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Use of symbolism to kill a mockingbird
Innocence of children in t killma mockingbird
Innocence of children in t killma mockingbird
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Although Mayella Ewell eventually testifies against Tom Robinson on false grounds, her backstory and true nature is innocent, and her “mockingbird” only dies when her father corrupts her. First, when Scout is describing the Ewell’s living condition, the novel states, “Against the fence, in a line, were six chipped-enamel slop jars holding brilliant red geraniums, cared for as tenderly as if they belonged to Miss Maudie Atkinson… People said they were Mayella Ewell’s” (Lee 228). Being raised in the conditions that she was, Mayella’s attempts at rectifying her family’s image, even in these small, personal acts, captures the way she wishes to live and how she thinks. Caring for the geraniums and trying to maintain some semblance of cleanliness, especially when compared to the rest of her family, gives the reader …show more content…
Some may say that this is the final nail in the coffin for her status as a mockingbird, but this may just represent another facet of the definition of mockingbirds. Corruption of innocence is violence, in a way, and Mayella Ewell has been conditioned many a time, that she should do whatever her father tells her to, regardless of that action's moral ambiguity, and that if she doesn’t, she will have to face the consequences, often at the price of physical harm from her father. The loss of Mayella’s innocence through the corrupted lifestyle of her father, is often more telling of her mockingbird status than, say, her geraniums. Innocence, of a child or otherwise, is all the more precious when it is taken away, piece by piece, until the last scrap someone holds on to is more than anything ever was or will be, and these Mockingbirds, Mayella foremost among them, has had that last little bit of themselves torn away, leaving a wretched husk where there used to be a glimmer of
Mayella is not one of those of other people in the small town of Maycomb that lives in a nice neighborhoods. Mayella lives behind a garbage dump with her father and siblings. During the trial of Tom Robinson, Scout describes Mayella’s home. ‘“Maycomb’s Ewells lived behind the town garbage dump in what was once a Negro cabin….Its windows were merely open spaces in the walls….What passed for a fence was bits of tree-limbs, broomsticks and tool shafts….Enclosed by this barricade was a dirty yard….”’ Mayella only has one thing that keeps her sane from all the horribly things that has been happening. Which is her red geraniums, Scout says that they are well nurtured by Mayella. Mayella has six of these red geraniums at the corner of her yard. Mayella and her father lives in the neighborhood of Negroes, nor would ever bother them except Tom because he's to nice of a person. “....white people wouldn’t have anything to do with her because she lived among pigs; Negroes [the Ewells’ nearest neighbors] wouldn’t have anything to do with her because she was white….” Mayella would not be powerful in the role of class because of where she lived and what she wored.
With lots of children to take care of Mayella was only able to get two to three years of education and she had no friends. This is why when Atticus asks her about her friends she thinks he is making fun of her. After having to live a life like this we don?t know why Mayella would like to defend her hard-hearted father, but she probably did this because she was scared of what he would do to her if she told the truth. We feel sympathetic towards her at this point but there is still a sense of hatred towards her as she is letting an innocent person being jailed who actually helped her a lot when no one did.
One of the major events in Harper Lee’s award-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird is Tom Robinson’s trial. It is based on the Scottsboro Case that took place in 1931 in Alabama, in which several black men were accused of raping two white women. Both the Scottsboro Boys and Tom Robinson are unfairly judged, however, because of prejudice against colored people. The racial discrimination makes whites’ testimony more believable even when it contradicts itself. The same happens in To Kill a Mockingbird. As we delve deeper into the case and get increasingly closer to the truth, it is quite suprising to see that Mayella Ewell is the true villain rather than a victim. She shall and must bear full responsibility for her actions because she makes the decision to tempt Tom Robinson, gives false testimony in court that directly leads to Tom’s death, and has been well aware of the consequences of her behaviors.
Even Scout’s first-grade class knows that none of the Ewell children go to school for more than a day. This is shown on page 26, when a member of the class says: “‘Whole school’s full of ‘em. They come first day every year and then leave.’” Even Atticus, who is very open-minded throughout the book, has a certain disdain towards the family: “…the Ewells had been the disgrace of Maycomb for three generations. None of them had done an honest day’s work in his recollection.” Since Atticus has been proven to be against stereotypes and judging others such as the black community, him saying these things shows how bad the Ewell family seemed to be. Because she is hated by most of her town, Mayella becomes extremely lonely and
Harper Lee deftly weaves plot in her novel To Kill a Mockingbird by inserting the overarching theme of moral conviction and development, as well as spindling in symbolism, to construct the conflicting moral views present in her brilliant tapestry that is To Kill a Mockingbird. Throughout the novel, the reader sees Atticus Finch standing tall and firma as the novel’s moral backbone- rooted deeply in his moral convictions and willing to subject himself and his family to scrutiny to protect innocence. His foil, Bob Ewell, quickly asserts himself as the symbol for decay, routinely diving deeper into his pit of moral filth. Observing the tumult is Scout, Atticus’ young daughter who is experiencing the Tom Robinson case as a young child in her formative developmental years. We see her ‘come of age’ slightly as she begins to develop a moral conscience of her own. Not coincidentally, each character has influence and is influenced by others, resulting in a complex drapery of moral decisions and development.
One could jump to many different conclusions when reading this book, but in order to completely understand the thoughts of the characters, we have to put ourselves in the shoes of the main characters Mayella Ewell and Tom Robinson. One should also take into consideration the time the story takes place which was during the great depression when racism was real and slavery still exists. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Mayella and Tom were both known to be outcast and would be considered at the lower level of the hierarchy. They lived in one of the poorest towns in Maycomb County, in southern Alabama. Both characters, Mayella and Tom, were not thought of very highly (as you can tell from their place in the hierarchy)
In the book To Kill a Mockingbird Tom Robinson, was put in jail for something he did not do. But steel had to pay the price for it. Mayella Ewell is a young lady that mother past when she was little and live with the father and sister and brother. And then there is Boo Radley a really shy person and never talk to anyone or go outside in the daylight.
In closing, throughout the novel, to kill a mockingbird, the children’s innocent perspective perceives and recognizes what the adults are unable to realize. Dill’s innocence prevented him from understanding the discrimination in Maycomb during Tom Robinson’s case. He was sensitive to the injustice in the court because he understood that people are not be treated in such a way. Jem’s innocence stopped him from comprehending how and why people convicted an innocent man. Jem wanted the people “The world was alive, the sky descending; our times were lullabies and sad goodbyes,” said Nicholaus Patnaude. In life when you are at the phase of childhood you are innocent, therefore making everything seem to be a fantasy and allowing ones imagination to be portrayed through lullabies. The only difficult part is the sad goodbyes. However as a child grows older, maturity takes its toll and loss of innocence takes place. “To Kill a Mockingbird” is a novel that presents innocence through the perspective of children, as the children have an innocent mentality that reveals what the adults don’t see. Dill, Jem and Scout Finch carry this trait; but throughout the novel the maturity of these characters is evident through many events. The loss of innocence of Jem Finch throughout the course of the novel is reflected in a positive way, as it creates a mature young adult. With the help of his father, Atticus, Jem learns what the true act of courage is. Racism, a profound topic in the novel helps Jem understand the difference between reality and fantasy. In addition, taking an insight on different perspectives also helps shape the new Jem by the end of the novel.
In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, one of the antagonists is Mayella Ewell, a low class white woman who wrongly accuses a black man named Tom Robinson for raping her, thus getting him killed. Mayella is a very static character, she longs to be respected, but her town does not believe she deserves it. Mayella does not change in the novel, but how readers perceive her might, once it is revealed that her father was the one who pushed her to ruin the Tom’s life. Not only that, but the reader learns that Mayella was physically and sexually abused by her father, Bob Ewell. Bob has a habit of hurting Mayella when he is drunk, as seen in two quotes during a testimony with Mayella saying that her father is "tollable, 'cept when--" (Page 183), inciting that her father causes her trouble when he is drunk and further in Tom recounts what Mayella told him, “She says she never kissed a grown man before an’ she might as well kiss a nigger. She says what her papa do to her don’t count” (Page 194). If Mayella’s father is doing things like kissing her, there is no doubt he coulld possibly be doing worse things to her and this makes readers question their dislike for Mayella. On one hand, she is acting immorally, but the twist of faith is that she is also taken advantage of, and the reader cannot help but feel pity for
On November 21st, as the sun is about to set in Maycomb, Tom Robinson starts to walk home from work. One of the houses Tom passes daily is the Ewell’s house. More than once, Mayella Ewell, the oldest of the Ewell children, had asked Tom to help Mayell with a chore or a hard tak. That night, all of the children, but Mayell were out of the house. When Tom passed by, Mayella asked Tom to grab a box off of the top of a chiffarobe in the Ewell’s house. When Tom had grabbed the box, the events that unfolded next, would take Tom to court.
Harper Lee has been suspected to retell events that actually happened in her life with a bit of a twist in the novel "To Kill a Mockingbird". This theory is confirmed one could say through the vivid descriptions of characters through dialogue, narration, and imagery. Lee knits a scarf with her storytelling that swallows an entire face with a carefully woven plot full of situations that few authors can portray well. The depth that Lee goes into while describing the court case is astonishing, and the detail of that one event gives the reader all the information they need to completely understand the novel. Mayella Ewell is suspected to be abused by her father. In the trial she
Her father abuses her in a physical and sexual way. Additionally, she is emotionally damaged from her father’s cruel ways with her and emotionally damaged from being an outcast in her town. To say Mayella Ewell is not a mockingbird is equal to saying Tom Robinson is a white man. Through her oppression, Mayella Ewell impacted Scout’s coming of age. She taught her optimism, appreciation, and how demoniac the world can be. In a world of black and white, Mayella can be seen as the villain of the book but perhaps people should stop focusing on the blacks and whites of the world and see the book’s point; there is no black and white. There are no villains; there are just misunderstood humans. There are
Underdevelopment is an all-round idea, which may incorporate social, economic, and political components. Mayella Ewell symbolizes a mockingbird slain by society's preference towards those of a low social class. Mayella Ewell is a defenseless white young lady shown as different by society and who lives under her dad's mistreatment. She tends to geraniums, looks after her younger siblings, and performs every one of the tasks without help. Rather than rewarding her, Bob Ewell would beat her up frequently. Due to living among pigs she was seen, “a disgrace of Maycomb for three 3 generations”(30). Society alienates her. The whites disassociate themselves from her because of her social standing and blacks disassociate themselves from her since she is white. Compassion and kindnesses were totally unknown to her. Atticus only calls her Miss Mayella, making her feel like an outsider and blames him for ridiculing her. Mayella's helplessness was clear, as her father took her purity, and left to decay in poverty and disregard. Therefore, Mayella is a passing mockingbird, a casualty of society's
What does it mean to be a mockingbird? Mockingbirds are known for “making music” they don’t have many predators. Mockingbirds are innocent. So what does a mockingbird have to do with anything? Mockingbirds are innocent just like Mayella Ewell, Tom Robinson, and Boo Radley. All three of these characters are just like mockingbirds, innocent. At first you wonder why these characters are mockingbirds especially Mayella, who put a man’s life at risk just to save herself. Yet, when you go more in-depth and look at things closer you see why all three of these characters are innocent.
Tom has been wrecked by injustice and prejudice and Scout makes a valid point that, “Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed” simply because he was a black (323). There was nothing else to it other than the color of his skin and racial background. As a result, Tom was accused of raping a white girl and had no other choice than to attend his trial and hope for the best even though the final verdict was quite palpable. Once at court, Tom Robinson testified that he helped Mayella with day to day chores quite often, free of charge. His reason for doing so was because he felt, “right sorry for her” (264). This affirmation gave Mr. Glimmer an opportunity to take advantage of Tom’s words and use them against him since a black man feeling sorry for a white girl just wasn’t acceptable. This caused so much commotion in the courtroom that many of the folks soon forgot what Tom had testified seconds before in response to Mayella’s yearn for intimate actions. In reply to Atticus’s question, “Did you resist her advances?”, Tom said, “Mr. Finch I tried. I tried to ‘thout bein’ ugly to her. I didn’t want to be ugly, I didn’t want to push her or nothin’” (260). These very words portray a true mockingbird who, so to speak, would never raise anything but his voice in a quarrel. They portray a mockingbird believes that words are stronger than