Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird is a book about the Finch family that lives in Maycomb, Alabama. The story takes place in the 1930’s, during the Great Depression in the United States. The narrator is Scout Finch, at the beginning of the book she was a little girl that did not wear dresses or nice shoes, but instead dressed like a boy. At the end of the story she had then changed to a young lady that wore dresses and normal attire that a girl her age would wear. Her brother Jem Finch has always been with her and he looks out for her, they go on adventures together, even though they wind up in situations they should not be in. Both of these characters learn and grow from the events of the Tom Robinson trial, This is where the antagonist of this book is brought to light, Mayella Ewell. Mayella is a poor girl that lives in a garbage dump, you will later find that her father, Bob Ewell, is abusive to her physically, mentally, and sexually. The real question is if Mayella is powerful,and if so what makes her powerful? For starters, when it comes to class Mayella is the poorest of the poor. Mayella lives …show more content…
in the local dump and their house is made out of things that were sent to said dump. Her class is the most powerful thing about her, when people look at her that is the first thing they think of. They judge her when it comes to her home, Mayella also does not have any friends due to her living situation. Mayella's class is also shown in her speech, she has a strong country accent along with terrible grammar. Mayella has no manners because she was never taught them, when she has someone being polite to her so she does not know how to feel so she feels offended. Whenever it comes to race Mayella is fairly powerful, but not as much as her class. She is chosen over any African American due to her skin color, no matter the proof that Tom Robinson was innocent, he would of lost anyways because he is African American. The judge treats Mayella with respect by calling her Ma’am because she is white, but calls Tom Robinson “boy” because he is African American. “Negroes” are also not allowed to be around white women, “Negroes” are also considered evil and compulsive liars. The least important point when it comes to how powerful Mayella is, is her gender. Even though she is given sympathy because she was apparently raped, she also was treated barely any different than Tom, other than the fact they were being rude to him due to his race. Mayella is treated differently by her father due to her gender because she is sexually harassed by him, yet he would not sexually harass her if she was a boy. Mayella is treated like she cannot have a sexual relationship with any man unless she is called a bad slang word by her father, yet if she was a boy her dad would not care as much as long as she would not date an African American. To recap, the thing that shows Mayella's power the most is her class, she is completely judged by her class and where she lives.
The was Mayella speaks shows her class because she has terrible grammar and no manners. The less important thing that shows her power is race, she is treated better because she is white, but she also lives near African Americans so she is judged due to that. Mayella was going to win the court case due to the color of Tom Robinson's skin color. The least important thing that shows her power is her gender, even though she was given sympathy and was abused due to her gender, it was nowhere near as important to her class or race. If Mayella was to get judged by her looks about who she is and how she acted in that time period, she would be judged by her ripped clothing and skin color not gender. So in conclusion Mayella is moderately
Powerful.
The novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, takes place in the 1930s in a small Alabama county called Maycomb. The novel is about the Finch family of three. Atticus, the father, Scout the older brother and Scout the younger sister, who acts like a tomboy. Scout may be a lady, but does not like to act like one, she likes to play and get dirty with her brother. Being young, both children learn lessons throughout the novel by many different residents, such as, Calpurnia, the maid, Miss Maudie, the neighbor, and their father, Atticus. In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird various citizens in the town of Maycomb play an important role in the lives of Jem and Scout Finch
Now in the next three paragraphs I will explain my thinking on why I believe Mayella is not powerful. In the first paragraph I will explain why and how I believe Mayella Ewell is not powerful, with the use of the class. First off I would like to show you one of my biggest reasons for believing Mayella is not powerful “Maycomb Ewells lived behind the town garbage dump in what used to be a Negro cabin”. (DBQ:Is Mayella Ewell powerful?13)The second reason I believe Mayella Ewell is not powerful while using class for my examples is that “longs as he keeps on callin’ me ma’am an sayin miss Mayella.
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
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
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.
In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, Mayella possibly demonstrates a woman who is powerful because of her race. Mayella (white), goes to court against Tom Robinson (African American), where Mayella is accusing Tom Robinson of rape. When Atticus is asking Mayella
In chapter 18, Atticus questioned Mayella during the trial. Atticus stated “so you did, so you did, ma’am. You’ll have to bear with me, Miss Mayella, I’m getting along and can’t remember as well as I used to (Lee 243). As you can see in the quote, Atticus is being respectful to her. Then, Mayella stated “Won’t answer a word you say long as you keep on mockin’ me” (Lee 243). Mayella became offended when Atticus was being respectful to her. Then in chapter 19, Mr. Gilmer, the Ewell’s lawyer questioned Tom Robinson during the trial. Mr. Gilmer said “Had your eye on her a long time, hadn’t you boy?”(Lee 263), Mr. Gilmer also said “Then you were mighty polite to do all the chopping and hauling for her, weren’t you, boy?”(Lee 263). Tom probably would have wished he was given the respect that Mayella was given, but instead he was called “boy” and not respectfully called “sir”. This is where “class” sets in. Since black men and women were placed in a lower part of their social class than the white women and men they were given the least respect, but If Mayella was a black female and Tom was a white male would they still be given the same
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, even though they were downgrading and considered lower class men. Both of these people are adults, yet they are addressed differently. Tom Robinson was treated like a child and Miss Mayella was treated like a proper adult. The way that this society looks at these two people is very segregated and is completely dependent on their race. Many others in this town suffered from racism and rude remarks being made towards them, like Helen.
In Maycomb, Alabama around the 1930’s, the race, class, and gender of people made a big impact on their life and determined their future. A girl named Mayella Ewell, from To Kill A Mockingbird, is a great example of this situation. Tom Robinson was an African American that was accused of raping Mayella. Her powers were based on her race, class, and gender. Her race was her strongest advantage towards her power. On the other hand, her gender and class were her least powers. She was a white, poor female that lived behind a trash dump. All of these characteristics played an important part in Mayella’s life and determined if she held powers or not.
Since Mayella is white her dirtiness is a lot more amplified. African Americans at that time were depicted to be the dirty ones. So when Mayella walks out of her house looking dirtier than them, people around her talk. Her whole community has standards of how your suppose to act, and look. Mayella Ewell fits none of those standards, which is completely out of her control. The way she acts towards people whom meet these standards says a lot about her character. When in court she says “you keep on makin’ fun o ' me.”(Lee, Harper, To Kill a Mockingbird) When really her prosecutor was only being polite. It is not her fault she misunderstood the man, and it only makes her look worse since she is a white woman. Her community would expect a colored person to be uneducated in that matter, but Mayella being the race she is should have known better. She could not help the family she was born into. In the end the court rules in her favor against the African American, but even that doesn 't mean she is powerful. Sure she has power in that instance, but any other
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
Scout Finch is not the stereotypical girl from the 1930’s. Agents the wishes of everyone around her, she grows up in overalls instead of dresses. Scout plays in the dirt and sand, instead of in the kitchen. In the novel To Kill a Mocking Bird, by Harper Lee, Scout is the wild spirited narrator, growing up in the small town of Maycomb. As she gets older, she learns mostly from her father Atticus how to interact with people. Scout learns to show dignity and respect to everyone, under any circumstances.
Mayella did not care that what she was doing was wrong when she thought no one would know, but when her family came home she made up a lie so that she wouldn't be judged throughout the community. Mayella also revealed that she was at fault because of how she acted later in the story. Mayella cared more about what her town thought of her than the freedom of an innocent man. Mayella would never be looked at the same in her community if everyone knew that she had tempted a black man, Atticus explained this to the jury by saying, "She has committed no crime, she has merely broken a rigid and time-honored code of our society, a code so severe that whoever breaks it is hounded from our midst as unfit to live with.” Atticus told the jury this so that they would understand why Mayella felt like she had to make up a lie, instead of saying what actually
The idea that all whites are superior to blacks play a big role in the court system, making Mayella powerful. The mistake Tom vocalizes in court is that he felt sorry for Mayella: “Yes, suh. I felt right sorry for her, she seemed to try more’n the rest of ‘em—” (Lee 19). After Tom says this he quickly realized it was unacceptable to feel sorry for a white woman when whites are supposed to be superior to blacks. The people present inside the court were not happy with Tom’s answer and chose to
“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view . . . until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” (page 39) Mayella Ewell, a young white girl, daughter to a drunk father, is hard to understand until you “climb into her skin.” Mayella is viewed very differently on her “outside” than the way she truly is on the “inside.” Additionally Mayella plays an important role in displaying the idea of treating others differently and discriminating a specific group of people.