To Kill a Mockingbird Journal Seven

Journal #7

Chapters 18-21

Choice B

Tell how the characters respond to the jury's verdict.

Jem

After the jury reached the verdict that Tom Robinson was guilty, Jem was obviously the most impacted by their decision. Immediately after Atticus left the building he started sobbing subsequently. Atticus knew they would lose and that Jem would feel bad that they lost because he told them to take as long as they needed to eat dinner, but the jury didn't make a decision until it was 11pm. Jem was the most disappointed because he was very certain that the defendant would win and was, out of Scout and Dill, almost as dedicated to the case as Atticus was.

Aunt Alexandra

Although Aunt Alexandra expressed her sympathy towards Atticus, she was more concerned that Scout and Jem and Dill went to the case. She felt that they were too young to be witness to a rape case. But you could tell that she was also sorry about the result because when she first saw Atticus that night she subtly said, "I'm sorry, brother." She never called Atticus brother before and so that meant that she was deeply sympathetic.

Dill

Dill, although he was also concerned and disappointed about the results, did not understand the case as well as Dill or Scout, and had to continue to ask Jem what was going on, or what did that mean, during the case. I think that he was more concerned because his friends were, but in reality Atticus was not his father and Maycomb was not his hometown.

Miss Maudie

Miss Maudie did not go to the case but when she called over Scout, Dill, and Jem, she knew that Jem needed an extra boost so she gave him a bigger piece of cake. She also had faith in the community, more than Jem did. When Jem said he the illusions he had about Maycomb had been shattered because the verdict was a result of the prejudice jury, Miss Maudie mentions that there were people who tried to help, such as Judge Taylor who appointed Atticus as the defending lawyer because he knew that he would have the most chance of winning.

Bob Ewell

Even though the jury voted Tom Robinson guilty Bob Ewell was still angry because Atticus revealed everything about him; he told the public about his personal life, how he abuses his children, that he was a drunk pauper. Most of Maycomb was in the courtroom, and if anyone did not go they would have found out, so the whole town knew about everything he did and the predicaments he lived in, which was why he spit on Atticus.