This is my To Kill a Mockingbird essay. I chose to write a point of view piece on if Mr. Ewell was narrating the trial scene. I wanted to show the reader that, I believed, Mr. Ewell was irritated and uncomfortable at the trial, and how he thought Tom should have just been put on death row. I've never really done anything like this and want comments. I am focusing on word choice and voice.
I still don' get why this even has to go to trial. I knows that that [negro] attacked my Mayberry, oops I mean Mayella, and I want him gone. That Mr. sheriff man, Mr. Tate, is up on the stand testifyin' while that [negro] could already be halfway to death row right now. And Atticus Finch. With his combed hair and his chillun runnin' around like crazy people. He's the lowest any man can get. That [negro] attacked my daughter and he's up there tryin' to save his [butt] from the chair. Atticus is gonna get it if it's the last thing I do. Margret deserves, I mean Mayella deserves, some justice from this court and that [negro] oughta pay. I never once laid a finger on Molly and she knows that, wait I meant Mayella. Oh great now that won ton of a officer is done preachin' bout all the little details of the crime.
My turn.
"Mr. Robert Ewell.? Mr. Gilmer ask me.
"That's m'name cap'n." I assured.
"Are you the father of Mayella Ewell?" That rug haired man just asked me another stupid question.
"Well, if I ain't I can't do nothin' about it now, her ma's dead." I joked.
He stopped. "Are you the father of Mayella Ewell?"
"Yes sir." knowing that he didn't get the joke.
Judge Taylor then tol' me to just answer questions from here on out. I went on and on talkin' bout that Robinson and how I saws him attackin my daughter. I tol' him the time, what I's saw, even what I did to the [negro]. I even tol' him where I was when I saw that [negro] attack her! Then that Mr. Atticus came about questionin' me about the same [dang] things! He went on to asks me bout why I didn't take Mayella to a doct'r. I knew she was hurt, why'd she need a doct'r? Then I went back to answerin' the same questions Mr. Tate already told that Mr. Finch. I agreed with what he said and then I wanted to leave. Atticus asked me if I's could rea' 'n write.
"I most positively can."
"Will you write your name and show us?" Atticus questioned.
I wrote my name down, ni' and neat and every-thang.
"You're left handed, Mr. Ewell." The Judge wondered.
Atticus, "Are you ambidextrous, Mr. Ewell?"
"I most positively am not, I can use one hand as good as the other. One hand good as the other."
With that statement I could go back to my seat.
They call' up Mable to the stand, I mean Mayella to the stand, and begins askin' 'er all the questions they's already asked me and Mr. Tate. When Atticus started askin' 'er crazy thangs like if she loved me or not, is when it started to get t'me. I got red in the face a lil more with e'ry question. He asked her, " ..is he easy to get along with?"
"He does tolerable 'cept when--" [Dang] it now she' gon' get it when we get back home.
"Except when?" I got all strange feelin' and sat up right straight in my chair. I stared down Madeline until, I mean Mayella until, she knews I was glarin' right at her.
"I said he does tolerable" Good ol' May--er--ella!
[Dang] it! Did that prissy little la'yer just ask my daughter if I's ever hit'r? I never lay a finger on any my chillun! …I don't think so…
The trial continued 'til they finally convicted that son of a [witch] and I was 'llowed to go home.
You have some great touches here, in particular the way Bob Ewell repeatedly forgets his own daughter's name.
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