Is Mayella Powerful In Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird”, did Mayella present herself to be powerful according to class, race, and gender? Mayella is a poor young white girl that lives in a dump in the poor part of Maycomb with her 6 siblings that she cares for and her abusive drunk father. She tore the town of Maycomb apart by convicting an innocent man, Tom Robinson of rape.Mayella has to do whatever she can to escape her father and her poor lifestyle. I believe that Mayella is if not the most, but one of the most powerful characters in the book. Clearly when it comes to race Mayella is powerful because she is white and white people had more rights than black people during the 1930’s. Mayella showed power by winning the court case against Tom Robinson. Mayella’s race helped her win the court case because if Tom Robinson were white he would have won the trial. In fact he wouldn’t have been on trial in the first place or have been shot and killed. Mayella was treated different on the stand than Tom, Mayella was called “Ma’am” by Atticus while Tom was called “boy” by Mr. Gilmer. (“DBQ: Is Mayella Powerful?” 17) The Ewells were always treated better by white people than black people were. Therefore Mayella being white helped her throughout the story. …show more content…
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
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.
In the book “To Kill A Mockingbird”, Mayella Ewell is the conflict of the story. To challenge herself to see if she is powerful based on class, gender, and race. Mayella is powerful due to her race; however, she would not be powerful due to her class and gender. One might think she is powerful over all; however, she does not have power in the eyes of some readers. Proceeding on to see if Mayella has power in race.
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.
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 brought 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 protected.
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.
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.”
The main victims of this inhumanity are the Blacks, who are seen to be the lowest of the low. This is visible when despite the fact that Calpurnia is a great housekeeper and has done nothing wrong, Aunt Alexandra still insists on Atticus firing her, just because she is black. This brings to light the deep-rooted racism in Maycomb. There are many other characters that are loathsome and act brutally towards others such as Mrs. Dubose when she shouts horrible things about Atticus to Scout and Jem “Your father’s no better than the niggers and trash he works for!” This shows that she is not afraid to voice her opinion about the hatred she feels towards people and that she certainly doesn’t care about how her words could hurt others.
One could say that she had power because she was white. One could say that her race only hurt her and who she would be around. Mayella being white gave and restricted her power. Being white enabled her to falsely accuse Tom Robinson of raping her and getting him convicted, but being white restricted her from being around the blacks. Mayella is white and poor, which puts her in, one would say, in the middle of the whites with money and the blacks. Even though she was white, other white people would not associate with her because of her lower class. Mayella, after her father being killed, is free from his abysmal parenting skills and go be treated equally elsewhere. “Are you being impudent to me, boy?” (Lee, Chapter 19) This showcases the race difference between the whites and the blacks. While Tom shows Mr. Gilmer respect, Mr Gilmer calls him “boy” and uses a harsh tone of
But if you accept this stereotype, I might as well stop talking. If black people are so horrible, why do we let them cook for us and clean for us and look after our children? Why would we trust them with so much responsibility if they were simple animals. Mayella and her father thought that if they accused Tom Robinson, a black man, of beating and raping Ms Ewell, a white woman, that they could both get away with their crimes. But Tom Robinson is not ruthless, and even if he was animalistic, he could not physically inflict the wounds on Mayella. So it is clear that it was not him that committed these crimes, but his
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
...uth to fully understand that it is typical to act superior to those with colored skin. All Dill sees is a man being rude to another, just because of his skin color. While Atticus clearly shows everyone in the court that it was almost impossible for Tom Robinson to have beat Mayella, he still loses the case just because he was a black man against a white woman. Lee includes, “Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed.” (Lee 323) This enforces how it didn’t matter what Tom was really doing or why Mayella was screaming, but just by the way Tom looked they were able to essentially pin the rape and the beatings on Tom. Of course this was not true and he did not receive the justice he deserved, but that didn’t matter to Maycomb. All that mattered was the color of his skin and what the teenage white girl named Mayella Ewell said about him.
Since Mayella had no one else to look up to, Ewell was her only role model, but he was a bad role model… He was an alcoholic abusive father In the court, Mayella either lied out of love for her father, or, more likely, she lied out of fear. and what did she fear? Mayella was afraid to be beat or abused again, by her neglectful father A quote from p. 245 shows that Ewell physically abused Mayella. Mayella said that "He [Ewell] does tollable, 'cept when--"...then she hesitated because she was afraid she would reveal her lies, or rather, her father’s lies ”Except when he’s drinking?” asked Atticus so gently that Mayella nodded.” Not only does Ewell physically abused her, he also sexually abused her. During the trial, it was revealed that Mayella has never kissed someone before But, Mayella says that what her father does to her doesn’t count Since Mayella was socially isolated, she has no choice but to respect him and do as he asks. Atticus also questioned Mayella, on p.246, “When he’s -- riled, has he [Ewell] ever beaten you?” Mayella looked around, down at the court reporter, up at the judge.” -- No answer. “Who beat you
“You never understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... until you climb into his skin and walk around in it,” said by Atticus Finch. This quote explains how a person can be different in the inside than they are in the outside such as, a character named Mayella Ewell in To Kill a Mockingbird. To Kill a Mockingbird was a book set during the 1930’s, written by Harper Lee that explained the struggles of segregation and racism. But was Mayella’s race the only aspect that made her powerful? Although Mayella can be seen as a powerful character due to her race, the areas she lacked in was her social class and gender. The concepts that will be explained will be why Mayella Ewell was not powerful because of her social class
“... Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s garden’s. They don’t nest in the corncubs. They don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” (pg.103)Mayella is innocent because she grew up in an abusive household. The book gives hints that her father Bob Ewell sexually assaults her and leaves her to take care of her so called “brothers and sisters.” Mayella Ewell was put on stand and was made to lie to the judge and jury by her father, Bob Ewell, who beats her and abuses
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).