Blog Prompt 5! :D

Question:
As you followed the action in the courtroom, which character did you empathize the most? Explain.

Response:
Personally, I loved the court case section of the entire book. In fact, it was my favourite part of the book. One reason for this is perhaps due to my strong interest in court cases, lawyers etc. Another reason is due to how the writer managed to paint a vivid and realistic image of the court case in the reader's mind and make them relate to it and feel part of it.

I think the second reason which I listed above also led me to empathize for Mayella Ewell the most. Although we are constantly hinted that Mayella Ewell was at fault and that she was actually lying, Harper Lee managed to paint the entire issue into one which seems to show that Mayella Ewell was actually the victim. Especially when Atticus Finch continued to question her and make her admit that she was in the wrong and that Tom Robinson was innocent, Mayella Ewell burst into tears and said "That nigger yonder took advantage of me an' if you fine gentlemen don't wanta do nothin' about it then you're all yellow stinkin' cowards, stinkin' cowards, the lot of you." After that, Harper Lee when in depth into describing how Mayella Ewell cried.

"Then she burst into real tears. Her shoulder shook with angry sobs. She was as good as her word. She answered no more questions, even when Mr Gilmer tried to get her back on track... Atticus had hit her hard in a way that was not clear to me, but it gave him no pleasure to do so. He sat with his head down, and I never saw anybody glare at anyone with the hatred Mayella showed when she left the stand and walked by Atticus's table."


I think this was the most important part of the court case which caused many readers including myself to empathize and feel for Mayella Ewell. The words which Harper Lee chose to tell this scene played a big role in conveying the feelings to the reader. The description on how hard she cried also made me empathize for Mayella Ewell very easily. Most of the time, readers empathize for the victim and not the prosecutor. However, in this case, although Atticus Finch can be considered the "victim" and Mayella Ewell is the prosecutor, we instead empathize for the prosecutor instead! Harper Lee's style of writing causes readers to empathize for the most unexpected of characters! In addition, although Atticus Finch is portrayed as one who seems to be at fault for questioning Mayella Ewell to this extent, the writer still hints to the reader that he is actually not at fault. This can be seen from "Atticus had hit her hard in a way that was not clear to me, but it gave him no pleasure to do so." Therefore due to these reasons and Harper Lee's style of writing, I empathized for Mayella Ewell the most.

Cheers,
Raphael