Discussion Topic
Mr. Ewell's Testimony Behavior and Impression
Summary:
Mr. Ewell’s behavior on the witness stand in To Kill a Mockingbird is characterized by arrogance, ignorance, and racism. He is rude, defiant, and untrustworthy, often making crude remarks and showing contempt for the courtroom and its procedures. His testimony is confusing and contradictory, displaying his lack of education and social awareness. Despite his attempts to appear confident, his brash and uneducated nature undermines his credibility, reinforcing his role as the town's disgrace.
How does Mr. Ewell behave on the witness stand in Chapter 17 of To Kill a Mockingbird?
Bob Ewell displays the arrogance, ignorance and untrustworthiness that is to be expected of the man who is the head of the family that has been "the disgrace of Maycomb for three generations." Scout notes that he "shows no resemblance to his namesake," the legendary Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Instead, he appears as a "little bantam cock of a man... [who] strutted to the stand, the back of his neck reddening at the sound of his name." Freshly bathed--a rarity for any of the Ewells--Bob immediately insults prosecutor Horace Gilmer before making a crude remark about whether he may not have been the father of his daughter, Mayella. Warned to behave himself by Judge Taylor, Bob soon turns the once "serene" courtroom into chaos by pointing at Tom Robinson and claiming that
"--I seen that black nigger yonder ruttin' on my Mayella." (Chapter 17)
As Judge Taylor...
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attempted to restore order to his courtroom, Bob sat
... smugly in the witness chair, surveying his handiwork. (Chapter 17)
Bob reminded Scout "of a deaf-mute," but his "smugness" soon disappeared after Atticus began his questioning. Feigning a look of "dogged earnestness," Bob "fooled Judge Taylor not at all." Bob seemed not to understand many of Atticus's questions, but he soon "seemed to have forgotten his previous humiliation..." But Atticus had a few more embarrassing questions up his sleeve, and Bob does not react well to the queries about whether he can "read and write" and if he is "left-handed." Bob becomes angry when he is asked if he is "ambidextrous," responding that
"I most positively am not. I can use one hand good as the other." (Chapter 17)
Jem was probably not the only person to laugh at Bob's unwitting malapropism. Bob fails to understand the importance of being left-handed, and his crudity, general ignorance and confusing testimony should have signalled to the jury that he was a man who could not be trusted.
What impression does Mr. Ewell give when testifying in To Kill a Mockingbird?
Atticus rarely has a bad word to say about anybody, but he has already told Scout that the Ewells had been "the disgrace of Maycomb for three generations." The present leader of the family, Bob Ewell does nothing to dispel Atticus' claim. Lewd, crude and socially unacceptable, Bob shows that he is out of place in any social setting.
All the little man on the witness stand had that made him any better than his nearest neighbors was, that if he scrubbed with lye soap in very hot water, his skin was white.
Bob referred to the prosecutor as "cap'n," making Scout feel sorry for her father's adversary. Bob soon had the courtroom in an uproar when he told the court that
"--I seen that black nigger yonder ruttin' on my Mayella."
As Scout explained,
With one phrase he had turned happy picnickers into a sulky, tense, murmuring crowd...
Bob showed that he was uneducated and uncouth, showing contempt for Atticus, the judge and the serious charges he and his daughter had made against Tom Robinson.
What impression does Mayella Ewell make on the witness stand in To Kill a Mockingbird?
A highly sympathetic character, Mayella Ewell proves to be a confused and emotional young woman when she testifies in the trial of Tom Robinson in To Kill a Mockingbird. The lonely and friendless daughter of Bob Ewell, Mayella spends her life taking care of her younger brothers and sisters while Bob is away drinking and causing trouble. Tom appears to be the only person who shows her any sympathy, volunteering to do chores for her on occasion. But when she tries to show her affection by groping and kissing him, Tom (a married man) beats a retreat. But Bob sees him first, and it is he that beats Mayella for her indiscretion with a black man. Mayella, weak and fearful of her father, apparently agrees to back Bob's story of Tom raping her.
Mayella is out of place in the courtroom--and probably any public setting--and she mistakes Atticus' polite civility for mocking insults. She has never been called "ma'am" or "Miss Mayella" before (except possibly by Tom), and she seems intimidated by the men in the courtroom. Her confusion of the events comes in part from her lack of education, and she is never able to get her story straight. First she says that Tom hit her, then that he didn't, and finally decides that she can't remember. When Atticus asked her how Tom raped her, Mayella replied,
"I don't know how he done it, but he done it.
Atticus "rained questions on her," and the frightened Mayella had no answers. She finally summoned the strength to call all the "fine fancy gentlemen" in the courtroom "yellow, stinkin' cowards," and then said no more. Scout thought that
I guess if she hadn't been so poor and ignorant, Judge Taylor would have put her under the jail for the contempt she showed everybody in the courtroom.
A character deserving of great pity, Mayella loses the sympathy of the reader by turning on the one man who had showed her kindness, and the lies she tells about Tom eventually costs him his life.