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Paul Trimor

Field

LNG-222

29 March, 2011

Don’t Shoot a Mocking Bird

Not everyone is born equal. Some people are born with different skin color, background, and

intelligence than others. And we may not favor everyone the same but, the one place where everyone

deserves to be treated equally, no matter what color, is in a courtroom. Unfortunately, this was not the

case for Tom Robinson, a 44-year-old black man accused for raping Mayella Ewell, a 19-year-old white

woman. Tom was sent to trial and was marked guilty by all twelve juries. The trial involving Tom

Robinson and Mayella Ewell was not a fair trial. All twelve had made their decision on race alone.

Mayella’s, Atticus’ (Me), and Tom’s testimony’s lean towards Tom’s innocence, but Tom was still

considered guilty, only because a black man’s voice is not towards a white’s.

Mayella Ewell, terrified and inconsistent, proved nothing more than what a trashy girl she was.

She claims she had asked Tom to assist her when suddenly Tom jumped on her and began to rape and

beat her. Mayella was her hard to understand: she spoke with a shaky, terrified voice and could never

stick to the story. There was even a moment were she fainted. Mayella was also avoiding my question

-who had raped her. Every time I would ask her she would say I was mocking her, as if she was hiding

something. Lastly, Mayella was extremely terrified of me. Her attitude towards me was very

disrespectful. This was because she thought I would have figured out her secret -which was her being

the one guilty of rape, and not Tom.

With physiological evidence, I highly suggest that Mayella was the one who tried to seduce Tom.

Mayella was living a lonely life and needed someone to appreciate her femininely. When I had asked

Mayella if she had any friends, her answer was clearly no. Tom Robinson had always been there for
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Mayella, this is why Mayella chose him. Everyday Tom would pass by her house, and every once-in-a-

while she would always have something for Tom to do. Also, you can tell from the trial that Mayella may

have been planning her seduction for years. She said it took her seven years to save seven nickels just to

get her sibling out of the house. This only proves that Mayella was lying during her testimony and Tom

was telling the truth.

Tom was clam and convincing during his trial; unfortunately the white audience did not accept

Tom’s story, only because he is a Negro. During Tom’s trial, Tom claims that he never wanted to rape or

hurt Mayella .However, the audience over looked Tom and only saw a desperate black man. And what

really angers the crowd was when Tom said that he felt sorry for Mayella. Just the idea of a black man

putting himself over a white woman is a much hated concept these days. Ever since the end of slavery

blacks have thought of low life people who have purpose in life. In today’s society, a white woman

accusing a black man is all it takes for that black man to be marked guilty. And that is exactly what

happened of November 21st.

Although the session carried out exactly as I planned, it was still not enough to convince the

audience that Tom was innocent. After the trial Tom was sent to jail to later be executed. Tom had done

nothing but good and yet still brings him down. Today’s society overlooks the goodness in people and

only see’s background. That is why Tom Robinson was guilty the moment Mayella yelled rape.