To Kill a Mockingbird
Ch. 17-18
The Trial
Claims
Mayella was raped
Evidence to prove or disprove
None—no doctor was called
Mayella was beaten
Injuries on her face—right eye was
bruised—bruises on face & neck
Tom caught, choked,
beat, and raped Mayella
Tom’s left hand is crippled
(doesn’t support her
blackened right eye)
Mayella screamed
None of the children heard her,
only Bob
Bob Ewell beat Mayella, not
Tom
Bob is left-handed and isn’t a
happy drunk
“All the little man on the witness stand had that made him any better
than his nearest neighbors was, that if he scrubbed with lye soap in
very hot water, his skin was white”
Ewells
Black community
• Live behind the town dump
• Shabby, dirty home
• Yard is filled with random
trash so that it looks “like
the playhouse of an insane
child”
• Several dirty, hungry
children
• Live near the Ewells
• Small homes, but cozy,
clean, and warm
• Provide for their families—
when Scout and Jem passed
by “there were delicious
smells about: chicken,
bacon…”
Bob Ewell knows where he stands in
the community, and he doesn’t like it
• “White trash”; not respected; no one cares
How does he try
and make up for this?
• Prove there is someone lower
– Accuse a black man of rape—get the community’s
support, make them listen, get them on his side
– Tells the judge they are “dangerous” and “devaluin’
my property” (the other way around)
Why does Mayella come to hate
Atticus so deeply?
• Q: “I never saw anybody glare at anyone with
the hatred Mayella showed when she left the
stand and walked by Atticus’s chair” (159).
• C: Happens right after Atticus finishes his crossexamination (when he asked if it was Tom that
beat her).
• R: Atticus left her raw and exposed. Destroyed
her credibility. Instead of confessing as Atticus
hoped, she felt the need to protect her family and
further insist that it was Tom who raped her
What would happen if
she told the truth?
Mr. Gilmer, the prosecuting attorney
• Q: “Mr. Gilmer seemed to be prosecuting almost
reluctantly, witnesses had been led by the
nose as asses are, with few objections” (159).
• C: Part of Scout’s narration at the end of
Mayella’s testimony.
• R: The town didn’t want Atticus to put much
effort into his defense, but Scout thinks it’s
Mr. Gilmer who is not giving it his all. Why
might he be doing this?