Jean Louise Finch and Jeremy Finch, is appointed as Tom Robinson’s lawyer by Judge Taylor due to his experience and wit. Mr. Gilmor is the prosecuting lawyer and is chosen as Mayella/Bob Ewell’s attorney. Whilst the court case is happening Reverend Sykes,
Mr. Finch called Heck Tate, the town's sheriff, to the witness stand and asked him- “Which side again, Heck?” (To Kill a Mockingbird page 169) -referring to Mayella’s black eye, and Mr. Tate responded- “The right side, Mr. Finch…” (To Kill a Mockingbird page 169). If Mayella’s right eye was bruised then a left handed person should have hit her in theory but Tom Robinson is crippled and his left arm is mostly useless therefore he could not hit Mayella with his left hand. Mayella’s defence to the fact that Tom’s left arm was crippled was: “I ducked and it glanced off.” (To Kill a Mockingbird page 187) -referring to how she somehow received a black eye on her right side even though Tom’s left hand was useless. Before Mayella takes the stand her father, Bob Ewell, is proven to be left handed by Atticus and leaves him as a possible suspect for who really hurt Mayella due to the fact the he is both a drunk and left