To Kill a Mockingbird- Scene

            Tom Robinson’s trial scene is compressed to sum up the case from Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird in a shorter length of time for the movie. Specifically, Mayella’s stint on the witness stand seems shortened and broken down to be less complex. Mayella’s character changes in major ways as well as the way Atticus and Judge Taylor treat her. Along with this, the reveal of Tom Robinson’s nonfunctioning left arm is changed during Mayella’s time on the witness stand.

            Mayella’s scene begins the same in the novel and movie with Mayella being sworn in as a witness. The movie portrays Mayella as not just fragile like in the book, but instead when sworn in she has her hand hovering over the bible instead of actually touching it. This reveals Mayella as an untruthful character that cannot be trusted on the stand. She seems almost angry when she sits in the chair in the movie instead of fearful like in the novel. Mayella begins to cry in the novel when Mr. Gilmer questions her because of her anxieties towards Atticus questioning her soon. Judge Taylor, in the novel, has to calm Mayella down because she burst into tears multiple times such as when she believes Atticus is mocking her. Eventually, Judge Taylor must tell her to stop crying. In the novel, Mayella comes off as a controlling character that knows how to manipulate a situation to how she wants others to act around her. In the movie, Mayella does not use these antics, which really changes how her character is perceived. Mayella ends up seeming more like a character controlled by her father instead of the manipulative character from the book. Mayella must change so that her scene can be cut down from the fifteen pages he was allotted in the book.

            The movie also changes the situation with Tom Robinson’s arm because special effects 1962 probably could not create a true portrayal of his injury. His arm is not twelve inches too short with a deformed hand instead it is just paralyzed because of the cotton gin injury. Instead of Atticus just having Tom stand up like in the novel, Atticus asks Tom to stand with both seemingly functional arms and has him catch a cup, which he does with his right hand. Then Atticus has him catch with his left him, but Tom then explains that he cannot. They changed this to explain Tom’s injury without the needs of special effects. Both Mayella’s character and Tom’s reveal are adapted so they can work within the movie.