It is a book with a theme of racial injustice, social issues in the deep South of Alabama and the death penalty for rape. Mayella Ewell, a white, 19 year old girl, accuses Tom Robinson, a blackman from town, of rape. During her testimony she states Tom, “Took full advantage” of her. (TKAM, Lee 18:38) As Mayella accuses Tom of rape, mobs of people are outraged at the idea of a black man raping a white woman. The court is required to try Tom Robinson based on evidence and if he has committed rape and is convicted lawfully by a jury of his peers with hard evidence-the death penalty is valid at …show more content…
In To Kill a Mockingbird, the specifics of the case of Mayella Ewell being raped by Tom Robinson were inconsistent. Mayella's testimony differs from her father's. For one thing, in Chapter 18, she tells the court that Tom Robinson choked her as she faced him, then he "took advantage of her." She says nothing about having been hit in the right eye (or the left) as her father, Tom Ewell, has stated previously in Chapter 17. And, when Atticus, the defense attorney, questions her, "Do you remember his beating you about the face?" Mayella stops and thinks about it. When Atticus reminds her that she seems certain about the choking, and why are you not certain about being hit, she