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What happens in Chapters 18 & 19 of To Kill a Mockingbird?
In Chapter 18, during Atticus’s fiery cross-examination of Mayella, Mayella yells at the courtroom to convict Tom Robinson, eventually crying and refusing to answer any more questions. In Chapter 19, Tom’s testimony explains how he often would help Mayella with chores, and how on the night of the alleged rape, it was actually Mayella who attempted to pursue Tom. When Bob appeared, forcing Tom to flee, Bob threatened to kill Mayella. Link Deas is thrown out of the courtroom when he defends Tom. Dill becomes so upset that Scout has to take him out of the courtroom.
Read our Summary & Analysis of Chapters 18 & 19 of To Kill a Mockingbird. (3-minute read)
What key characters are developed in Chapters 18 & 19 of To Kill a Mockingbird?
- Tom Robinson: The reader meets Tom Robinson on the witness stand, where he is characterized as compassionate and hard-working. Having gotten his arm caught in a cotton gin as a boy, he has a disability that makes his commission of the crime the Ewells are accusing him of unlikely.
- Mayella Ewell: The daughter of Bob Ewell and the oldest of the Ewell children, Mayella is a lonely woman who nonetheless wields her whiteness as a weapon against Tom Robinson to accuse him of rape when her father catches her embracing him.
- Link Deas: This is not the first time Link Deas, Tom’s employer, is introduced, but it is perhaps the most significant, as he defends Tom’s character and gets thrown out of court because of it.
Read our Character List descriptions for To Kill a Mockingbird. (4-minute read)
What key themes from To Kill a Mockingbird are developed in Chapters 18 & 19?
The text continues to develop The Power of Deception as a theme as Mayella reveals her version of events, and Mr. Gilmer’s utter disbelief that Tom Robinson—a Black man—could ever feel pity for a white woman like Mayella Ewell underscores the theme of Racial Prejudice, something inherent in him and in their society as a whole.
Read more about the novel’s key Themes. (4-minute read)
What famous quote from To Kill a Mockingbird appears in Chapter 19?
In this quote from Chapter 19, Scout describes her realization that Tom Robinson had no chance of a fair trial:
“Until my father explained it to me later, I did not understand the subtlety of Tom’s predicament: he would not have dared strike a white woman under any circumstances and expect to live long, so he took the first opportunity to run—a sure sign of guilt.”
Read the complete quote and a full analysis of it in Quotes by Character: Scout. (1-minute read)
What important symbol from To Kill a Mockingbird is developed in Chapters 18 & 19?
It is in these chapters that the clearly innocent Tom can be symbolically linked to mockingbirds. As Atticus has explained, to kill a mockingbird is to kill innocence, and it’s obvious that Tom has done nothing wrong but continues to be victimized by not just Bob Ewell but the racist community that upholds ideas about white superiority.
