To Kill A Mockingbird Tom Robinson Quotes

“I got somethin' to say an' then I ain't gonna say no more. That nigger yonder took advantage of me an' if you fine fancy gentlemen don't wanta do nothin' about it then you're all yellow stinkin' cowards, stinkin' cowards, the lot of you. Your fancy airs don't come to nothin'—your ma'amin' and Miss Mayellerin' don't come to nothin', Mr. Finch-" (18, 251). These are some of the most interesting words spoken by Mayella Ewell; who accused Tom Robinson of rape, and had gone to court. She is only 19, and lives in an abusive, filthy, and unhealthy household, where she is essentially the caretaker and a mother figure to her siblings, and through the trial, we find that her father physically and sexually abuses her. The only material objects that show us a glimpse of Mayella’s true personality are her potted red geraniums by the house, showing us her longing to be within a place that gives her comfort and, the ability to be free and hopeful. But, during the trial, she tarnishes our sympathy by claiming lies about Tom Robinson, and what he did to her, ultimately killing and imprisoning him because of

her status.
With this in mind, can we say that we feel sympathy for Mayella Ewell? We most likely can through a sense of overwhelming pity for her, and therefore, sympathy, even though she had lied on the stand. This is proven through her age, circumstances, and, naiveness. Mayella’s father is controlling, and a drunkard who abuses her and is highly manipulative, while Mayella herself has absolutely no education or friends, and therefore, makes her inept to having proper relationships.
The quote at the beginning of this paper is certainly thought-provoking. Through this, the reader finds out that Mayella puts the jury’s masculinity to the test, and calls them cowards. It’s interesting how this is the highest insult she can think of at the time, and therefore challenges her own ideals and passions. In turn, she seems incredibly naive and uneducated to have this response. Being the oldest child in the Ewell family, it is somewhat sad to see how Mayella is denied an education, as she only went to school for about two years. Burris continues this trend at the beginning of the novel by Scout claiming that he comes the first day of school, then leaves, “Whole school’s full of ‘em (the Ewells). They come first day every year and then leave. The truant lady gets ’em here ‘cause she threatens ’em with the sheriff, but she’s give up tryin‘ to hold ’em. She reckons she’s carried out the law just gettin‘ their names on the roll and runnin’ ‘em here the first day. You’re supposed to mark ’em absent the rest of the year…”(3, 36).
As she is denied of this education, it seems that Mayella lacks social skills, as she has no friends, according to Scout; “As Tom Robinson gave his testimony, it came to me that Mayella Ewell must be the loneliest person in the world,”(19, 256) and also, coming directly from her testimony, “Miss Mayella,” said Atticus, in spite of himself, “a nineteen-year-old girl like you must have friends.

Who are your friends?” The witness frowned as if puzzled. “Friends?” “Yes, don’t you know anyone near your age, or older, or younger? Boys and girls? Just ordinary friends?” Mayella’s hostility, which had subsided to grudging neutrality, flared again. “You makin‘ fun o’me agin, Mr. Finch?” (18, 245). Her inability to practice within school has led her to stay at home to take care of her siblings, still, with no real relationships outside of her family life, further expanding our

sympathy.
Continuing, through the trial, we learn that Mr. Ewell was most likely the one who had beat and sexually abused her, through the fact that:
Mr. Ewell is left-handed, and the wounds inflicted on Mayella were done by someone who was left-handed.
Tom’s muscles in his left arm are completely unusable because his arm became stuck in a cotton gin at a young age.
Mayella also describes Ewell’s drinking habits, and she says that he often goes missing for days with the money from the relief check to buy more alcohol, “The jury learned the following things: their relief check was far from enough to feed the family, and there was strong suspicion that Papa drank it up anyway—he sometimes went off in the swamp for days and came home sick…” (18, 224)