Journal #6 - Chapters 16-19 - Perspective: Atticus

Today was the day that I was going to make sure Tom was proven innocent because he didn’t rape that girl and I know that for sure because he has wife and kids and works very hard. He is a nice man and the only reason that Mr. Ewell is trying to lock him up is because Tom is black. I am going to fight hard in this case no matter how hard I have to try even if it means being yelled at by the white folks or food thrown at me or even people coming up to my face and throwing things at me. I’m the bigger person by just walking and feeling proud for what I believe in. I was sort of nervous but I knew I had nothing to worry about and all I had to do was just figure out the truth and get as much information as I can to find either Mr. Ewell or Tom Robinson guilty. I know that this will be one crazy predicament.

When the trial began, I felt very weird and uncomfortable for a while because I felt a room full of prejudice people. I’m just glad that we are starting because I can’t wait to get this over with. But I had it all under control because I knew what I was going to say just starting out with the essentials then dug to the bone of the case. The first person up to the witness stand was Mr. Heck Tate. He had his story straight and when I asked him all the questions I needed answered was clear and understanding but I didn’t agree. Next up was Mr. Ewell, he had no idea what he was talking about because he was hesitating and stuttering so I can obviously tell that he was lying and I caught him lying. Since he was left- handed and the bruise was on the right hand side that means that there was a possibility of Mr. Ewell beating her. I also knew quite a bit about the Ewell’s. Mr. Ewell was very pauper and so were the kids would only go to school for the first day and that’s it because they would usually be homeschooled. I could never get through with the objections that Mr. Gilmer kept making.

Now the one who was supposedly was “RAPED” [Mayella Violet Ewell] came up to the stand and she was crying because she thought I was scary or something but I didn’t buy that because she was a 19 year old young lady and she swore to the truth and the only truth but she lied too! The only reason she blamed Mr. Tom was because he was black and I had a ton of questions to ask her because I needed to get to the bottom of this mess. She thought I was mocking her by calling her, “Maam.” I couldn’t believe it and she wanted us to feel sorry for her and buy that fake story she was telling us but I didn’t. She was keeping the truth bottled up inside her because she was scared that her dad might hit her or get really angry. Finally when Mr. Tom Robinson came up to the stand I was happy because I wanted everybody to hear the real story and since he wasn’t lying, his questions and answers went by really fast. I thought that this case was going to be hard to fight for but it isn’t and I know for a fact that our side was going to win because the Ewell’s had their story twisted and kept making up lies on top of another lie.

When we wrapped up today’s part of this case, I could tell that this was going to be a long case because Mayella and Tom had two completely different stories and the others couldn’t tell who was lying and who was telling the truth. It wasn’t bad as other times but I’m glad we had this trial today because we all got a lot of information through our heads now, so if somebody switches something up later they are busted! I was oblivious that Mayella was the one who laid it on Mr. Tom first because he never mentioned that and he also never mentioned that he goes their daily to do stuff for her for free. But I was glad that Judge Taylor wasn't fraud.