We had a chapters 13-15 quiz today.
In the last part of the class we talked about chapter 19.
HOMEWORK:
-Read chapter 20
-Do chapter 19 questions
Chapter 19
Summary:
Tom Robinson is called to the witness stand. He tries to put his left hand upon the Bible, but it is a futile effort, as his left arm is entirely non-functional. The arm simply slips off the Bible again and again. Finally, the judge tells him his effort is sufficient and he can take the stand. Atticus questions Tom, first asking whether he has ever been convicted of a crime. Tom explains that he was once convicted for fighting because he could not pay the fine that would have released him. In an aside, the narrator explains that Atticus is showing how honest Tom is and that he has nothing to hide from the jury. Next, Tom gives his account of the Ewell incident.
Summary:
Tom Robinson is called to the witness stand. He tries to put his left hand upon the Bible, but it is a futile effort, as his left arm is entirely non-functional. The arm simply slips off the Bible again and again. Finally, the judge tells him his effort is sufficient and he can take the stand. Atticus questions Tom, first asking whether he has ever been convicted of a crime. Tom explains that he was once convicted for fighting because he could not pay the fine that would have released him. In an aside, the narrator explains that Atticus is showing how honest Tom is and that he has nothing to hide from the jury. Next, Tom gives his account of the Ewell incident.
In Tom’s version, he says he passed by the Ewell house every day on his way to work at Mr. Link Deas's farm, where Tom picks cotton and does other farm work. Tom confirms that one day last spring, Mayella asked him to chop up an old chiffarobe with a hatchet, but that was long before the November day in question. After Tom performed that favor for her, Mayella often asked him to help her with odd jobs around the house as he passed by. She offered him a nickel the first time, but he refused payment, knowing that the family had no money. He said he helped her out because she didn't seem to have anyone else to help her, and that he never went onto the Ewell property without being invited. Scout thinks about how lonely Mayella is - she's so poor that white people won't befriend her, but black people will avoid her because she's white.
Atticus asks about the events on November 21 of that year. Tom says that he passed the Ewell house as usual, and everything seemed very quiet. Mayella asked him to come inside and fix a broken door, but when he got inside the house, the door didn't look broken. Then, Mayella shut the door behind him and said she had sent the children to town to get ice cream, having saved for a very long time to be able to give each child a nickel. Tom starts to leave, but she asks him to take a box down from on top of another chiffarobe. As Tom reached for the box, Mayella grabbed him around his legs. He was so startled that he overturned a chair. Next, she hugged him round the waist and kissed his cheek, and as Tom explains, said that, "she never kissed a grown man before an' she might as well kiss a nigger. She says what her pap do to her don't count." Mayella asks him to kiss her back, and Tom asks her to let him out of the house. However, her back is to the door, and he doesn't want to force her to move. He knows that as a black man, if he lays a hand on her he could later be killed. Then Mr. Ewell arrives, happens upon the scene, calls his daughter a "goddamn whore," and tells her he will kill Tom. Tom runs away in fear.
Atticus asks about the events on November 21 of that year. Tom says that he passed the Ewell house as usual, and everything seemed very quiet. Mayella asked him to come inside and fix a broken door, but when he got inside the house, the door didn't look broken. Then, Mayella shut the door behind him and said she had sent the children to town to get ice cream, having saved for a very long time to be able to give each child a nickel. Tom starts to leave, but she asks him to take a box down from on top of another chiffarobe. As Tom reached for the box, Mayella grabbed him around his legs. He was so startled that he overturned a chair. Next, she hugged him round the waist and kissed his cheek, and as Tom explains, said that, "she never kissed a grown man before an' she might as well kiss a nigger. She says what her pap do to her don't count." Mayella asks him to kiss her back, and Tom asks her to let him out of the house. However, her back is to the door, and he doesn't want to force her to move. He knows that as a black man, if he lays a hand on her he could later be killed. Then Mr. Ewell arrives, happens upon the scene, calls his daughter a "goddamn whore," and tells her he will kill Tom. Tom runs away in fear.
Mr. Gilmer questions Tom next, and he does so fairly aggressively, addressing him only as "boy". Mr. Gilmer tries to get at Tom's motivations for helping Mayella, insinuating that he must have had ulterior motives for helping her. Tom finally says he just tried to help because he felt sorry for her, which stirs up the audience considerably, as it is unacceptable for a black man to feel sorry for a white woman. Mr. Gilmer asks whether Tom thinks Mayella was lying about asking him to chop up the chiffarobe in November. Tom avoids a potential trap by saying he thinks Mayella must be, "mistaken in her mind" about this and everything else. Mr. Gilmer asks why Tom ran if he had a clear conscience, and Tom said he was afraid of being tried in court, not for what he did, but for what he didn't do.
At this point, Dill starts to cry, and Scout takes him outside the courthouse. He says he can't bear to watch Mr. Gilmer behaving so disrespectfully toward Tom. Scout says that all lawyers do that and Mr. Gilmer didn't even seem to be trying as usual today. Dill points out that Atticus isn't like that. A sympathetic voice behind them agrees that it makes him sick too - they turn to see Mr. Dolphus Raymond.
Analysis
Tom's crippled state is more than just a plot device. It also serves as an emblem for his disadvantage in life as a black man. His arm was injured in a cotton gin, a machine used primarily by slaves, and later, poor black workers in the cotton fields. The legacy of slavery cripples Tom in court and in his everyday life, just as his actual injury is a constant burden for him.
Tom's crippled state is more than just a plot device. It also serves as an emblem for his disadvantage in life as a black man. His arm was injured in a cotton gin, a machine used primarily by slaves, and later, poor black workers in the cotton fields. The legacy of slavery cripples Tom in court and in his everyday life, just as his actual injury is a constant burden for him.
Mayella's sad situation comes out more fully in Tom's testimony. Her short comment about, "what her pap do to her don't count" hints that her father probably abuses her, possibly sexually. Mayella is as lonely as the "mixed" children Jem spoke of earlier, as she belongs to neither black nor white circles.
The idea that a black person could feel sorry for a white person refutes all of Maycomb's social assumptions, making Tom's courthouse comment extremely provocative. By nature, black life is thought to be inferior to white life, making Tom’s feelings towards Mayella subvert everything that the town's social fabric is based upon. As Jem explains in chapter 23, every class looks down upon the class below it - so black people, as the lowest class, should not feel pity for anyone.
Dill's feeling of illness during Mr. Gilmer's cross-examination shows his extreme sensitivity, as a young child, to the ugliness of society's prejudices and evil. Scout tries to see Mr. Gilmer's actions as part of the method of the job he is trying to do, following Atticus's advice to try to "get into a person's mind" in order to understand them better. However, it is indisputable that Mr. Gilmer does not behave as honorably as Atticus. Atticus speaks to all the witnesses with respect, while Mr. Gilmer demeans Tom in court, calling him “boy” and sneering at him. Dill’s classic method of managing uncomfortable situations is to run away, and he does so here, fleeing the courtroom with Scout at his side.
