Unspoken barriers divide people according to class, wealth, intelligence and background. This affected numerous people throughout history who were subsequently appointed inequitable places in society according to factors such as family ancestry, behaviour and more. In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee argues that negative repercussions will arise when one attempts to step out of their preordained place in a small judgmental society. This is evidently proven through the characters of Mayella Ewell, the children Jem and Scout, and finally, Atticus Finch.
In the town of Maycomb, hereditary relations play a large part in one’s reputation, meaning that the social status of your family instantly becomes your own. The character of Mayella Ewell unfortunately belongs to the filthiest family in the town. This is proven in the text, which states:
Atticus said the Ewells had been the disgrace of Maycomb for three generations… 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, had Miss Maudie deigned to permit a geranium on her premises. People said they were Mayella Ewell’s… it was easy to tell when someone bathed regularly, as opposed to yearly lavations: Mr. Ewell had a scalded look; as if an overnight soaking had deprived him of protective layers of dirt, his skin appeared to be sensitive to the elements. Mayella looked as if she tried to keep clean, and I was reminded of the row of red geraniums in the Ewell yard. (Lee 30-179)
It is evident that Mayella wants to be better than her set familial status when she tries to keep clean and make her living quarters presentable, actions that the rest of her family would never bother...
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...ticus’s naïve mindset in believing everyone to having a fair and equal chance. Treating everyone with respect and courtesy, whether they be rich, poor, black or white, was not how he should have behaved according to the adamant rules of society.
To conclude, it is proven during numerous instances found in Harper Lee’s award-winning novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, that societal pressures and the rigid rules and boundaries that society sets can overwhelm anyone of any class, race or background. It is unjust to assume anyone’s character by their set status but unfortunately, negative after-effects immediately take place as soon as one tries to step out of their preordained place. As Mayella Ewell, Scout and Jem Finch and Atticus Finch were the examples of this bitter truth, there are many other characters affected by the societal impacts on everyday life in the novel.
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.
In To kill a mockingbird by Harper Lee people were judged by unfair standards that resulted in oppression. Scout and Jem are the children of a white lawyer who has to defend a black man accused of raping a white female. In the 1930’s in Maycomb, Alabama equal rights were not factors. Which says that the problems of human inequality and the divisions within society were unfair and unjust, like Boo Radley being treated unequally by others. People were judged regarding their race, economic status, or social standing. The race of Tom Robinson led to think he was guilty of a crime he didn't commit. Racism also led to Aunt Alexandra's harsh beliefs against Calpurnia.
In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird three characters, Scout, Jem, and Atticus Finch, experience the many hardships and difficulties of human inequality in their community, Maycomb County. Scout, the narrator, gives insight to readers about the many different characters of Maycomb, yet two are alike in many ways. Mayella Ewell is a 19-year-old girl who is considered white trash and lacks education, love, and friends. Dolphus Raymond is a wealthy white man who is married to an African-American and has mixed children. Although these characters may seem different, they share many of the same advantages and disadvantages of human inequality.
She lived in an old, decayed house behind a trash dump. In Document A, section one, it says “Maycomb’s Ewells lived behind the town garbage dump in what was once a Negro cabin…” Also in Document A, it describes what the outside of her house looks like. For example, it says “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…” By reading this quote, it shows how poorly Mayella lives. During this time, The Great Depression was also taking place. It caused people to live poorly, no places to live, and no jobs to be found. Overall, Mayella did not hold any power because she was the poorest of the poor, just like it declared in the Background
The Ewells are “ the disgrace of Maycomb for three generations. None of them had done an honest day’s work in his recollection” (Lee 30). They had lack of education, no parental guidance and no morals. The Ewells had not gone to school for no more than a day and takes the rest of the school year off. They were “members of an exclusive society made up of Ewells” (Lee 30). They were looked as below the normal because Mr. Bob Ewell would “spend his relief check on green whiskey his children have a way of crying from hunger pains (Lee 31). Mayella is the oldest sibling of the Ewells and is responsible for taking care of all her brothers and sisters while her father is either drunk or in the swamp. Nonetheless, they live in the dump, with little
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
The Ewells were treated poorly by white people because of their social and financial class. The Ewells lived in a dump, some black people had nicer houses than the Ewells. While Mayella was on the stand, Atticus was calling her Ma’am and Mayella said, “won’t answer a word you say as long as you keep mocking me”.(DBQ: Is Mayella Powerful?) Mayella thought this way because she had never been respected at home and was abused by her father. Mayella was not happy with her life at home or in Maycomb. This proves that Mayella Ewell is clearly a victim when it comes to
Mayella Ewell did not grow up with a family that had a lot of money, she was considered poor. Where she lived it was like a junkyard, it was poor and of low income. Her cabin was also once inhabited by Negroes. ( DOC A) “Maycomb
From the reading, one can conclude that Mayella does not have that much power according to class. She is the lowest of the low when it comes to financial terms. She lives among the poorest of the poor in Maycomb, Alabama. She is in the middle in a way too. She does not fit in with the white people because of her
In the book ‘ To Kill A Mockingbird ‘ by Harper Lee there are many themes that emerge throughout the novel from either the character’s actions and the progression of the plot. The themes that I would like to focus are those of social inequality and that of racism. Both of these themes guide the plot and help to shape the setting of the novel. The themes of social inequality and racism deeply trouble the main characters of Jem and Scout.
Many characters in To Kill a Mockingbird are given the traits of the mockingbird; the innocence, abuse, wrongful violence, and the bringing of happiness. The motif in the book is to see that many people who we consider ‘bad’ are truly just misunderstood. One mockingbird that many people never seem to acknowledge is Mayella Ewell. Mayella is seen as an antagonist and a persecutor against an innocent Tom Robinson, but she is truly one who is also persecuted. First, when Atticus, through proven demonstration, shows the court that Bob Ewell is indeed left handed, it matches up perfectly with the marks on Mayella’s neck. Her abuse at the hands of her father is apparent and seems to be a common factor in her life, judging by behavior. Mayella is
Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird expresses the ideology that the social standard of a particular individual, classifies their status in the world. Individuals placed in social classes are labeled to create a sense of social identity. The socio-economic class an individual is born into should not be the determining factor of how the individual is regarded and treated, however, their character and personality should be a primary factor in determining how they are thought of in society.
The Ewells are viewed as the dregs of local society, as even "Atticus said the Ewells had been the disgrace of Maycomb for three generations" (Lee 21), during which they had "lived on the same plot of earth behind the Maycomb dump, and had thrived on county welfare money" (Lee 91). The lack of social exposure due to where and how he lives justifies Bob Ewell's lack of even the slightest form of respect in any scene in which he speaks. Atticus even passively allows Ewell to...
In court, Lee writes Mayella to tell lies after lies, but maybe she did it to give a realistic effect of how someone abused would actually be, scared straight of the abuser himself. With Bob Ewell being in the court and having a chance of getting away with the rape of his own daughter would give any reader even the littlest of sympathy for her. Even to those circumstances though, Lee writes the Ewells to be these rude and filthy people but shows a small amount of goodness that Mayella has yet to found within herself. This is shown with “one corner of the yard….were six chipped-enamel slop jars holding brilliant red geraniums, cared for as tenderly as if they belonged to Miss Maudie
The Ewells are immensely poor, so the city gives them special privileges that not everyone has. They are allowed to hunt wherever they like and whatever they please. Another interesting concept about the Ewell’s that is unlike any other family in Maycomb is they only go to school the first day, then they are marked absent the rest of the year. This keeps them out of trouble because they have no manners and are highly underprivileged. Calpurnia, the Finches caretaker lived in the black community just outside the town of Maycomb. Most African Americans do not get to have an education. They are not allowed to go to school and aren’t remarkably smart and can’t read. In their church, they do not have bulletins or a music program because they are not able to read it. Instead, one man would go up to the front of the church and sing a verse and the blacks would repeat it. All the blacks live in the Quarters. The black community can only acquire exceptional jobs from whites. Calpurnia is the Finch’s nanny and