The Effects of Mayella Ewell's Actions

The effects of Mayella Ewell’s actions

When someone lies in court, charges are laid and the person gets a criminal record. When a person is murdered, the murderer is sought out and then condemned. When someone places someone’s life in jeopardy they are scorned. In Harper Lee’s novel “to kill a mockingbird”, Mayella Ewell does all the things mentioned above yet she has not had any charges laid against her. Mayella Ewell commits perjury, she causes an innocent man to die, and she endangers the lives of two children. Because of her actions, Mayella Ewell deserves to be condemned.

First of all, as mentioned above, Mayella commits perjury. Perjury is deliberately giving false information during a testimony or while under oath. Perjury is a serious crime punishable by up to 14 years in jail. Even though she commits perjury she is let off the hook without so much as a second glance. It is quite obvious, after Atticus interrogates her, that she is lying. Mayella says that Tom beat her and raped her. Mr. Heck Tate says that Mayella was pretty banged up on the right side of her face and when Atticus asked him about the finger markings on her throat, on page 226 he says, “ I’d say they were all around, Mr. Finch.” Later, when Tom Robinson stood up to testify, we found out that his left arm was crippled. There was no way he could have beaten her up or throttled her with his arm in such condition. Such solid evidence was given that Mayella was lying yet the jury did nothing to convict her. Most perjury cases end with charges. On March 17, 2005 rapper, L’il Kim, was convicted for committing three counts of perjury. Bernard Madoff, infamous for scamming people by pretending to be a financial advisor, was also convicted for perjury. These people were convicted for perjury yet Mayella was not, even though everyone could see through her story like glass.

Of even greater appeal, because she lies in court, she causes the death of Tom Robinson. In the 1930’s, a time of...