Today is the day that I’ve been waitin’ for, today is the day that I shall be washed free from any “daddy-nigger-lover” talks around me and finally recover my reputation-today is the day of Tom Robinson’s trial.
Despite the late sleep last night, I woke up quiet early and saw all sorts of people passin’ by my house (many of whom I’ve never seen) as we stood on our front porch, it was like a Saturday. Without anybody’s permission, we gallantly followed the people as if we were naturally part of them to the county courthouse. As we expected, all the seats were taken up upon our arrival, but however, Reverend Syke was kind enough to let us join his colored folks in the black balcony. We settled in at the front rows of the balcony, and it was not long before the trail started. As usual, Judge Taylor showed up in his uniform (as of every case in Maycomb) and the trial began with the testifyin’ of Mr. Heck Tate, our sheriff. Then it was Mr. Robert Ewell’s turn to testify. During his testimony, his poor knowledge of etiquettes and his false sense of formality in the usage of English language brought frequent laughs, along with horrors and disgust to the audience and proved he proved himself to me that he deserved the title of “poor white trash” of the Maycomb County with no argument. Atticus really made him look like an idiot. And then it was Mayella Ewells, who either fake cried for sympathy or real cried because of sorrow and shame in her testimony. Then lastly it was Tom Robinson. There were no major long-durational, fierce debates between the two lawyers- Atticus and Mr. Gilmer during the testimony, but however I did notice a few things in the trail. First being, Atticus tried to emphasize on Mayella’s injury a lot especially on the area of her injury. He also tried to show Ewell’s lack of formality and his right handedness. Both proved to be effective to the case as it proved Tom Robinson’s innocence as her injury was most on her right side that is likely to be caused by a left-handed person, like Bob Ewell, instead of a Tom, who lost his left hand. Secondly, Atticus used the method of cross examining Mayella, which also proved to be effective as it made her spit out the truth a bit, made her uncomfortable and speechless in the end. Bob Ewell and Tom Robinson were such great contrasts in the trial. Bob Ewell, the accuser, possessed this unbearable, unacceptable manner in court, appeared dirty and sluggish, and looked rather guilty. Whereas Tom Robinson, a black Negro, a defendant, possessed respectful manner, appeared rather clean, and looked rather innocent. Everything went well for Tom; I can sense that the people were startin’ to lean a little bit towards him, until he made the mistake of poppin’ the phrase” I felt sorry for…so I ran…” outta his mouth. It kindda proved his guiltiness because if you did not do anything why are you feelin’ sorry and hence why did you run? After the completely, testimony, we were discovered by Atticus, and went back for dinner. As we raced back to the court room after wards, nothing have changed, nobody moved, the judge was asleep to some degree, and the jury were not out. Jem and I patiently waited while Dill was asleep. As the jury were out , I guessed that Tom will not leave here free because no jury ever looked at the man that the convicted, and the jury just happened to not look at Tom Robinson. “Guilty, guilty, guilty….” About twenty guilty calls were all we got for the waitin’. Jem’s face went bloodless, each guilty was a stab to the heart for him as he almost promised Reverend Syke we are goin’ to win, he sat there for quiet sometime with his tears rollin’ out freely from his eyes. I was in shock too. Atticus cleaned up his suitcase and left from his usual exit, an hour later I found myself home.
For what reason is Tom Robinson so guilty? I seek to know.
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