A/N: A monologue written for my English class (like most other things here).Done from Dill's perspective on the day of Tom's courtcase, just after the jury has declared Tom guilty.
What's Wrong With Them?
My head is still spinning just thinking about it. How can all them people just sit in there like smug cats that have eaten a tub of cream? Don't they care that someone who, at least according to Jem's explanation, is clearly innocent will die because of the verdict just given?
I can see that even Jem has gone pale. He was so sure that Atticus'd win, and I certainly trusted his judgement. After all, he and Scout are right experts when it comes down to all this legal stuff. How they can sit there without getting angry at that Mr Gilmer, I don't know. I think Scout reckons that Mr Gilmer didn't really want to defend the Ewells, but it still makes me sick to see how Mr Gilmer, and all the other white people in there treat Tom Robinson like he was a speck of dirt beneath their feet. All 'cept Atticus. That's one reason I think Atticus is one of the few adults I really trust, he's different to all the rest of them.
No wonder Jem and Scout respect him so much. He don't make demands like other folks, just words his wishes in way that people, including Jem and Scout, want to do them. Usually. It seems that that gift failed him this time.
Do they all just look at each other at the colour of their skin? Do they ever see any deeper than that surface colour?
How can they honestly say that he's guilty? Jem's been whispering the finer points of courthouse laws and edict to me all day, he said that it was a good sign that they took so long to decide, that it meant that someone saw reason that Tom was innocent.
But they still declared him guilty. For the first time I've ever seen, Atticus looked utterly defeated. And that scared me. His head was low and his walk up the isle to the door of the courthouse seemed a lonely one, and he definitely deserved the respect shown by the coloured folk here.
Maybe you have to grow up with this attitude to understand it. Even Jem 'n Scout seem to have moments where they show that, even with Mr Finch's attitude, they have picked up some of the views of Maycomb County. Scout showed some of that today, when she was with me outside the courthouse, talking to Mr Raymond. I'm not saying she's anything like the rest of those... people in there, just that she seems to 'understand' where the views of them people come from.
Jem's whispering to me again. He saying how there'll be an appeal, and he's muttering furiously about how it would have to be impossible for Tom to lose, but he said that about today as well. I can't understand how he lost today either, though. If even I, uneducated in legal procedures can spot what the real reason behind Mayella Ewell's injuries were, why couldn't the jury? They know legal procedure, they're meant to know the difference between right and wrong better than us children. But if that's the truth, why have they condemned an innocent man, even if he is black?
What is wrong with them?
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