When Atticus questions Bob Ewell, he shows that Bob is left-handed. Scout concludes that Atticus is trying to show that Bob could have beat up Mayella:
If her right eye was blacked and she was beaten mostly on the right side of the face, it would tend to show that a left-handed person did it.
During Mayella's testimony, she is shaky and uncertain of what to say. When Atticus asks if Tom had beat her about the face, she finally says, "No, I don’t recollect if he hit me. I mean yes I do, he hit me." Mayella claims that Tom choked her and beat her. When Tom stands up, the court sees that his left arm is very short and basically useless:
His left arm was fully twelve inches shorter than his right, and hung dead at his side. It ended in a small shriveled hand, and from as far away as the balcony I could see that it was no use to him.
This makes it seem impossible that Tom could have been choking and beating her at the same time. And since Mayella's injuries were to the right side of her face, it suggests that Bob is more likely than Tom to have hit her. The injuries to her right side are more likely to have come from a left-handed person. Bob is left-handed. Tom's left hand is useless.
No comments:
Post a Comment