Chapter 18: Austin Santos

Chapter 18: Austin Santos

Plot Summary

The chapter begins with a continuation of the trial with Tom Robinson and the Ewell’s. Mayella Ewell gets called up to the front. She walked up to the witness stand and pleaded she would tell the truth no matter what. Mr. Gilmer preceded and asked Mayella for her point of view on the case on what happened on the evening of November twenty-first of last year in her own words. Mayella does not answer. The people up front start to ask her questions and she all of a sudden bursts into tears. Mayella says something behind her hands and the judge asks what she says. Mayella points at Atticus and criticizes Atticus for using the proof of Bob Ewell’s left-handedness. Judge Taylor asks how old she is and receives the answer of nineteen, and tells her to keep it calm because nobody is going to hurt her. They just ask her for the truth. They ask her what really happened. She responds: I told him a had a nickel for him and she turned around and got a nickel and before she know it Tom Robinson was on her and was around her neck and she hollered for help. She begins to say that she doesn’t remember too good what happened after that. Then the next thing she knew her father was there to help. She then fainted and woke up with Mr. Tate pulling her up. Atticus begins asking questions that had already been asked and Mayella gets a little bit furious. Mayella then criticizes Atticus for making fun of her and Judge Taylor acts back and tells her he is not. Mayella says she does not like being called Miss Mayella and ma’am. Judge Taylor tells Mayella he is not trying to be mean, he is trying to be polite. Atticus resumed and asked how many sisters and brothers she had, and she replied “Seb’m”. Mayella was the oldest. She said she’d had gone to school for two or three years but she didn’t know for sure. Scout begins to realized a pattern in which he wants the Judge to realize a picture of the Ewell’s home life. Mayella even said that she did not have any friends. Atticus asks if she remembers Tom beating her about the face. She does not answer. Atticus begins to lose his patience and says it’s an easy question and asks again. She says no but then takes that back and says she does. She complains it all happened just too quick for her. Atticus asks her a few more questions and eventually Mayella stops answering the questions. Out of nowhere Mayella says she will say one more thing and she is done. She admits her father beat her and there was no rape, and she calls them all yellow stinkin’ cowards for not asking Tom Robinson. She walks off bursting into tears and the chapter slowly ends.

Major Changes and Developments

No main characters really change all that much. Mayella Ewell is introduced. She is upset about the case. No conflicts are introduced. No conflict change.

Significant quotes

On page 244, “You say you’re nineteen,” Atticus resumed. “How many sisters and brothers have you?” He walked from the windows back to the stand. “Seb’m,” she said,…

This quote is important because it introduces something new on how nobody knew how many kids the Ewell’s had but not we do.

On page 245, “Do you love your father, Miss Mayella?” was his next. “Love him, whatcha mean?”

Literary Elements

On page 242, a simile is used: “there was something stealthy about hers, like a steady-eyed cat with a twitchy tail.”

Vocabulary

On page 243, pang is used in the sentence at the bottom, ”…but I did not feel a pang for him as he tried to explain.”

Pang means: a sudden feeling of mental or emotional distress or longing

Also on page 243, contrary is used at the bottom in the sentence, “…let’s get on with these proceedings, and let the record show that the witness has not been sassed, her views to the contrary.”

Contrary is: opposite in nature or character

Critical Thinking

1) Why do you think Mayella was answering so slowly and was not answering some of the question Atticus was answering towards the end?

2) Why do you think that Mayella admitted her father beat her up and that there was no rape at the end?