Tuesday, October 3, 2017
Chapter 18/19 What do you make of Mayella Ewell's testimony? (Phoebe)
Mayella Ewell's rape testimony is seemingly fabricated. As the trial proceeds the entire down is fascinated by the court. Mayella Ewell, next to testify, is much cleaner than a Ewell would appear to be daily. As Atticus begins to question Mayella, the nineteen year old girl is obviously terrified. Mayella recounts that she offered Tom Robinson a nickel to break up a dresser for her. Atticus then questions her home life and asks if her father is good to her and has ever beaten her. Mayella is apprehensive but admits that he has beaten her before when drunk. As the trial continues Atticus starts to unravel what truly happened. How Mayella had consented to Tom Robinson and how her father had seen her from the window and beaten her. Atticus finally asks "What did your father see in the window ... Why don't you tell the truth, child, didn't Bob Ewell beat you up?" (Lee 251). Even though Mayella's father is terrible to her, she will still love him unconditionally. This is why she was so scared to tell the truth. However Mayella didn't realize the consequences of saying that a black man had raped her. In Macomb, before Atticus no one would have ever even questioned Mayella's account. Mayella is a strong girl trying to cope with her hard life, however she made a huge mistake and faked a testimony to cover her father.
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ReplyDeleteThough I do not think Mayella hates her father, but I also do not believe that she loves him unconditionally. While Mayella is testifying, she reveals a bit more about her relationship with her father. "'He does tollable, 'cept when-'...'Except when he's drinking?'"(Lee 245) Mayella never says that she loves her father, only that he is tolerable. Also in this chapter, though it seems that she may be lying, she says that her father would never hurt her. "'My paw's never touched a hair o' my head in my life.'"(Lee 246) Before she says this, she seems suspicious. Even though it seems like she is lying, the reader can never know for sure. Mayella does not exactly love her father, she more deals with him, as she reveals in chapter 18.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Mayella is a strong girl trying to cope with her hard life. Mayella is represented by her geraniums in many ways. But a way I’ve found most important is that she is the brightness in the gloom like how the bright red geraniums contrast the uncleanly yard of the Ewells. Mayella takes care of her seven siblings, and she works the hardest. Mayella is the only one who takes care of herself and nobody looks to take care of her. In the text it says, “ She watered them red flowers every day--”.(Lee 256) This shows how Mayella is the only one who takes care of her geraniums and nobody else in the family pays much attention to them. Like how nobody else in the family looks to care for her and she only has herself and that is mainly the reason she is so lonely.
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