TKAM Blog Post # 5: Chapters 18-24

Tom Robinson

         My name is Thomas Robinson and I am 25 years old. I am married and I have three children. My biggest problem in life right now is that I have been accused of raping Mayella Ewell, a 19-year-old white woman. I am now getting the help from Atticus Finch, who I greatly appreciate for even trying to help me. Even though I'm a negro, he treats me the same as he would anyone. That's something that not a lot of people can do. His pursuit is to prove me not guilty. I really hope he is not a hypocrite and does the opposite thing he says he will do.

         The day of my trial, I was so nervous. I honestly did not rape this young girl and just because I was black, I had a feeling I would still be found guilty. It was improbable that I would win this case. Why me though? All I tried to do was help out a young, lonely woman with her difficult chores. As I testified, I stated the truth of what went down on the 21st of November. I told the court that I passed the Ewell's everyday to and from work and that sometimes Mayella would need my assistance with her chores. One day she told me that she needed help with some hinges that were falling off an old door inside of the house. I checked them and they were all right, and then she shut the door in my face. It was real quiet around and I noticed that the children were gone. She had saved seven nickels in the course of a year and gave them to the children to go buy some ice cream. 

         Telling the court this made me super nervous, because they probably thought I was lying and would believe Mayella's ridiculous story of how I took advantage of her. I told her since the door didn't need fixing I should be going home now but she told me there was something else to do; to get a box down from the top of a chiffarobe. She then grabbed the back of my legs which greatly scared me and as I hopped down from the chair she hugged me around the waist. As I said that, the court turned from pure silence to a jungle. I felt the balls of sweat run down from my forehead. I just wanted this to be all over! I wanted everything to go back to normal. I wanted my wife back and to be next to my kids again. The judge restored order. I went on with my testimony and told the court Mayella kissed the side of my face. She said what her papa did to her didn't count. I then saw Bob Ewell through the window. He called Mayella a whore and threatened to kill her. Then I fled from the house and ran as fast as I could home. You don't understand how scared I was. Me being a negro made the feeling a million times worse. I knew I was in a predicament. As I finished my testimony with the accurate facts I prayed to God that the jury would at least give it some thought that I was not guilty. 


         The jury came to a verdict and I was in deep apprehension. Atticus' final statement was very well done but I knew that I could not win this case. My heart pounded like crazy feeling like it would tear out of my chest and run around the world a million times. "Guilty....guilty....guilty..." was all I heard. Those words pierced my ears and my heart slowly sunk.