Mayella Lies In To Kill A Mockingbird

Throughout this journal, one can predict that Mayella Ewell lied in court because she is afraid of her father and because she does not want others know she flirted with Tom. To start, one can infer that Mayella lies because she is afraid of her father, and fears what he may do to her if she tells the truth. One piece of evidence that shows this is that Mayella nearly admits it herself. This occurs when Atticus is questioning Mayella on the stand, and he asks if her father treats her well. To answer, Mayella says, “He does tollable, ‘cept when-”, before cutting herself off (Lee 245). Mayella’s response clearly indicates that there are times that Mr. Ewell is “intolerable”, and to such an extent that she hesitates answering in fear of repercussions. Furthering this point, when
For context, all of the prosecutor's witnesses claim that Mayella was beaten on her right side. Tom could not have done this, for it is unlikely that he could overpower and hit Mayella on her right when he has a crippled left arm. This improbability, along with Tom’s testimony that Mr. Ewell threatened to kill Mayella when Tom fled the scene, implies that it was her father that assaulted Mayella, giving her an obvious reason to fear him. The last piece of evidence illustrating Mayella’s fear of her father is Mr. Ewell’s confrontation with Atticus after the trial. As it is Atticus that exposes the prospect of Mr. Ewell beating his daughter to the court, Mr. Ewell is resentful and threatens Atticus at the post office. This supports the theory of Mr. Ewell having hit his daughter, as he would not be enraged if it was not true, and also reveals Mr. Ewell’s violent nature. Both of these points are reasons Mayella may fear her father and cause her to lie at the trial. Another reason Mayella would lie about what happened is because she flirted with m, which is considered a taboo of Maycomb