To Kill A Mockingbird "Point of View" Assignment by Maddie Geib

Entry 1: Tom is Declared guilty

PERSPECTIVE: Mayella Ewell

As the judge says the words "guilty", a feeling of relief goes over me. For some reason I was nervous for myself, even though I knew the jury wouldn't dare to rule in favor of a black man accused of raping a white woman. I look over at Tom and feel remorseful. Tom has a wife and kids and that was all going to be taken away from him because of me. I look down to my hand that had sworn to tell the truth and feel disgusted. But I know it is too late to take the lies back. I know that the trial is over. I know that if I told the truth, my father would beat me even harder than he had the night before. I also knew that no one would believe me. Tom was dead the minute my father made up that lie. If only I wasn't so selfish. I shouldn't have tried to take advantage of Tom. After all, he had helped me out all those times before. But I have my own life to be worried about. I know that the lies won't get my father to stop hitting me, but maybe going along with his lies will get him to soften the blows.

Entry 2: Outside of tom's jailcell

Perspective: tom robinson

All of the sudden, Mr. Finch tells me to keep quiet. I hear the faint sound of tires against the stone roads, and then car doors slamming shut. I huddle into the corner of my cell as the footsteps become closer. I hear some kind of conversation goin' on, but I can't make out anything. But I don't need to hear any words to know what they want. I begin to silently pray to God, cause he is the only white person besides Atticus who believes I didn't do it. Then, in the middle of the muffled argument, I hear a little girl's voice yell "Hey Atticus!" I reckon' it's Mr. Finch' s daughter, Scout, cause nobody else but an innocent child would dare to get in the way of these people. I feel myself start to dose off, as I have been too fearful to get much sleep lately. But as I feel my eyes began to close, I hear the sound of the little girl's scream, and then a few minutes later, I hear car's racin' away and then complete silence. I slowly walk over to the barred window, and ask Mr. Finch if they were gone. His soft voice replies “They’ve gone, get some sleep, Tom. They won’t bother you any more.” With that, I lay down and wait until I see the light outside of my cell turn off, before shutting my eyes.

Entry 3: Boo saves Jem and Scout

PERSPECTIVE: Boo radley

As I am following Jem and Scout home from the school, I see a shadow appear behind them. I am curious about who this is, because I have never seen anyone else but me following them. The smell of whiskey begins to linger from the figure. I tiptoe behind the figure and continue to watch them. Scout yells something out to the figure, and moments later, they launch themselves at the kids. I begin to run towards them while reaching for the kitchen knife in my pocket. As I approach, I see the boy unconscious on the ground and Scout trying to get away. I also see that the figure is Bob Ewell. I grab Mr. Ewell and toss him aside. He tries to grab Scout, but I pull him away. We wrestle for a little before I stick my knife into the top of his chest. There is a moment of silence except for the sounds of heavy breathing before they stop. I scoop up Jem, who is still unconscious, and carry him back home. I'm sure Scout will follow.

Entry 4: Cal takes jem and scout to church

Perspective: Calpurnia

When I made the decision to bring the children along, I knew I was taking a risk. Although Jem and Scout didn't see themselves as any different from us, I knew that's not how others would feel. As we walk up to the doors, I know that they stick out like two stains on a freshly washed shirt. I already see people start to make a pathway for us, which I can tell makes the children confused. I hear Lula shout from behind us. She reckons' that they shouldn't be allowed at a "n word" church. I find the argument amusing, because there is no difference between a white or a black church; it's all the same God. During the argument, I can tell the children wish to just go home. Instead, I walk them through the church doors and we sit down in a pew. As the service starts, I try not to think about the dozens of eyes staring at our backs.

Reflection:

From this assignment, I learned to try and think a different way from how the author writes the book. In "To Kill A Mockingbird", Scout is the narrator for the whole story, so we only ever hear the story from her point of view. But with this assignment, I had to think about how others felt during important moments only using their character and Scout's narration as a guide. The biggest challenge for me was trying to understand the court case from Mayella's point of view. While I was writing, I realized that I was making her sound like a victim, which was weird because throughout the whole story I believed that she wasn't. So changing my perspective helped me see things a different way. I think that we were given this assignment to try and get us to use some of Atticus' best advice in this whole book. In chapter 3, Atticus says to Scout, "You never really understand a person until you consider things form his point of view", and I think this assignment was trying to get us to do just that.

Credits:

Created with images by Sew Technicolor - "To Kill a Mockingbird 3"

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