The Journal of Mayella Ewell:
Being the daughter of Bob Ewell is hard. Everyone in town seems to know about my family and the negativity associated with it like not attending school and hunting outside the season (34). That is just the outward appearance of my family but many don't even know the other half of it. My father, Bob Ewell, is one of the worst men I have ever known. He frequently abuses me and my siblings, both sexually and physically, so when he threatened me about my court testimonial I had no choice but to behave in the fashion I did. I know that Tom Robinson was not guilty of the crime he was charged of but when it came down to it I had to save myself over him. My dad told me that if I were to testify against him, he would do something worse than all the things from the past combined. I could not imagine what could be worst than what was already so horrible so when they questioned me on the stand, I lied. I lied and I cried and I put on a great act by saying the things I did like how Tom took advantage of me and "if you fine fancy gentlemen don't wanta do nothin' about it then you're all yellow stinkin' cowards, stinkin cowards, the lot of you. Your fancy airs don't come to nothin'" (214). The tears after this were to ensure that the court took pity on my family and me. I know it wasn't right and I instigated with Tom, but there was nothing I could do about it. I never meant for this to happen, I just wanted to experience a real kiss from a real man that wasn't my father (221). My dad wasn't supposed to see and no one was supposed to know but I guess sometimes you get yourself into a predicament that you just can't get out of without telling a few lies.