TKAM 18-19

Hey!!!!  Now it's time for ch 18-19.

Ch 18

-It is now Mayella's turn to be a witness. (She's totally distraught!)

 -She finally tells Mr. Gilmer that her father asked her to chop up an old chiffarobe (chest of drawers) for kindling, but she didn't feel strong enough. When Tom Robinson walked by, she asked him to do it for a nickel. 

-She claims that she went inside for the money, and Tom followed her, pushed her to the floor, and took advantage of her while she screamed and tried to fight back. Then, her father arrived and Tom ran away. 

Now it is Atticus's turn.

-She freaks out when Atticus refers to  her as "Miss Mayella," and the judge has to explain that Atticus is imply being polite. (Doesn't understand respect)

-Here is what we learn in cross examination: Mayella is 19 and her family receives relief checks, but there isn't enough food to go around; her father seems to be a drunkard. Mayella went to school for a few years but none of her eight siblings go, and their mother is dead. Mayella doesn't seem to have any friends. 

-She says her dad is "tolerable" but doesn't beat her.

Atticus -Has Tom ever been invited in the House? 

Does she remembers being beaten in the face, and Mayella first says no, but then yes. Atticus asks her to identify the man who raped her, and Mayella points to Tom, who Atticus asks to stand. 

Big REVEAL: Tom's left arm is twelve inches shorter than his right, due to an accident in his youth when the arm got stuck a cotton gin.

 Atticus asks for more questions which Mayella doesn't answer: Why didn't the other children hear her screaming? Where were they? Why didn't they come running? Did she start screaming when she saw her father in the window? Did she get beaten up by her father, not Tom Robinson?

Mayella just says that she was taken advantage of, and if the upper class gentlemen won't prosecute Tom, they are cowards. Atticus appears to have found his exchange with the young woman distasteful. The court rests for ten minutes, but no one leaves the courthouse

YOUR OPINION: Is she telling the truth?  Does she want pity or fear humiliation?  

Chapter 19

Tom is called to the witness stand. He tries to put his left hand upon the Bible, but it is a futile effort, as his left arm is entirely non-functional.

-Tom explains that he was once convicted for fighting because he could not pay the fine that would have released him. (In an aside, the narrator explains that Atticus is showing how honest Tom is and that he has nothing to hide from the jury.) 

Next, Tom's side.

-He says he passed by the Ewell house every day on his way to work at Mr. Link Deas's farm, where Tom picks cotton and does other farm work. 

-Tom confirms that one day last spring, Mayella asked him to chop up an old chiffarobe with a hatchet, but that was long before the November day in question. 

Mayella continued to ask for his help with odd jobs...he was never paid

-He said he helped her out because he felt bad  for her.  Why doesn't this fly during this time period?

-Scout thinks about how lonely Mayella is - she's so poor that white people won't befriend her, but black people will avoid her because she's white.

On November 21 of that year. Tom says that he passed their house as usual, 

-Mayella asked him to come inside and fix a broken door, but when he got inside the house, the door didn't look broken. 

-Then, Mayella shut the door behind, got rid of the kids, and Tom tried to leave.

-She asks him to take a box down from on top of another chiffarobe. 

-Mayella grabs his legs, hugged him around the waist, and kissed his cheek.

-Mayella asks him to kiss her back, Tom tries to leave, and Mayella blocks the door.. 

-Then Mr. Ewell arrives, happens upon the scene, calls his daughter awful names and threatens to kill tom

-Mr. Gilmer questions Tom next, and he does so fairly aggressively, addressing him only as "boy". 

-Mr. Gilmer tries to get at Tom's motivations, and Tom finally says he just tried to help because he felt sorry for her, which stirs up the audience  Why?

-Mr. Gilmer asks whether Tom thinks Mayella was lying about asking him to chop up the chiffarobe in November. Tom avoids a potential trap by saying he thinks Mayella must be, "mistaken in her mind" about this and everything else.

-Tom doesn't want to be falsely accused

-Dill starts to cry, WHY?

- A sympathetic voice behind them agrees that it makes him sick too - they turn to see Mr. Dolphus Raymond.

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