Simple Mindedness: The Ultimate Revealer of Mayella’s Victimization Harper Lee has been suspected to retell events that actually happened in her life with a bit of a twist in the novel "To Kill a Mockingbird". This theory is confirmed one could say through the vivid descriptions of characters through dialogue, narration, and imagery. Lee knits a scarf with her storytelling that swallows an entire face with a carefully woven plot full of situations that few authors can portray well. The depth that Lee goes into while describing the court case is astonishing, and the detail of that one event gives the reader all the information they need to completely understand the novel. Mayella Ewell is suspected to be abused by her father. In the trial she …show more content…
is nervous throughout, hoping that her lack of education will not give away that her father abuses her, and in doing so she walks over Tom Robinson like a doormat. Bob Ewell is an alcoholic and beats Mayella when he’s drinking.
During the trial Atticus is interviewing Mayella when an interesting part of the truth is revealed. “‘Do you love your father?’... ‘He does tollable, ‘cept when-’... ‘Except when he’s drinking?’ asked Atticus so gently that Mayella nodded.”(Lee 183). This reveals that Mayella’s father, Bob, is abusive when under the influence of alcohol. Mayella is intelligent enough to know that bad things await her if she reveals Bob Ewell's true nature. But Atticus, being the respectable lawyer that he is tiptoes through the minefield that is Mayella’s mind. Mayella, being deprived from schooling and from an unclassed household, is offended by Atticus’ mannerisms. She doesn't understand when he calls her Ms. Mayella, or looks directly at her and speaks with purpose, in fact Mayella believes he is mocking her, and is reluctant to answer questions because of this. Judge Taylor had to interfere with the testimony many times so Mayella wouldn't throw down her gloves and completely lose …show more content…
it. Some would say that Mayella is the reason Tom Robinson was sent to jail. Atticus said during his closing remarks of the court battle "I cannot pity her, she is white." (Lee 203). This implies that her social status, although low among whites, was elevated over Tom Robinson, him being black and all. It also suggests that Tom Robinson was the victim to Mayella's cruelty. It has been theorized that bullies often have problems within themselves. Mayella, having the obvious issue of an abusive father, is troubled within herself and because of this she bulldozes over gentlemanly Mr. Robinson. Tom was nothing but the kindest of all folk during all his interactions with Mayella. He helped her for no charge, didn’t cross any lines as far as societal expectations went, and was the kindest a man could be. Tom Robinson sets the bar for chivalry, and Mayella, even after showing affection towards him by kissing him, sends him to prison. Mr.
Bob Ewell and all his associates act the same way; they put Mayella up to framing Tom Robinson as a rapist. When asked if her father loves her “Mayella looked at her father, who was sitting with his chair tipped up against the railing. He sat up straight and waited for her to answer” (Lee 183) this shows that they had practiced what she was going to say and Bob Ewell was examining if she’d execute the plan. The opposing lawyer tried so very hard to get Tom to swoop down to his level. The other lawyer played dirty, which really personifies Bob Ewell and how he goes about acting as if the 1989 Pistons were a reincarnation of him. Bob Ewell’s rage is channeled through a somewhat innocent and terrified Mayella. She’s the oldest of seven, and the only attention that she receives from her father is when he’s unnecessarily violent, she’s been emotionally cornered by her father, she’s is the
victim. In the trial Mayella is scared for two reasons, fear of being beaten, and fear of being out foxed by Atticus. Hoping that her lack of education will not give away the truth, Mayella is overly defensive. Detail is everything during the trial, and Harper Lee executes like Miguel Cabrera in the bottom of the ninth. When Scout tells the readers that during Mayella’s testimony Atticus is painting a picture of her home life, the fog clears and suddenly the reader reaches a literary Moksha, or perfect understanding of all things. The trial’s structure was uncannily relatable to the novel “Mockingjay” the third book in the Hunger Games series. Atticus would chisel away at Mayella trying to discreetly unravel the truth. Lee would write and build and build up to a climax of the case and then Mayella would break down in tears or Scout had to leave the court room to attend to Dill’s upset stomach. In “Mockingjay” Katniss Everdeen wages a war against the government and as soon as things got heated and one couldn’t take their eyeballs off the page, Katniss would take an arrow to the thigh, or get hurt in some way, thus sending the story back to the drawing board. Lee partakes in this delicate dance of storytelling and has more precise movements than Suzanne Collins (Author of the Hunger Games series). It is made somewhat obvious that Harper Lee retold her childhood in "To Kill a Mockingbird" because of the great detail and delight that her story includes.
Harper Lee, before the reader meets Mayella in person, uses her family and home environment to portray her as an impoverished but aspirational woman, revealing some of her more redeeming qualities before the trial has begun. She then goes on to demonstrate some of Mayella’s negative characteristics during the trial, when Lee portrays her as cowardly, emotionally unstable and racist at times. By the end of the trial, the reader is left to make their verdict on Mayella Ewell; should she be blamed for what she did or is she simply a victim of circumstance?
“... 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 (white), goes to court against Tom Robinson (African American), where Mayella is accusing Tom Robinson of rape. When Atticus asks Mayella questions, Atticus mishears Mayella. An example of Mayella’s lack of power is when Atticus closes his argument by describing Mayella’s injuries during the court case. “Mayella Ewell was beaten savagely by someone who led almost exclusively with his left.”
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.
Bob Ewell, after seeing Mayella with Tom Robinson, knows that Tom Robinson has done nothing, and that Mayella is the culprit of this circumstance. However, Bob Ewell makes claims against Tom Robinson because the culture of this society has been formed to
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.
As further evidence is procured, this is proven to be false. The truth is that Mayella’s father beat her for making romantic advances towards Tom. Mayella is unlike the rest of the Ewells in the sense that she likes to keep herself tidy, and lives in a more sophisticated manner than the rest of her family. This makes me infer that she is quite taciturn, and a kind-hearted person who wouldn’t lie about what happened that day if it weren’t for something taking over her conscience. Being threatened by her acrimonious father to lie about what really happened set aside what she knew to be right and pushed her to lie in the trial. Both pressure and fear make people do what they know is not the right thing to do, even though their conscience tells them otherwise. Doing the wrong thing may dispel fears or pressure that is put on for a certain instance. There are many reasons why people do what they know isn’t right even though their conscience tells them not to, but sometimes this can help them construct their values, and improve on how susceptible they are to their
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 is mistreated a great amount throughout her lifetime. After all that physical and mental abuse she faces becomes enough Mayella does something drastic. She accuses an African American man of rape knowing, her being a white woman, he would get in tremendous trouble. People cannot say whether it was right or wrong of her to do what she did. What they can say is that at the moment she was powerless to do otherwise.
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
Harper Lee’s only book, To Kill a Mockingbird, is the stereotypical tale of childhood and innocence, yet it successfully incorporates mature themes, like the racism in the South at the time, to create a masterpiece of a work that has enraptured people’s minds and hearts for generations. According to esteemed novelist Wally Lamb, “It was the first time in my life that a book had sort of captured me. That was exciting; I didn’t realize that literature could do that” (111). Scout’s witty narration and brash actions make her the kind of heroine you can’t help but root for, and the events that take place in Maycomb County are small-scale versions of the dilemmas that face our world today. Mockingbird is a fantastically written novel that belongs on the shelves of classic literature that everyone should take the time to read and appreciate for its execution of style and the importance of its content.
verdict of the trial, Jem and Scout see the hate in jurors for blacks, for it is obvious that Tom Robinson is innocent. Another new and disturbing element that Jem and Scout discover is child abuse. Having never been hit by Atticus, the children know nothing of physical, mental, emotional, or sexual abuse. However, Mayella Ewell knows too well of these abuses and is a victim of them from her own father. Bob Ewell shows he has no consideration for her by his actions or words, and this is clearly displayed during the trial when he is being asked on the stand, "Are you the father of Mayella Ewell?" (172) His crude reply is, "Well, if I ain’t I can’t do nothing about it now"(172). This shows he has no class or respect, while on the other hand, Jem and Scout are used to seeing the example of their tactful father. Also, during the trial it becomes lucid that Bob Ewell beat Mayella up and not Tom Robinson.
Tom Robinson is accused of raping Mayella Ewell. Robinson is caught with Mayella in the Ewell residence by her father Bob Ewell. Bob swears by everything that he saw Mr. Robinson taking advantage of his daughter, Mayella. Robinson supposedly runs out of the back door of the house and Bob states he does not beat Mayella. Then Bob storms into the sherif...
Bob Ewell was furious and unpleased with the fact that Atticus humiliated him during Tom Robinson's Trial. According to " To Kill A Mockingbird", Atticus said to Mayella, " Is he good to you, is he easy to get along with?" Sje then replied and said, " He does tollable, 'cept when --" Atticus goes on to say, "Except when he's drinking? Mayella then nodded yes." When Bob Ewell is intoxicated, he tends to mistreat his daughter and abuse her in a sense. In the novel, Atticus then asked Mayella, "Who beat you up? Tom Robinson or your Father?" Mayella had no answer." At this point of the trial, it is evident that Bob Ewell physically abuses his daughter, Mayella. In addition, He hated the fact that Atticus made Mayella and himself seem as if they were lying,
In To Kill a Mockingbird, Mayella Ewell experiences a great amount of fear towards her father when she almost messes up the story Bob Ewell, her father, forces her to say in court. Because of this fear, Mayella will