Tom Robinson's Case Letter

on the trial that Tom Robinson raped Mayella Ewell. He was simply blamed, because he

How would you feel if you were shamed over things you couldn’t control? Based on only prejudice and stereotypes, some people hate others. Internalized intolerance can exist in everyone, mentally and legally. Court cases and trials can distinctly show this. To Kill A Mockingbird focuses around an unfair trial of Tom Robinson, who was wrongfully arraigned for raping a white woman. Although clear evidence pointed to Tom being innocent, he was still found guilty. Trials from the 1930s to today can compare to this. Many trials compare to Tom Robinson’s case on accounts of false accusations, discrimination, and unfair verdicts.

Have you ever been too filled with hate and pride to see the obvious truth right in front of you? The year was 1935 in the small town of Maycomb Alabama. During this time an important trial would be taking place. The trial of Tom Robinson, an African and American who had been promptly accused of rape by the one man who had seen the incident. Bob Ewell a despised person throughout the community and the father of the victim, Mayella Ewell, Bob’s abused, lonely, unhappy daughter. Though one can pity Mayella because of her overbearing father, one cannot pardon her for her shameful indictment of Tom Robinson.

In 1930’s Maycomb Alabama, a young woman is stirring up a sleepy town by accusing an African American man of rape. Mayella Ewell, a poor white woman has wrongly accused Tom Robinson of sexually assaulting her in her own home. Her testimony, as well as her fathers’, have gaping holes in them. Their stories do not coincide, and it is even implied that Mayella’s father may have been sexually abusing her.(DBQ Mayella page 15 Chapters 18 and 20) The lack of sufficient evidence and Tom Robinson’s claim that Mayella had made advances toward him should have been enough for the jury to find Tom not guilty, but unfortunately, that was not the case. Instead, the jury believed Mayella’s deceitful testimony, and Tom was sent to jail, which ultimately led to his death. Mayella used her position in society to manipulate the court, and dispose of the only evidence of her mistake. Mayella Ewell is powerful as defined by class, gender, and especially race.

I am writing to let you know about the trail of Tom Robinson, Scouts father Atticus is defending a black man. Tom was accused of raping Miss Mayella Ewell. Scout,Jem and I watched the whole trial. I’d never been in a courtroom before. Mr. Gilmer (Mayella’s lawyer) made my stomach lurch.It ain't right, somehow it ain't right to do'em [African-Americans] that way. After I left the courtroom, I met a man named Dolfus Raymond and he gave me a swig of his Coca

There was no doctor called so this case can't be proven because there is no medical evidence. There was no doctor, and the perpetrator was left-handed and does not have his left hand so Tom couldn't have been guilty. In the book, it states that "the states have not produced one iota of medical evidence that the crime Tom Robinson is charged with ever took place." (Foot 67) There is no documentation that the crime that Tom Robinson is accused of was even committed, so why bring it to trial.

In “To Kill a Mockingbird”, Atticus is given a case where he needs to defend Tom Robinson, who’s accused guilty of raping Mayella Ewell. Evidence points come to the surface, like the fact that Mayella Ewell has a black eye on the right side of her face. Tom Robinson’s left arm was cut off due to a working accident, however, it is brought up that Mr. Bob Ewell, Mayella’s father, is left handed. “‘What’s so interestin’?’ he asked. ‘You’re left handed, Mr. Ewell.’ said Judge Taylor.” (Lee, 177). Through the trial, other points are brought up to show that Tom Robinson clearly wasn’t the one who raped Mayella Ewell. She goes on to talk about the way that her father gets when he’s drunk; “‘Except when he’s drinking’ asked Atticus so gently that Mayella nodded. ‘Does he ever go after you?’ ‘How do you mean?’ ‘When he’s-riled, has he ever beaten you?’

The plaintiff, Mayella Ewell, accused Tom Robinson, a black man, of raping her. Throughout the court case, there was substantial amounts of evidence that pardoned Robinson from strangling, beating, and taking advantage of her such as the fact that “His left arm was fully twelve inches shorter than his right, and hung dead at his side” (212). Several signs pointed to Mayella’s caucasian father, Robert Ewell, as the one guilty of the crime. For example, when questioned by the defendant on whether or not he called for a doctor, Ewell replied that “...he never thought of it, he had never called a doctor..” (200). Also, Robert Ewell’s dominant hand corresponded with Mayella’s injuries whereas Robinson’s corresponding hand was rendered useless by a permanent injury. However, after all of this evidence against Mr. Ewell, when the all-white jury was polled concerning Robinson, their responses were “‘Guilty… guilty… guilty… guilty..’” (241). They ignored the facts and branded Robinson a rapist because of the color of his

The novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee is a view of life in the

Looking back at history we find that many trial cases have been unsolved, one in particular being the William Robinson case which took place in Salt Spring Island British Columbia in 1868. The death of William Robinson, a black man, resulted in the conviction and inherent execution of a Native man named Tshuanahusset (trial name “Tom”). The trial and thereafter death of “Tom” has caused much controversy in historical studies. With many different stories and recollections of said crime it was hard to say what actually happened during 1868 other than “Tom” being convicted as guilty of murder. I am here to prove that based on circumstantial evidence that the evidence that was provided against “Tom” does not beyond a reasonable doubt prove he was

In proving Robinson’s innocents, Mayella Ewell was beaten on her right side concluding that whoever beat her was dominantly left handed. Robinson was paralyzed on his left side of his body. Although on trial, Bob Ewell was proven to be left handed. When asked “are you ambidextrous?” by Mr.Gilmore, Ewell responds “I most positively am not, I can use one hand as good as the other” (238). More importantly, when Mayella Ewell was on trial, she stated “(Bob Ewell) he never touched me” (246) but before she said it, she looked around. Her gestures made it seem as if she was lying was nervous to answer when she was asked has Mr.Ewell ever beaten her.

I am reading, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. In the chapters 16 through 23 many events happens. At the beginning of the chapters the trail starts and Mayella testifies by saying that Tom ran up behind her and took advantage of her. Later Tom told his side of the story by saying that Mayella invited him in and she tried to kiss him. Mr. Ewell saw them and started to yell at Mayella so he ran off. After the testimonies were over the jury came up with the verdict that Tom is guilty. In this journal, I will be predicting the verdict of the case.

Text 1: In To Kill a Mockingbird, the jury convicts a black man, Tom Robinson for the alleged rape of a girl. Despite having an accomplished lawyer Atticus, to defend him, the outcome of the trial was known from the beginning. It was understood through the evidence that it would have been truly difficult seeing Tom had an accident when he was “12 years old” this meant he could have used his “left hand”. As long as Tom was black, the jury found him guilty despite all the evidence put forward which showed that he didn’t do it.

In To Kill A Mockingbird, it is strongly implied that Bob Ewell, Mayella’s father, had/has been sexually abused/abusing her, making Tom Robinson completely innocent. Before we move on as to why I believe Tom Robinson innocent, keep in mind that during this time period racism was a VERY strong issue and still sadly is today, so many back then thought to believe black people as guilty right off the bat, which is absolutely ridiculous. Moving on--contrary to what both Mayella and Bob state during the trial, (“I seen that black nigger yonder ruttin’ on my Mayella!”, 173 and “He caught me, choked me and took advantage of me..”, 185) it is stressed that their body language proves they are both lying. For example, while Atticus is questioning Mayella, in the politest manner might I add, she is

The case of Tom Robinson was a case on whether he would be guilty for rape or not. Tom Robinson had the defendant, Atticus, with their opponents, the Ewells. Throughout the case you are able to see many different cases where Atticus made it obvious that Tom did nothing wrong and it would have been obvious that Bob Ewell would have been a likely suspect to commit the crime of rape against her daughter, Mayella. The trial showed that the justice system has flaws and doesn’t represent justice, people only make choices based on their racist views.