Examples Of Mayella Ewell In To Kill A Mockingbird

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

a shy girl, trying to do what she believes is best, but her best never seems to be good enough for Bob, always the abuser. The violence she must endure to stay with her father is deplorably unjust, a staple of the mockingbird. Next, throughout the trial, when Atticus drags Mayella through the ringer and asks her questions that seemed to chip away at her story with every word, she lies in every answer, and this causes her to become an object of disdain to the readers. But the reason is more subvert; the fact is that if she told the truth, she would be truly all alone. Bob would be arrested, and there would be no one with money to help with the seven children, no one to run to. The only thing Mayella does is care for her family, trying to help them with every turn. Her life, as terrible as it seems, depends on Bob. Finally, when the trial still continues and Tom Robinson is being questioned, he drops a bombshell on the court, and says “She reached up an' kissed me 'side of th' face” (201). Mayella’s final and truest innocence is revealed. Fondness. The reason she was beaten by her father is that she had feelings, whether it was love or something else, for a black man. She was tortured having to lie against Tom, but she knew it was her only choice. Mayella has been trapped between a rock and a hard space, a life of isolation, or abuse. She has nowhere to turn, and must give in, the innocence of the mockingbird being abused.
Many Mockingbirds have an arrant sense of immediate persecution, that this would never occur in a normal and healthy setting.

Jem, is different though. He shows his innocence and persecution in a form far more natural than any seen in the other characters; he matures. First, when the kids are walking by her house, Mrs. Dubose insults the entire Finch family including Scout and Atticus. Jem has never done anything to insult Mrs. Dubose; furthermore, Atticus is doing nothing wrong and is only defending an innocent black man. Because she attacks him without cause, he is a victim of undeserved violence. Second, after Jem is given multiple gifts from an unknown person in the knothole of a tree, Jem is on his way to put a thank you note in the knothole only to find that Mr. Radley has filled the hole with cement. Jem only wanted to make Boo, the giver of the gifts, happy. Furthermore, even though this is not a physical attack, it’s still an emotional attack to s rip from both of them their only means of communication. Jem realizes how terrible Nathan Radley is, to cut off Boo like this; and Jem is punished for being nothing but kind. Finally, when Bob Ewell tries to kill the Finch children, Jem pushes Scout out of the way of Bob, shouting “Run, Scout! Run!”(206) Jem is readily willing to die for Scout, bringing happiness as the mockingbird does. Jem has another staple of the mockingbird under his proverbial wing, being the victim of undeserved violence. Bob knows that the

only thing that really matters to Atticus is his children. He attacks Jem and scout for being nothing but the child of a man Bob hates, completely undeserving of the attack. Jem starts out as an innocent raggamuffin of a young boy, as he ages , he learns how unfair the world is, and how it can hurt. The perseverance of his innocence is astounding, making him the true mockingbird.