Intrapersonal Assignment - Diary of Atticus Finch

Date: 31/12/39

What a dreadful, dreadful year. First, I had to deal with a case I knew that I could never win. Tom Robinson, a Negro, a hardworking, honest man, was accused of raping a defenseless young girl whose father was an alcoholic. I knew that by taking the case, I was going down in terms of public approval. My children at school were also ostracised because their father was a "nigger-lover"
This county by the name of Maycomb, does, like all the southern cities, have a thing against the Negroes. I do not quite see why that is. They are hardworking, polite, don't usually commit crimes. The only reason, is that their ancestors were slaves. A ridiculous reason! it does not really matter who their great-great-great-great-grandparents were, its who they are now! Anyway back to the case, I knew Tom was innocent, but I also knew that the jury would never rule in favour of a Negro. I did not care, I did my best. But obviously it was a gone case. There was still an appeal, though. Unfortunately, Tom did not trust the appeal and tried to run, with the result of seventeen bullets placed through him, making no less dead than a doornail.

Though I also received a projectile after the trial, though it was less than a bullet. Bob Ewell, angry that I humiliated him at the trial, spat at me, in the face. He just had to chew tobacco. He, not being content with spitting in my face, had to attack my children. Fortunately, my weird and anti-social neighbour Boo Radley saved my children. And Bob Ewell was killed, by his own knife, and Jem was around. I insisted to Heck Tate that we have an inquiry on this.He refused point-blank and said that Bob Ewell fell on his own knife while trying to kill Jem and Scout and there will be no investigation. Period. Well, I certainly do hope that this is going to be a better year.

Bless be to us all.

Linguistic assignment

"Extra! Extra! Read all about it!"


Tom Robinson Guilty
Thomas Robinson, 25, has been convicted of raping Miss Mayella Violet Ewell, 19. Once placed in jail for 30 days for disorderly conduct, the father of three children is now going to be imprisoned for life. He intends to appeal against his sentence. The trial had lasted 12 noon to 11pm, the longest trial Maycomb has ever seen.

The crime took place on 21 November 1932, when Mayella Ewell asked Robinson to come into the Ewell's house. Mayella had asked Robinson to help her chop up a chiffarobe. Then, when he was inside, Robinson grabbed Mayella and started to beat her up violently and shouted obscenities at her. Her ordeal only ended when her father, Robert Ewell came through the window and shouted at Robinson, who then fled. Mr. Ewell quickly ran for Mr Heck Tate, the sheriff to report the incident.

Mayella, whose right eye was bruised and had injuries on the arm and around the neck, was also hurt emotionally and had burst into tears when she was questioned by Atticus Finch, the defence for Robinson. Mayella testified that Tom Robinson had come into her house several times before the crime to help her with chores, but this time he assualted her when her back was turned.

The prosecutor, Mr Gilmer, questioned Tom Robinson why he would help Mayella Ewell with her chores for free. Tom Robinson gave the most possibly shocking answer. "I felt sorry for her." Tom Robinson's side of the story was that he had gone in to the house to help Mayella to chop up a chiffarobe, but was hugged and kissed by Mayella on the cheek. He tried to resist her advances but Mr. Ewell had shouted a vulgarity at him through the window and he ran away. When asked the reason for escaping, he simply answered to Mr Finch "Mr Finch, if you was a nigger like me, you'd be scared, too."

Despite Mr Finch's claim that there was 'not one iota of medical evidence' to prove that Tom Robinson was guilty, the jury pronounced Tom Robinson guilty and sentenced him to life imprisonment in Enfield Prison Farm.

My learning style

I am number and linguistically smart. About being number smart, it was not quite a surprise, I always like Mathematics, though sometimes it really frustrates me when things get so tedious that careless mistakes come up. Though being linguistically smart came as a surprise, I thought I was interpersonal, though that also is a strong point of mine.

The test was relatively straightforward, I could see how the questions relate to that particular learning style. Was it helpful to me? Well, it certainly does show me where my weaknesses are, and my strengths. Does that help? Possibly, so that I know where I can improve on. But knowing my strength may allow me to take a break from that area, but may also result in me doing poorly the moment I slacken.

Bless be to us all.