Lindsey Williams

Mr. McConnell
English 9
January 24, 2017
To Kill A Mockingbird Essay
This is Tom Robinsons trial in the story To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee.
Segregation is huge in this time of history in Maycomb County, Alabama. Tom Robinson is
pleaded guilty of raping Mayella Ewell, while all she wanted him to do is bust up a chiffarobe
(Lee 246). The verdict to this trial is guilty most likely because of the segregation in Alabama in
the 1930s. My verdict would be that Tom Robinson she not be pleaded guilty. The universe of
obligation totally makes this trial a whole different case because of the way people back then
used to view black people. It is a change in perspective because there is not only a black person
on the trial, he is facing a young, white, women. Due to the evidence collected it was not likely
for Atticus to be able to defend Tom Robinson well enough.
In this period in history in Maycomb County, Alabama a lot of the society is centered
around segregation. The trial that is taken place at the end of this story has a totally different
perspective than we would see it today, but seeing it the way people did back then it is totally
different. Tom Robinson is trying to fight again Mayella Ewell and it is not much of a fight
because of Tom being a black man and Mayella being a young white woman. In the book To
Kill a Mockingbird the jury found Tom Robinson guilty. He was most likely found guilty because
of the racial division in the 1930s. It would have almost been impossible for Tom to be found
not guilty. The jury is a white male and tries to put this trial in a different perspective without
being racist, and should listen to both Tom and Mayellas story treating them equal. By reading

the book you can probably tell that if segregation was not as big of a thing then Tom most likely
would have been found not guilty.
Atticus Finch is trying to support Tom Robinsons case as not being guilty. In Maycomb
in the 1930s it is very hard for a black man to win in court again a white woman. By reading the
book I believe that Tom should be pleaded as not guilty and should win the trial against Mayella,
she is trying to cover for her dad, which is most likely the one that raped her. In the book when
she is trying to explain what happened that day she does not call him by his name even though
she has had him help her multiple other times. If she was telling the truth about having him help
her out other times before I think she might have called him by his actual name. What she said to
him sounded fake and sounded like she had never spoke to him in the past, when she has before.
I also think when she said that she fought n hollered (Lee 241), in this time in history someone
should have heard her and felt suspicious, and went to try to help. It is a very small town and
most people know the Ewells so I think that someone would have helped if she did scream. The
evidence I recognized the most is that Tom was injured on his arm that they think would have
been the arm he would have used to hurt Mayella and to do what she said he did he would most
likely have to use both arms. These are just factual pieces of evidence that can make it seem like
Mayella was not telling the truth to the jury.
The universe of obligation is such a big part of this story in Maycomb County because of
the ways people view black and white people. In Maycomb, many people view white women as
the biggest priority and black men as the priority. Not many white people even talk to black
people back then. Especially not white women talking to black men. The universe of obligation
is a huge conflict in this trial because it changes the view of how they will take the story. The
jury is supposed to treat them equally but he obviously will not because of how everybody is

segregated back then in the 1930s. Tom Robinson is black and is trying to win the story against
Mayella which is a young white female and most everybody knows who will win in this trial.
In the end of the trial Tom Robinson is found guilty. He ends up going to jail because of
what he was convicted of. My verdict is that he should not have been pleaded guilty and Mayella
should have been the one to lose the day of the trial. Due to the segregation in this time in history
is was not surprising that Tom lost and that Mayella did not do anything wrong. If this trial had
been taken place in this time, it would have been the opposite and Tom would not have been
found guilty. Since it was taken place in Maycomb county, Alabama in the 1930s just by reading
the story you would most likely know who was the one to be found guilty.