Question

In To Kill A Mockingbird, how does Scout view Tom Robinson and Mayella?

Accepted Answer

Scout feels sorry for both Tom Robinson and Mayella Ewell.
Scout considers both Mayella and Tom Robinson victims of society.  She feels sorry for them because she understands that they are both caught in the same web of societal discrimination.
When Mayella takes the stand, Scout describes her as “fragile-looking” and notes that she tries to keep clean.  She also wonders why her life was like, and feels sorry for her when she describes it.
Scout is aware that Tom Robinson is a patsy, a victim of circumstances.  She may not understand the finer points of the trial, but she knows Tom could not physically have committed the crime.

Answer

Scout has learned well from Atticus the importance of empathy, of putting oneself in other people's shoes. And she applies this lesson to Tom Robinson and Mayella Ewell. She understands that both of them are victims, albeit in different ways. Tom's the victim of widespread racial prejudice, whereas Mayella, hailing from the notorious Ewell clan, is universally despised as "white trash."
Scout realizes that Mayella's in an especially vulnerable position due to her being completely alone. Tom has Atticus to defend him, but Mayella has no one. In convicting Tom of her rape and assault, the jury didn't so much believe Mayella as act on their ingrained prejudices. A black man was accused of raping a white woman, and as far as they were concerned, that's all they needed to know.
Even though Scout's still only a young girl, she instinctively understands that Tom's trial is nothing but a travesty of justice. Her childlike sense of right and wrong is offended by this miscarriage of justice against an innocent man. In this case, the innocence of childhood has made common cause with the innocence of one of life's mockingbirds.

Answer

Scout sympathizes with both Tom Robinson and Mayella and feels sorry for both characters. As Scout watches Tom give his testimony, she begins to think about Mayella's unfortunate, difficult life and says,

"...it came to me that Mayella Ewell must have been the loneliest person in the world. She was even lonelier than Boo Radley, who had not been out of the house in twenty-five years" (Lee, 195).

Despite the fact that Mayella selfishly lies on the witness stand to protect her reputation at the expense of Tom Robinson, Scout pities her and feels bad that Mayella grew up with an abusive alcoholic father. Scout likens Mayella to the "sad" biracial children that Jem once mentioned. Scout realizes that Mayella has no opportunities, lacks friends, and has a lonely existence, which is why she feels bad for her.
Scout also sympathizes with Tom Robinson and views him as a symbolic mockingbird after she reads Mr. Underwood's editorial in the Maycomb Tribune. Scout feels sorry for Tom Robinson because she understands that he had no chance of winning the case from the beginning, simply because he was black. Scout says,

"Atticus had used every tool available to free men to save Tom Robinson, but in the secret courts of men’s hearts Atticus had no case. Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed" (Lee, 245).

Scout understands that Tom was a harmless, vulnerable man, who could not protect himself from the prejudiced jurors, which is why she sympathizes with him.

To Kill a Mockingbird

In To Kill A Mockingbird, how does Scout view Tom Robinson and Mayella?

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