Daily Dialogue — December 11, 2017

“I got somethin’ to say. And then I ain’t gonna say no more. He took advantage of me. An’ if you fine, fancy gentlemen ain’t gonna do nothin’ about it, then you’re just a bunch of lousy, yella, stinkin’ cowards, the — the whole bunch of ya, and your fancy airs don’t come to nothin’. Your Ma’am’in’ and your Miss Mayellarin’ — it don’t come to nothin’, Mr. Finch, not… no.”

— To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), screenplay by Horton Foote, novel by Harper Lee

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Lie.

Trivia: When Mayella Ewell is sworn in during the trial of Tom Robinson, if you look closely you can see that she does not actually place her hand on the Bible. Instead, she lets it hover just above, as she knows that the testimony she was about to give accusing Tom of assault was false.

Dialogue On Dialogue: Mayella’s outburst in court is a dramatic high point of the legal proceedings. It’s clear to everyone she’s lying… except the jurors. Or perhaps worse, they KNOW she’s lying, yet still vote to condemn an innocent man to death.