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To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in Maycomb County, an imaginary district in southern Alabama. Maycomb was an old southern town where the streets are not paved and the courthouse was described as sagging in the square. The time was in the 1930’s during The Great Depression, many people were poor and did not have much education. The Ewell family fit this description perfectly, Mayella Ewell struggled with having power in the small town of Maycomb. Is Mayella powerful? Mayella is considered weak in the novel, because of her race, class, and gender. This paper will explain how Mayella is considered “powerless” on many occasions.
Mayella, the daughter of Bob Ewell, had lost her mother when she was little so she had to become the mother figure
Which is her red geranium, Scout says that they are well nurtured by Mayella. Mayella has six of these red geraniums in the corner of her yard. Mayella and her father live in the neighborhood of Negroes, and would never bother them except Tom because he's too 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 worked.
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.
It is Mayella's deceit that brings Tom Robinson to trial. Though she may not be forgiven for this lie, Atticus and Scout feel sympathy for her because of the terrible poverty in which she lives. Whenever Scout feels sorry for Mayella we do as well as we are viewing the trial from her point of view.
Let us put each other in the shoes of the jury, friends, and family observing in on a discrimination case. Jem and Scout the son and daughter of a lawyer named Atticus Finch get a taste of what the real world is like when, Tom Robinson a poor black man who is married and has kids is falsely accused of raping and assaulting a white woman named Mayella. Mayella Ewell is a young girl considered to be “white trash” who is all by herself to take on the role raising her little siblings while her father Bob Ewell, who is an alcoholic, abuses her. The question arises, is Mayella Ewell Powerful? Mayella Ewell is powerful in this discrimination case because of her race as white woman, her higher class than Tom Robinson, and her gender as a female.
To Kill A Mockingbird displays an environment where one must be inhumane to another in order to become socially compatible. Maycomb has established a hierarchy where social compartmentalisation is the way of life. Men with a profession and a career are superior, while the farmers are near the bottom of the social strata and are considered inferior. No matter which remarkable qualities Negroes possess, they are always s...
Occupying an abandoned colored person’s cabin was Mayella and her family living behind her town’s garbage, her mother’s death led to Mayella having to take the responsibility of seven brothers and sisters, this home to Mayella gave her a place in society in her town and where she stood according to what people labeled her class. Tom Robinson who stated “Yes, Suh. I felt sorry for
In Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, a small town in Alabama exemplifies one of the many towns that has clearly defined social classes. Some of these stereotypes are determined by one’s class, nationality, and gender, and the authority that people believe they may possess, which leads to conflict. During the 1930’s in the south, Mayella Ewell’s gender and class did not provide her with a voice. However, her skin color outshone her disadvantages, and allowed her to be highly respected, and this also gave her power over all black people. Due to Mayella’s white race, she was able to have an influence over a majority of her neighbors, and her class and gender did not matter in most scenarios,
Mayella Ewell is a character in “To Kill a Mockingbird”. She lives in the town of Maycomb, Alabama, where the inhabitants are very sexist and judgemental. In the book, Mayella is not powerful considering her class, race, and gender. The community members she lives near are a very large contributing factor to her powerlessness. Mayella has been mistreated a great amount throughout her lifetime.
Mayella does have power in “To kill A Mockingbird.” Here’s why she does not have power, we are using class,race,and gender. Women did not have a lot of power in the nineteen-thirties. So who is Mayella? Mayella is a white female that accused Tom Robinson of rape in Maycomb,Alabama during the nineteen-thirties.
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.
Power is like having the advantage over someone else. Mayella is held at the court, saying Tom Robinson raped her, and now he is said guilty when clearly he wasn’t. Because of her class and gender, Mayella lacks power, but her race makes her powerful.
Tom has a loving heart of helping people who need help the most to helped Mayella who needed furniture to be fixed. Mayella tried many ways to be with Tom. Tom didn't realize what he has gotten himself into then he wouldn't have helped. Mayella may seem like an innocent young girl, but her father wants her to hide her story on this trial. Tom wouldn't have been able to rape a white girl who had problems, and it would be hard for him to hurt her with a bad left arm in, which would be used to bruise her left eye that would be determined by the kind of pain he would experience. This case is a usual case where it show's that white human is using racial discrimination against an innocent black person. In this world, if whites talk to blacks then they go to jail, but everyone should be able to talk to anyone no matter what race.
During the trial Tom said, “She says what her papa do to her don’t count… I didn’t want to harm her, Mr.Finch an’ I say lemme pass”(Doc B). As you can tell, this emphasized how Mayella allowed her own father to sexually assault her even though this should have never happened, and she should have stopped him. Scout then described Mayella during the trial and said, “Mayella looked at her father, who was sitting with his chair tipped against the railing. He sat up straight and waited for her to answer”(Doc B). This demonstrated how Mayella was scared of her father and let him control her when she should’ve just told the truth. To sum up, this showed how Mayella was powerless since she allowed her father to control her during the case by making her say what he wanted her to say by scaring
Sympathy is unfair. An alarmingly large number of people are treated apathetically when they make certain decisions, such as those made by Mayella Ewell in Harper Lee To Kill a Mockingbird. A common trend in society is to pass judgement on others without giving heed to the situationality of circumstances. When looking at whether or not people deserve sympathy, the specifics of a situation have to be considered. Thus, one must do the same when deciding if Mayella Ewell is deserving of sympathy. The actions she took — specifically, framing a negro man named Tom Robinson for rape — are met with intense scrutiny and criticism. This is, of course, done without considering the rationale of her thought process. On one hand, Mayella can tell the truth
In Maycomb, men have the rigorous, and back-breaking jobs that women “can not” perform. When Atticus said "I doubt if we'd ever get a complete case tried—the ladies'd be interrupting to ask questions" (296) it shows ignorance. Atticus demonstrates basic sexism by assuming ladies cannot keep their comments to themselves in a courtroom. Atticus’s comments confirm Scout’s thoughts that girls are weak and not as good as boys. Overall, the reader can connect sexist issues in “To Kill a Mockingbird” to the present day world.