To Kill a Mockingbird
To Kill a Mockingbird
28/6/2011
In what ways does Harper Lee engage your sympathies for Tom Robinson during the trial?
During the trial, Harper Lee makes the reader become sympathetic towards Tom Robinson due to many techniques, for example she paints a picture of him as being incapable of doing such a crime due to him being handicapped.
Lee illustrates that Tom Robinson is not capable of committing a crime that could cost him his life when we first meet him. This is at the beginning of the trial when Tom takes the oath and tries to place his ‘rubber-like left hand’ on the bible but it slips off. Tom tries again but the same thing happens. The reader’s sympathy is engaged here as they can clearly see that Tom is incapable of taking Mayella Ewell around the neck and raping her. As well as being physically handicapped, Tom has a handicap that he has no control over, his skin colour. Harper Lee Makes the reader feel sorry for Tom Robinson before he has even given his testimony so that the readers see the rest of the trial through sympathetic eyes towards Tom.
The reader feels that Tom Robinson is being accused by a bunch of rough people, the Ewells. The examples of the Ewells being rough compared to Tom is shown through their speech. Tom’s dialogue is very respectful towards Atticus and Mayella, this is shown when he testifies and says ‘Miss Mayella, Sir’. The exact opposite can be said for the Ewells, when Mayella loses her temper and describes Atticus and the other ‘fine-fancy gentlemen’ as ‘yellow stinkin’ cowards’. Bob Ewell’s speech is no more respectful than his daughter’s as he calls his own lawyer ‘cap’n’. Here the reader’s sympathy is engaged as they realise that Tom Robinson is a respectful black man who is up against two unrespectful white people. Again, this engages the reader’s sympathy as Tom is being discriminated against due to his skin colour. This shows the level of racism at the time.
Tom Robinson is described in the trial as a...
