TKAM post #8

Choice #2

The people in TKAM had a lot of different reactions. Jem took it the hardest out of all of them though. After the jury left to make the verdict, Jem was sure that Atticus had won. He had done a much better job than the prosecutor, and there was no hard evidence that Tom Robinson had done anything to Mayella, and there was more evidence facing the fact that Burris had done it than Tom. Despite his belief, Jem was wrong, and the jury ruled against Tom Robinson. He didn't understand how the people of Maycomb could vote against Tom Robinson just because they didn't like him because he was black. He asked Atticus why, and he didn't know. He then asked Ms. Maudie, who replied with her opinion: That Atticus had been chosen to defend Tom instead of the man who would have done it, because the judge knew that Atticus would give the jury a lot to think about while they were deciding the verdict, and that he could possibly give Tom the smallest sliver of a chance at being proven innocent.

Dill felt sick about how poorly the African Americans were treated in their generation. He couldn't believe how much prejudice they faced in their everyday lives, and in front of him he was seeing a man given a death sentence despite them having nothing to do it to him for except their prejudice against him because of his skin color. After it had happened though, he let it go, he must have knew that it had happened and that it wouldn't change. Judge Taylor felt badly about Tom Robinson being convicted. He appointed Atticus as the defending attorney because he wanted Tom to have a fair chance, which he didn't because he was black. He also seemed to be supporting the defendants throughout the case, but in the end, he couldn't overrule the jury, because if he did, it would upset the balance of the way things are in Maycomb.

The only person who was happy about Tom being convicted was Bob Ewell. Bob obviously hated blacks, and blamed it on Tom, who passed the house every day, and had his daughter come on to him one day when she had driven the other kids out with nickels to get ice cream. When he beat her for doing what she had done, he called the police and blamed the beating on Tom, and told Heck Tate that he had raped Mayella as well. He was probably relieved when the jury ruled Tom guilty, because Atticus had gotten the true story right out of them, with out them even knowing. Atticus had ruined Bob's credibility and changed the way people think of him, and so Bob told Atticus that he would get him back even if it took the rest of his life.