To Kill a Mockingbird - Book Review

Scout's conversation with Mr. Cunningham emphasizes her knowledge of young Walter Cunningham and reminds Mr. Cunningham of the human bonds that connect everyone in the town. From the indistinguishable group of men, she singles him out and restores his individuality out of anonymity by addressing him by name and recalling his son and entailment. When people join together in a mob, they lose a feeling of responsibility for their actions, because they act as a group rather than as separate individuals. Scout's ability to separate Mr. Cunningham from his group is a result of the sheer innocence of her statements, which shows how inconceivable violence is to her, and forces them to reconsider their behavior. Mr. Cunningham, confronted with the shame of the group's plans and having been reminded of his own responsibility in them, decides to remove himself from the scene, and everyone else follows.

In this chapter, we learn that Mayella's life is one of miserable poverty and deprivation. She shows she is accustomed to being treated without respect when she thinks Atticus is deliberately mocking her by calling her "Miss." She seems hopelessly immature for nineteen years old and her whiney or tearful attitude suggests a subtle sly manipulation of her audience, as if on some level she wants to capitalize off of whatever pity she can invoke for her social state and extend it toward her fictionalized state as a supposed rape victim. She also appears quite afraid of Atticus. There is good in Mayella, her flowers are the only beautiful thing at the Ewell residence, and Scout thinks that Mayella seems to make an effort to keep herself clean, but her actions seem motivated by cowardice. She is initially reluctant to say Tom's name when asked to name her rapist, but she does surrender to fear and accuse him, thus putting her fear of public humiliation over the value of his life.

Atticus's treatment of Mayella reveals that though a victim of many cruelties, she has chosen to bring cruelty upon Tom, and must not be excused for this. As he points out, Mayella wants to protect herself by placing her guilt on Tom, knowing that her actions will bring about his death because the jury will believe her, a white woman, and not him, a black man. Thus, she manipulates the unfairness of her society toward her own ends.

The Ewells belong to the bottom set of Maycomb's whites. Mr. Ewell shows himself to be arrogant and crude. Maycomb reluctantly has bent the laws for the Ewells, and Mr. Ewell's manner is of one who is beyond the law. He is described as a "bantam cock" who struts around arrogantly yet ridiculously, and he tries to invoke the good humor of the audience, whines to the judge about being asked to prove his ability to write, and offends everyone with his language, putting the court into five minutes of uproar. The chapter depicts him as brutish, insensitive, and confident of his ability to get away with his perjury.

In this chapter, Atticus demonstrates his excellent skills as a lawyer. Atticus treats both the sheriff and Ewell with respect, and carefully asks questions that poke holes in the Ewells’s claims. For instance, he first determined exactly what injuries Mayella suffered, and then manipulates Ewell into revealing that he is left-handed, and that a left-handed man most likely beat Mayella, causing bruising on the right side of her face.

It's now Mayella's turn to be a witness. She is very distraught and cries in the witness stand, saying that she is