To Kill a Mockingbird Chapter 19 Summary

Tom Robinson tries to use his good right hand to put his bad left one on the Bible, but it keeps falling off, and the judge tells him not to bother.
After the basic questions about his age and family, Atticus asks Tom about a previous conviction for disorderly conduct; Jem whispers that Atticus is showing the jury that Tom has nothing to hide.
Tom’s testimony continues: as Mayella said, he passes the Ewell place on his way to work for Mr. Link Deas every day because there’s no other way to get there; he did go inside the Ewell yard to chop up a piece of furniture, but that was last spring, not in November like Mayella said, and that he went home without incident after turning down the nickel she offered him for the job.
Atticus asks if he ever crossed into Ewell property after that, and Tom says he did lots of times, provoking a murmur from the audience.
Atticus asks why, and Tom says Mayella kept having little jobs for him to do, and he never took payment because he knew how poor she was.
Tom says the children were always hanging around when he was there, and that Mayella would talk to him.
Scout thinks that Mayella must have been terribly lonely, even more lonely than Boo Radley, and that Tom was probably the only person who had ever treated her with real kindness.
Atticus asks if Tom ever went on the Ewell property without being invited, and he says no – and Scout believes him.
Atticus asks Tom about that night in November, and Tom describes his memory of what happened: he was going home as usual, passed the Ewell place which seemed quieter than usual; Mayella, sitting on the front porch, asked him to come in to fix a door; when he looked at the door, nothing seemed wrong with it; he suddenly realized that the reason it seemed so quiet was that the other children weren’t around; he asked where they were, and she said she had been saving her nickels for a year to get enough money for all seven to buy ice cream; he said it was a good thing for her to treat them, and that if there was nothing for him to do that he’d be leaving; then she asked him to get something down from the top of a wardrobe; he stood on a chair to get it, when she grabbed his legs from behind; he jumped in fright, knocking the chair over, which he swears was the only furniture disturbed in the room when he left it.
Atticus asks Tom what happened next, and the defendant pauses nervously, causing the judge to tell him to answer the question.
Tom says that he turned around and Mayella hugged him, and the Judge bangs his gavel to restore order as the lights go on in the courtroom to counter the gathering dusk.
Tom continues: Mayella kissed him, saying that she’d never kissed an adult man before, and that her father does to her doesn’t count, and told Tom to kiss her back.
Tom says that he told Mayella to move out of his way so he could leave, since he didn’t want to push her out of the way to get by her, when Mr. Ewell shouted through the window.
Atticus forces Tom to repeat Mr. Ewell’s words, even though he doesn’t want to: he said, “you goddamn whore, I’ll kill ya” (19.68).
Tom says that after that he just ran away as fast as he could, and never laid a finger on Mayella.
Scout thinks that Tom’s manners are, in their way, as good as her father’s, but she doesn’t understand Tom’s dilemma until her father explains it to her later: pushing Mayella would have been as good as signing his death warrant, so he had to run, even though it made him look guilty.
Atticus asks Tom if Mr. Ewell said anything to him, and Tom said if he did he was running so fast he didn’t hear it, but it seemed to him that the man’s attention was on his daughter.
Atticus asks Tom why he ran, and he says it was because he was scared.
Atticus sits down, and while Mr. Gilmer is getting up to question the witness, Mr. Link Deas suddenly stands up and vouches for Tom’s character to the whole courtroom, sparking Judge Taylor’s wrath.
The judge tells everyone to forget the interruption and the court reporter to erase it from the record, and the case continues.
After revisiting Tom’s previous criminal record, Mr. Gilmer asks him about his physical strength, establishing that after all he’s strong enough to chop up furniture with his one good hand.
Mr. Gilmer asks why Tom spent so much time doing Mayella’s chores when he had his own to do at home, and Tom says, after persistent questioning, that he felt sorry for her.
Mr. Gilmer shows shock and horror at this answer (how dare a black man feel sorry for a white woman?), and pauses to let the jury feel it too.
Mr. Gilmer’s questions turn to the evening of the alleged crime; Tom refuses to accuse Mayella of lying, but persistently says that she is “mistaken in her mind” (19.135).
While Mr. Gilmer tries to make Tom’s running away from the scene of the supposed crime into evidence of his guilt, Tom holds fast to saying that he ran basically because he knew most white people would assume he was guilty no matter what.
By this point Dill is crying uncontrollably, and Jem makes Scout take him out of the courtroom.
The two children go outside, and Dill tells Scout it just made him sick to hear how Mr. Gilmer was talking to Tom.
Scout says he’s just doing his job, but Dill says there’s a difference between the condescending way Mr. Gilmer talked to Tom and the politeness Atticus showed to Mayella.
Scout replies that the difference is between Atticus and Mr. Gilmer, not their witnesses, but Dill doesn’t believe it.
A new voice breaks into their conversation: Mr. Dolphus Raymond, who agrees with Dill.

Chapter 20

Chapter 18