When Mayella Ewell is called to the witness stand, she is scared and confused. At one point as Mr. Gilmer, the prosecutor, is patiently questioning her about what happened, Mayella begins sobbing, covering her face with her hands. Judge Taylor asks her to stop: ‘Judge Taylor let her cry for a while and then he said, “That’s enough now. Don’t be ‘fraid of anybody here, as long as you tell the truth.” ‘
When Mayella...
When Mayella Ewell is called to the witness stand, she is scared and confused. At one point as Mr. Gilmer, the prosecutor, is patiently questioning her about what happened, Mayella begins sobbing, covering her face with her hands. Judge Taylor asks her to stop: ‘Judge Taylor let her cry for a while and then he said, “That’s enough now. Don’t be ‘fraid of anybody here, as long as you tell the truth.” ‘
When Mayella says she is afraid of Atticus, the judge reassures her that Atticus has no intention of deliberately scaring her, and it is his job as judge to see that Atticus doesn’t scare her.
The judge speaks to Mayella as if she is much younger than nineteen: “Now you’re a big girl, so you just sit up straight and tell the—tell us what happened to you. You can do that, can’t you?”
Scout, watching from the balcony, thinks the scene is odd. She asks Jem if Mayella has ‘good sense,’ wondering if Mayella might have some kind of learning disability. Jem replies, “Can’t tell yet…She’s got enough sense to make the judge feel sorry for her, but she might be just—oh, I don’t know.”
This leads the reader to wonder about the causes of Mayella’s tears. Is it to get sympathy from the judge and other people in the court? Or is she genuinely afraid of Atticus because she saw him prove her father was a liar and he may prove the same thing about her?
Judge Taylor’s leniency with her tears, her accusations, and her later refusal to answer any more questions shows the partiality she was given in court because she was a young white woman. Poor or not, she was given preferential treatment.
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