Journal #6 Chapters 16-19 Perspective: Atticus

Today we were at the courthouse. Almost everybody was there, but Jem, Scout, and Dill. We started of the case with Mr.Gilmer, the prosecutor, asking Heck Tate some questions. He said that Bob Ewell asked him to go to his house and told him that his daughter, Mayella, had been raped. He said he found Mayella beaten up and she said that Tom Robinson raped her. I looked at Mayella and it looks like no one called the doctor to help out injuries. I also saw that most of her bruises were only on the right side of her face.

The next person called to the stand is Bob Ewell. Now I'm starting to think I won't win this case because almost everyone in Maycomb is prejudice against black people. I started by asking him some questions that were irrelevant according to Mr. Gilmer. While Bob Ewell is answering his questions he explains that he was just coming out of the woods when he heard his daughter screaming. He saw through the window and saw Tom Robinson raping Mayella. Tom is in a real predicament now. Right after he saw his daughter he ran for the sheriff to tell him everything that just happened. I ask him why he didn't call the doctor and he says that it was too expensive and he didn't really need it. I ask him to write his name and the jury sees that he is left handed and that a left handed man would leave bruises on the right side of the face.

Then the next person to be called is Mayella. She explains that she called Tom Robinson to go inside the fence to chop chiffarobe for her and that she would pay him a nickel. She says that she got inside and when she turned around Tom Robinson is behind her, grabbed her by the neck, and took advantage of her. She says that she needed help around the house because all her other brothers and sisters and her drunk father who don't help. I can tell that she has no friends and I understand how lonely she is. I ask her why she didn't even bruise Tom Robinson. Not even a scratch on Tom Robinson and that why her screaming wasn't heard by her siblings. I was starting to wonder how Tom Robinson could have even committed the crime now, because his left hand was torn off by a cotton gin when he was a little boy. I am starting to think that Bob beat her up and he was just pinning the crime on some innocent black man. I almost believed her because her stealthy lies are being backed up with her crying. She starts yelling and telling us we are all cowards if Tom Robinson doesn't go to jail and she starts to cry again. She doesn't answer any other questions after that. Then the judge called for a recces. Mr. Gilmer had no one else to call up, so I call up the one person that can help me prove Tom Robinson is innocent, Tom Robinson.

While Tom is answering my questions he explains that Mayella did call her to chop some chiffarobe and that she would give him a nickel. He says that he always pass the Ewell's when he goes from home to his work. Mayella always calls him to do some chores because no one else is helping her. Tom Robinson says that he didn't get payed anymore after the 1st nickel because he knew she didn't have one and knew she needed the help. Mayella asked him to go inside the house and then Mayella started to hug him. He says that she kissed him and she said to kiss her back. I asked he did and he replied subtly with a "no sir" Then while she was hugging Tom Robinson, Bob Ewell says that shes going to kill that whore, as in Mayella. Tom said that he didn't hear anything else because he was running so fast. Then Link Deas, who employs Tom, stands up and says that Tom Robinson has been working for him for eight years and that he never had any trouble with him. Judge Taylor is furious and bans Deas from the courtroom. Then Mr. Gilmer stands up and says that Tom Robinson has been arrested before for disorderly conduct. He asks why he has been helping Mayella and he admits that he felt sorry for Mayella.