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Critique of social classes
Mayella ewell to kill a mockingbird character traits
Mayella ewell to kill a mockingbird character traits
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In “To Kill a Mockingbird”, a novel written by Harper Lee, Mayella Ewell has power due to class, gender, and race. Mayella Ewell is a dirt cheap, white woman who lives in a dump right at the edge of a town called Maycomb, Alabama. She lives with her six siblings and her constantly drunk and abusive father. Because of these conditions, Mayella must do everything she can in order to escape this lifestyle. Even if it means to backstab her father and lure in a poor innocent black man named Tom Robinson. Without a doubt in my mind, I know that Mayella Ewell is one of the most powerful characters in “To Kill a Mockingbird”. 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 …show more content…
The environment in the 1930’s was a lot different than it was today. Even though slavery ended in 1863, black people were still segregated against. They were segregated due to the Jim Crow Laws. Because of this, white people used the Jim Crow Laws to manipulate and ultimately control the black people of the 1930’s. Mayella was fully aware of the Jim Crow Laws. She, as a white person, used it to her advantage in the fact that just because she was white, the jury was going to look past what she had done, and convict an innocent black man in the name of Tom Robinson. This is what makes her most powerful. Reverend Sykes says “ Now don’t you be so confident, Mr.Jem, I ain’t ever seen any jury decide in the favor of a colored man over a white man”. (DBQ: Is Mayella Powerful? 19) This shows that if there was a case between a white and a black man in the 1930’s, a verdict would had already been reached before the trial even started, the white man is
Is Mayella Ewell powerful?That is the question that is asked and must be answered.Throughout the story” To kill a mockingbird” Mayella shows some glimpses of power, but not enough to say she is powerful.For example, in the beginning she shows that she cannot even control her home life so how can she be powerful.Also she shows that she is just too poor for her to have power.Now in the next three paragraphs I will explain my thinking on why I believe Mayella is not powerful.
Mayella may be white, but in her role as a female, it just goes downhill from that. Although it is different from Tom Robinson's point of view. Atticus delivers his closing argument after proving that Bob Ewell is left-handed and Tom Robinson is not able to use his left hand. ‘“.What did her father do? We don’t know, but there is circumstantial evidence to indicate that Mayella Ewell was beaten savagely by someone who led almost exclusively with his left.’”.
In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, Mayella possibly demonstrates a woman who is powerful because of her race. Mayella (white), goes to court against Tom Robinson (African American), where Mayella is accusing Tom Robinson of rape. When Atticus is asking Mayella
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:
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.
During the Tom Robinson Trial, Mayella is called up to the chair, asked a few questions and after she has had enough, she screams, "I got somethin ' to say an ' then I ain 't gonna say no more. That nigger yonder took advantage of me an ' if you fine fancy gentlemen don 't wanta do nothin ' about it then you 're all yellow stinkin ' cowards, stinkin ' cowards, the lot of you. Your fancy airs don 't come to nothin '—your ma 'amin ' and Miss Mayellerin ' don 't come to nothin ', Mr. Finch-" (She is scared of the town knowing that she is wrong and Tom robinson is innocent. Mayella uses this case to cover up the shame in her life because she is extremely lonely, has no self-esteem, and overwhelmed with the amount of unhappiness in her life. Mayella gets extremely defensive in this quote because she knows that everything Atticus has brung up is good evidence and she can’t hold her own. In the jury, it was full of all white men. Mayella acted timid and helpless and suggested in her comment that the man of the jury be brave and heroic. She becomes someone who is vulnerable, valuable and needs to be
After years of emotional and physical abuse inflicted by her father, Mayella was finally able to control one thing in her life. Having an affair with Tom Robinson, a black man, was an enticingly risky idea to Mayella; in the 1930’s, racism was still alive and especially prominent in the South, so the idea of a white woman being romantically involved with a black man was practically taboo. She was well-aware of the consequences that would come with that interaction when she forced him to kiss her, so when she was caught, she had to blame Tom in order to avoid the shameful truth caused by her years of loneliness and abuse. By the time Mayella reached the stand and swore upon the Bible in court, she had already decided that she had to lie about what had really
To conclude, Mayella should be fully responsible for her actions. She is someone that should be condemned instead of pitied because she is conscious while deciding to kiss a black man, kills Tom Robinson by giving false testimony in court, and knows in advance the consequences of her actions. Tom’s miserable fate is in sharp contrast with Mayella’s, as this event in To Kill a Mockingbird is meant to reflect how white people are easily forgiven even when all evidence is pointing against them. Unfortunately, Scottsboro Boys’ end is the same as Tom’s – all but one of them were convicted and sentenced to death for something that did not happen.
However, it is understandable that one can argue that Mayella’s two disadvantages trump her one advantage, socially, and make her a less powerful character in the story. Although it can be debated that women were looked at as a minority and class drives a person’s reputation (which can also lead to the amount of power one possesses), this topic’s evidence is irrelevant to the time that this story took place. Maycomb, Alabama was a very small town filled with conservative and stereotypical people who were stuck in their old ways and were very stubborn when it came to changing their ideas. Race was such a social hurdle that no one could overcome, due to it being a physical trait, during the 1930’s. Even if there was a poor, white woman, she would be automatically respected at a higher level than a wealthier black man. If one’s cultural group were to be ignored in this scenario, a wealthier man would have been at a higher advantage compared to a poor woman. However, race played a large role in this society, and during the court case, “(The Ewells had) presented themselves to you gentlemen (the all white jury), to this court… confident that you gentlemen would go along with them on the assumption- the evil assumption- that all Negroes lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral beings, that all Negro men are not to be trusted around our women.”
In the book “To Kill a Mockingbird” there are three categories that describe power. Those three are class, race, and gender. Mayella is somewhat powerful in all three. Mayella Ewell has the power of somehow manipulating and controlling the minds of others. She had a plan to manipulate Tom and gets her way.
The was Mayella speaks shows her class because she has terrible grammar and no manners. The less important thing that shows her power is race, she is treated better because she is white, but she also lives near African Americans so she is judged due to that. Mayella was going to win the court case due to the color of Tom Robinson's skin color. The least important thing that shows her power is her gender, even though she was given sympathy and was abused due to her gender, it was nowhere near as important to her class or race. If Mayella was to get judged by her looks about who she is and how she acted in that time period, she would be judged by her ripped clothing and skin color not gender. So in conclusion Mayella is moderately
I believe Mayella is not powerful because she does not have control over her situation, Having power is having complete power or control over a situation. She may have been able to manipulate the people of Maycomb into believing that she was raped. But throughout the trial you realize that Mayella does not have control due to certain factors.
With this being said, even though Mayella was a low class female she inherited the superiority of being white making it easy for her during the trial. Mayella used her individualistic self pity against Tom Robinson. The little town of Maycomb Alabama knew the truth, but the Ewell’s plan backfired on them. They gained no respect, and are still considered white pieces of trash. As for Mayella individually, she’s not educated but she is very smart. Mayella did have power through race, class, and
During the trial Mayella said, “Long’s he keep telling me ma’am and sayin’ Miss Mayella. I don’t hafta take his case his sass, I ain't called upon to take it”(Doc C). During the trial, Mayella was treated a lot better during the case. But on the other hand, for Tom Robinson he was treated unfairly by Mr.Gilmer since he was called “boy” and many other rude names since he was a black man. During the trial, Reverend Sykes said, “Now don’t you be so confident, Mr.Jem, I ain’t ever seen any jury decide in favour of a colored man over a white man”(Doc D). Given these points, Mayella had a better advantage because of her race since most of the county and people were racist. Also it would be very rare for Tom to win since most of the jurors judged off from race instead of actual facts and reasoning.
Mayella, the woman defending against Robinson, comes from a low income and low educated family, making them a poor family. Yet Mayella’s word is still favored against Tom because she still holds a higher social status than Tom just because she is white. In fact, in the novel, Atticus has an important quote regarding the court system that is still true today, “In our courts, when it’s a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins.” (Lee, H. (1960). To kill a mockingbird. Philadelphia: Lippincott. pg. 251-252).