Skip to main content

What facts and testimonies do not support Tom Robinson's case?

While several testimonies easily do not support Tom Robinson’s case, it’s harder to find facts that contradict his version of events, especially given that To Kill A Mockingbird’s theme, purpose, and message rely on Tom Robinson’s innocence. The testimonies that incriminate Tom are woefully inaccurate, as well as motivated by prejudice, self-interest, and spite.


For example, Mayella testifies against Tom. In her version of events, she asked Tom to dismantle a chiffarobe (a piece of wooden furniture) in exchange for a nickel. According to Mayella, once Tom was inside the Ewells' home, he brutally attacked and raped her. Her father saw the end of the rape, and Tom fled. This testimony is absolutely not airtight, however! Atticus points out that Tom could not have overpowered Mayella since he does not have any use of his left hand due to an accident in his youth. Mayella’s injuries were concentrated on the right side of her body, indicating that she was beaten by a left-handed person. Her father writes with his left hand, thus pointing to him as a potential suspect. Given that Mayella’s story relies on an impossibility, we are more likely to believe Tom’s side, especially since  it does not rest on an obvious distortion of the truth. In Tom’s version, he came inside the house to bust up the chiffarobe, and Mayella inappropriately touched and tried to kiss him without his consent. Bob Ewell saw this, and while Tom fled because he knew that the law would punish him in spite of his victim status, Bob savagely attacked Mayella.


Bob also testifies against Tom. He says that he saw Tom raping Mayella. Bob, however, only has his eyewitness testimony to support his claim. Bob did not call for a doctor after the rape, so no one else can confirm his assertion. 


The only fact that might possibly not support Tom Robinson’s case is that he has previously been in trouble for fighting. In this case, however, it appears that he was defending himself against a much stronger opponent and that both of them were punished. The Ewells’ lawyer tries to persuade the jury that this previous incident means that Tom’s personality is malicious, therefore proving that he raped Mayella. This is a stretch of logic that presumes too much from a simple fact. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

A man has a garden measuring 84 meters by 56 meters. He divides it into the minimum number of square plots. What is the length of the square plots?

We wish to divide this man's garden into the minimum number of square plots possible. A square has all four sides with the same length.Our garden is a rectangle, so the answer is clearly not 1 square plot. If we choose the wrong length for our squares, we may end up with missing holes or we may not be able to fit our squares inside the garden. So we have 84 meters in one direction and 56 meters in the other direction. When we start dividing the garden in square plots, we are "filling" those lengths in their respective directions. At each direction, there must be an integer number of squares (otherwise, we get holes or we leave the garden), so that all the square plots fill up the garden nicely. Thus, our job here is to find the greatest common divisor of 84 and 56. For this, we prime factor both of them: `56 = 2*2*2*7` `84 = 2*2*3*7` We can see that the prime factors and multiplicities in common are `2*2*7 = 28` . This is the desired length of the square plots. If you wi...
Post a Comment
Read more

What warning does Chuchundra issue to Rikki?

Chuchundra, the sniveling, fearful muskrat who creeps around walls because he is too terrified to go into the center of a room, meets Rikki in the middle of the night. He insults Rikki by begging him not to kill him. He then insults him by suggesting that Nag might mistake Chuchundra for Rikki. He says, "Those who kill snakes get killed by snakes."  He issues this warning to Rikki not to help keep Rikki safe but as a way of explaining why Rikki's presence gives him, Chuchundra, more reason to fear.  Chuchundra starts to tell Rikki what Chua the rat told him--but breaks it off when he realizes he might be overheard by Nag. He says, "Nag is everywhere, Rikki-Tikki." Rikki threatens to bite Chuchundra to get him to talk. Even then, Chuchundra won't overtly reveal any information. But he does say, "Can't you hear, Rikki-Tikki?" This is enough of a clue for the clever mongoose. He listens carefully and can just make out the "faintest scratch-s...
Post a Comment
Read more