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. When Tom Robinson?s trial begins, evidence begins to show that Tom Robinson is actually innocent. When Mr Ewell takes the stand we see that he is not a soft hearted person because he is blaming Tom Robinson for something that he has not done, ?I seen that nigger yonder ruttin? on my Mayella? This shows a man?s racism and inhumanity towards another man. Tom Robinson hasn?t done the community any wrong but is a social outcast for being black which is not his fault. We also learn a bit about Mr Ewell. Lee states earlier on, ?The varmints had a lean of it, for the Ewell?s gave the dump through gleaning every day? This suggests that the Ewells live of the town?s dump which isn?t a very hygienic way of living, but then again Mr Ewell is an unemployed alcoholic. As we are told earlier, ?No public health officer could free them from congenital defeats, various worms and diseases indigenous to filthy surroundings? Mr Ewell is a terrible father due to his abusiveness and neglect. He doesn?t care for or look after his children and so Mayella, his eldest daughter, has to carry out his job. ?Nobody was quite sure ho many children were on the place. Some people said six, others said nine? 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. Atticus questions Mayella very differently compared to the way he questions Bob Ewell. Through Atticus? language we learn that he does sympathise with Mayella and he does realise she is a victim of her father?
Mayella Ewell is a woman in the 1930’s and yes, women back then were not treated as citizens. As Atticus is delivering his closing argument on how the person who beat Mayella with his left, Tom cannot use his left due to a job accident. By contrasting the difference in race and gender, in the 1930’s these were a big thing, To examine the results of race, gender are way different. Mayella may be white, but in her role as a female, it just goes downhill from that. Although it is different from Tom Robinson point of view. As Atticus is delivering 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…’”. Tom Robinson is unable to use his left hand due to a job accident. Mayella took advantage of Tom, she knew he would help her because he is a nice man. Mayella was not taught respect while growing up, Tom on the other hand was amiable. Mayella is anxious of her father and what he does to her. Some readers might be anxious too, but might confess up to what their father is doing to them. Since she was not taught respect from her father, she would not know much about it. “Won’t answer a word you say long as you keep on mockin’ me,’Mayella said.
Mr. Ewell leaned back again. Except when he’s drinking. asked Atticus so gently that Mayella nodded.” (Doc B) This quote shows how Mayella was powerless because of her economic class.
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.
...er comes back, Mayella panics and screams because of the fear and shame of being seen tempting a black man. Since she knows it is unacceptable and still does it, Mayella should be prepared to hold responsibility for her actions.
Ewell. Towards the end of Chapter 3 after Atticus is done explaining to Scout that the Ewells are a part of an exclusive society and had privileges that they didn’t, Scout explains how she believes that is bad. With that, Atticus replies, “It’s against the law, all right, and it’s certainly bad, and when a man spends his relief checks on green whiskey his children have a way of crying from hunger pains. I don’t know of any landowner around here who begrudges those children any game their father can hit.” This analysis by Atticus helps demonstrate how Mr. Ewell doesn’t care much for his kids and may be characterized as selfish. When Mr. Ewell takes the stand in court, it is revealed that he is very stubborn, violent and rude. He describes Mayella as a “stuck pig” and even deems it appropriate to joke and say that he might not even be her real father. Later, at the beginning of Chapter 23, Miss Stephanie describes a confrontation that occurred between Mr. Ewell and Atticus. While Atticus stands his ground and stays respectful towards him, Mr. Ewell continues to spit and curse at him, yelling at him for defending an African American in court. This event helps characterize Mr. Ewell as disrespectful and rude, even when out in public surrounded by
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.
There are three major subjects that can reveal, to the readers, how this event may have resulted in. First was Mayella’s class, which took effect in Mayella’s role during the trial. Mayella’s class was a way to collect information dealing with her past life and her life that she has lived now. When beginning the trial, Atticus questions Mayella about her father who also had an impact on Mayella’s Power because in the document, it reads “... Mayella Ewells was beaten savagely by someone who led almost exclusively with his left…”. (Lee, Chapter 20)
Atticus Finch took in to account that the jury consisted of all white men and started off by praising Mayella . In lines 1 and 2 Finch says, “I have nothing but pity in my heart for [her]./ She is the victim of cruel poverty and ignorance”. In saying this, Atticus made the audience think he wasn't trying to blatantly attack her. If he started off by going for Mayella's throat, the jury would feel offended in a way because he's defending a black man but blaming the white woman. After easing up the tension, Atticus uses diction and a powerful scenario to create a feeling of disgust in the audience. In lines 5-7 he says, “[Mayella] has committed no crime. She has merely broken a time-honored code of our society – a code so severe that whoever breaks it is hounded from our midst as unfit to live with”. Referring to Mayella kissing Tom Robinson, Atticus emphasizes how deplorable that action is in that time period because he knows the jury consists of 100% white men. By bringing this taboo scenario up and putting the blame on Mayella, he tries to lead the white men to feel disgusted towards her. He then goes on to say that Tom Robinson was the evidence and she needed to destroy it. By saying that Mayella
Atticus believes in good morals and education for his children and that is what he tries to teach them. Atticus wants his kids to learn about a person before they judge them as he says, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view.” He wants his kids to accept everyone no matter who they are or what they look like. Bob does not teach his kids that. Bob is a horrible dad, he is abusive and does not treat his kids as they should be treated. Tom stated in his court case,” She said she’s never kissed a grown man… she says what her dad do don’t count.” Mayella told Tom Robinson that her dad has performed sexual acts on her which is something a father should never do. Bob was not only sexaully abusing Mayella but physically and mentally abusing her. He would physically beat her if she was ever “out of line” and would always be threatening or calling her names. Atticus was a good father trying to make his children the best human beings possible as Bob treated them as if he did not even care for
You know that mayella is physically abused by document B. Atticus questions Mayella and says “Do you love your father” mayella and she replies with “love him whatcha mean”and Atticus says “is he good to you, is he easy to get along with”? And Mayella replies with “he’s tollable cept when. Then she has no answer after that she looks at her father and stops dead in her sentence you can tell she was scared when he sat straight up and she didn't say what she was gonna say. We knew that she had gotten scared.When knew that she was verbally abused by the document B When her father leans up in his chair and exclaims a waiting answer look on his face she gets very frightened and didn't tell the truth she didn't say what she was gonna say. It also shows verbal abuse in document B when Atticus is questioning Tom Robinson, Tom says that he was trying to get out but right when that happened Bob Ewell yelled “you goddamn Whore i'll kill ya”. In document B when Atticus continues to question Atticus he says that when Mayella was kissing up on him she says that “ she'd never kissed a grown man before”. Then she said what her papa do to her don't count. This shows that her father sexually abuses her by kissing and maybe other sexual acts. Gender makes Mayella powerless by her being the girl with boys she has no say in what she wants
Therefore the colour of Tom Robinson’s skin was the defining factor in the jury’s decision. Since the jury declared Tom Robinson guilty, that reveals his fate of going to jail and eventually being killed which is obviously an injustice based on the discrimination against him.
Thus, like her father, Jean Louis provides a great example of fairness in To Kill a Mocking Bird. “As Tom Robinson gave his testimony, it came to me that Mayella Ewell must have been the loneliest person in the world. She was even lonelier than Boo Radley, who had not been out of the house in twenty-five years” (218). This goes to show, that even though Scout believed she was lying, and wanted Tom to win, she still had compassion toward Mayella. Another demonstration of this is when she listens to Atticus. Scout always tries to take into consideration Atticus’s word and never disregards his knowledge. Scout’s open mindedness helps her throughout the
Atticus demonstrates his character by defending Tom Robinson. Atticus leads by example, showing the highest respect for everyone in Maycomb, not discriminating by color or class. His serious defense for Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a white woman, proves his high ideals. Atticus fights a hopeless battle against the racism in the town. Atticus not only shows his non prejudice through the trial of Tom Robinson, but also through his everyday dealings with Calpurnia. Atticus refutes Aunt Alexandra persistent attempts to fire Cal and claims that she is one of the family.
Overall, Mayella is not a powerful figure in To Kill a Mockingbird. Even though she was powerful because of her race, the areas she lacked in was her social class and gender. Despite the fact that Mayella won the trial, the only reason why she won was due to her race. She is also a very weak character since she even allowed her own father to assault her and just the way she lived in general. For the most part, this is important because if this trial happened in a different time period like today, then it would’ve been certain for Tom Robinson to win the
“... 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