Preview

To Kill a Mockingbird Letter Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
829 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
To Kill a Mockingbird Letter Essay
June 20, 1935
Mr B.B Underwood chief editor
Maycomb tribune newspaper
Po Box Maycomb
USA Nst290

Dear Mr B.B Underwood,
I strongly believe that Tom Robinson was not guilty of the crime and the sentence was untrue and unjust. I am appalled to hear that he was guilty of raping Mayella Ewell when there was no substantial or even any evidence against Tom Robinson. I was at the trial of Tom Robinson and noticed many substantial faults in Mayella Ewell’s story as she proposed in the court. I watched as Atticus examined her testimony and asked why she didn’t put up a better fight and why her screams didn’t bring the many other children in the Ewell’s house running. Additionally, all the physical evidence is against the Ewell’s claims because Mayella’s bruises are on the right side of her face and Tom Robinson can’t use his left arm due to an accident where his hand was torn apart by a cotton gin when he was a boy. Mayella and Bob Ewell are both very obnoxious during the trail and in my opinion don’t seem very trustworthy. Mr Ewell did not called a doctor after learning of Mayella’s injuries. If Tom Robinson had committed the crime, Mr Ewell’s first instinct would to get his daughter checked out. i hope you agree this would be the normal approach of a father concerned about his daughter.
Tom’s side of the story is much more just. As I listened to Tom he explained that he always did chores for the Ewell’s and one day Mayella asked him to lift a box down from a dresser. When Tom climbed on a chair, she grabbed his legs, scaring him so much that he jumped down. She then hugged him around the waist and asked him to kiss her. As she struggled, her father, Bob Ewell, appeared at the window, calling Mayella a whore and threatening to kill her. As a result Tom then fled the house. Mr Ewell is likely to have misinterpreted the actual situation.
I think Bob Ewell is more likely to have bashed or even molested his daughter than Mr Robinson .Tom is a respectable member

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    TKAM summaries 18-31

    • 1785 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Chapter 18: Mayella begins her testimony, she is nineteen and relatively clean compared to the rest of the Ewells. She lives with seven younger siblings who do not help with any chores and an alchoholic father. She also does not seem to know what friends even are. She says that she had offered Tom Robinson a nickel the evening of the incident to break up a chifferobe for her. Atticus questions her story. Like why she didnt put up a better fight or why the children didnt hear her screams, and most of all how Tom managed to do this with only his right arm. Atticus pleas her to admit that there was no rape and it was her father who beat her but this only leads to anger and yelling. She then starts to cry and refuses to answer more questions.…

    • 1785 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ewell V. Robinson Case

    • 562 Words
    • 3 Pages

    He recalls that on the night of November 23, 1934, he was walking past the Ewell house like he did everyday. When he passed by, Mayella Ewell had a job for him to do like she often did. The only difference is that day she asked him to go inside the house to fix the door. He hesitantly walked in and realized that the door was fine. When he turned to leave, Mayella said she needed him to get something off a chiffarobe inside the house. When he got down, she jumped on him and kissed him. Her father then ran up to the window and called Mayella “names...women and children should not hear.” according to Tom Robinson. Tom was afraid he would be beaten so he ran out of the house. He said the house was neat and in order when he left, but Mr. Ewell was very…

    • 562 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The incident occurred on evening of the 21st of November. According to Mayella's testimony, when she was staying outside near to her house, Tom came by and beaten her. Also her father, Robert Ewell testified that he heard his daughter screaming and saw Tom using violence to her. But Tom's testimony was totally different. He complained that Mayella had tricked him and let him inside and acted…

    • 156 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tom Robinson Justice

    • 740 Words
    • 3 Pages

    He tells us what happened, saying that he went to get something for Mayella off the top of the chifforobe and all of a sudden she grabbed his legs, startling him and making him jump off the chair. She then went and kissed Tom and he tried to run away as fast as he could. He claims the last thing he heard was Mr Ewell shouting at Mayella “I’ll kill ya! I’ll kill ya!”. Mayella states her side of the story, nervously and feebly; she it didn’t look as if the honest truth was coming out of her mouth. It seems that towards the end of the trial she got desperate, knowing that the proof that Mr Robinson was unable to perform such acts meant that she and her father had to be lying. In desperation she yells out in court “I got somethin' to say. And then I ain't gonna say no more. He took advantage of me. An' if you fine, fancy gentlemen ain't gonna do nothin' about it, then you're just a bunch of lousy, yella, stinkin' cowards, the - the whole bunch of ya, and your fancy airs don't come to nothin'. Your Ma'am'in' and your Miss Mayellarin' - it don't come to…

    • 740 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In my English Language Arts Class, we have been reading a book called “To Kill a Mockingbird” and in the recent chapters we have been reading about an African American man named Tom Robinson who “raped” a white female named Mayella Ewells but I don’t think he is guilty in this essay I will be telling you why I think Tom Robinson isn’t guilty.…

    • 396 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tom Robinson had absolutely no reason to rape and harm Mayella Ewell. Tom and an amazing job, the job of his life. He had a family and some change in his pocket. Why would he ruin something like that in his circumstances. Exactly! Tom Robinson is a kindhearted, helpful and thoughtful man. He even felt sorry for Mayella! With tom stating “I was trying to help her out, suh.”…

    • 533 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Tom Robinson’s story, he was innocent of committing the crime. Everyday to and from work, Tom would have to pass by the Ewell house. Sometimes Mayella would stop Tom and ask him to help her with some chores in her house. Once he had completed what he had requested of him, he began to leave and that’s when Mayella grabbed him and then “sorta jumped” on him. In the meantime, Mr. Ewell walked into the room screaming and Tom fleeted out. Never once during the trial did Tom say that Mayella was lying; however, she was “mistaken in her mind” (qtd. in Lubet).…

    • 570 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The feelings and exhibited concern and empathy for other is too extreme. When defending Tom Robinson, during the court case he questions Mayella Ewell with courtesy and respect. Mayella is an uneducated girl whom Atticus believes is lying about being raped by Tom Robinson. Mayella is rude to Atticus saying "Won't answer a word you say long as you keep on mockin' me." (page 200). However Atticus remains calm and polite, never attempting to trick her. He addresses her as "miss" and his own daughter Scout "wondered if anybody had ever called her ma'am or 'Miss Mayella' in her life." (page 201). Atticus shows an empathy towards Mayella, he knows she is like a wounded animal and he doesn't want to hurt any further. The caring and concern presented by Atticus Finch is too idealistic. This extreme idealistic portrayal extends to his role as a single father and a…

    • 1073 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout her testimony, Mayella seemed scared of all of people watching her, Atticus and Judge Taylor. Although the previous is true, Mayella was scared of one person in particular, her father. To no suprise Bob Ewell beats his children and he possibly sexually assaults Mayella. Bob’s behavior is a reflection of his chronic alcohol problem. Part of the reason the Ewells are so poor is because Bob spends the families earnining and welfare on alcohol. Mayella’s behavior is certainly impacted by what she sees and experiences at home. When Bob wasn’t home, Mayella seduced Tom Robinson and kissed him because of the all the evil things her father has done and the pathetic life she has lived. During Tom Robinson’s testimony he says, “She reached…

    • 362 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    To Kill A Mockingbird Dbq

    • 701 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The proof that Mayella is abused by her father is delivered when Tom is describing his version of the events at the trial: “Tom Robinson shut his eyes tight. “He says you goddamn whore, I’ll kill ya.”(Document B). Tom claims that Mayella is verbally abused by her father. Also Atticus states that:“there is circumstantial evidence to indicate that Mayella Ewell was beaten savagely by someone who led almost exclusively with his left”(Document B). Which proves how she is mistreated because of the fact that she is a woman and she cannot defend herself. The fact that Mayella is a woman makes her powerless because of how men had power over women at that…

    • 701 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tom Robinson's Downfall

    • 716 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Firstly, the evidence building against Tom Robinson does not match the testimony received from the witness’ .Tom robinson lost all use of his left, when all of his muscles got torn in a cotton gin. Sheriff Heck Tate stated in his testimony that Mayella was beaten up on her right side. Furthermore leading to the accusation of Tom Robinson of raping Mayella Ewell to be false. To beat a person on the right side of their face,the person beating the other must be left handed.As stated before Tom has no use of his left arm.Toms lawyer, Atticus, is displayed as a wise and respected man who lives by the moral guidelines of doing…

    • 716 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Mayella Ewell

    • 1180 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Mayella Ewell, a 19 year old girl, uneducated, unaware, and unnoticed. Forced to live in a broken home with an alcohol driven father, and seven motherless siblings. In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird Mayella Ewell, a 19 year old girl from Maycomb, accused a black man, Tom Robinson, of rape. Tom Robinson is then put on trial with Atticus Finch defending him. After lListening to a combination of Mayella Ewell and Tom Robinson’s testimoniesfy during the trial the reader can only realize the victim Mayella Ewell had become in this entire situation. Mayella was living with a three year education, and was desperate for the slightest bit of positive attention from anyone. At first glance, the character Mayella Ewell, in the novel To Kill…

    • 1180 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mayella Ewell was an incredibly lonely woman, she had no friends, and had to basically be the mother to her siblings. When Tom Robinson comes along, she sees an escape. She tempts Tom and, realizing what she’s done, she frames him for her dad’s beating. During his speech, Atticus says, “She has committed no crime, she has merely broken a time-honored code of our society, a code so severe that whoever breaks it is hounded from our midst as unfit to live with… she knew full well the enormity of her offense… she must destroy the evidence of her offense” (271-2). Mayella didn’t do anything illegal, just broke whatever twisted “moral imperatives” the town had, and knowing she’d be cast out if the town found out, she “destroyed the evidence” by accusing him of rape. Atticus tells the jury, “she struck out at her victim- of necessity she must put him away from her – he must be removed from her presence, from this world.” (203-4). Mayella felt that Tom wasn’t a person who could suffer or die, just evidence of what she’d done, so she had no issue testifying falsely against him to save her reputation.…

    • 490 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tom Robinson is innocent. This is supported by Atticus Finch concluding statement. During his interrogatory with the Ewells and Tom Robinson, Atticus found the following information and used it in his concluding statement: Tom Robinson has no movement in his left arm, Mayella Ewell requested for Tom’s help, Tom helped her because he felt bad for her, Bob Ewell is left handed and no doctors were called when Mayella was hurt. Therefore, Bob hurt Mayella, and Tom is innocent. This is the short summary of the court scene. Now I will explain how Tom Robinson represents innocence, metaphorically.…

    • 308 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tom Robinson was accused of raping a girl named Mayella. “...That raped my Mayella” (Foote 23). He did no such thing and the jury did not believe his side of the story. There was clear evidence that he did not do the crime. Mayella had bruises on her right side (Foote 56). Tom…

    • 604 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics