Unspoken barriers divide people according to class, wealth, intelligence and background. This affected numerous people throughout history who were subsequently appointed inequitable places in society according to factors such as family ancestry, behaviour and more. In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee argues that negative repercussions will arise when one attempts to step out of their preordained place in a small judgmental society. This is evidently proven through the characters of Mayella Ewell, the children Jem and Scout, and finally, Atticus Finch. In the town of Maycomb, hereditary relations play a large part in one’s reputation, meaning that the social status of your family instantly becomes your own. The character of Mayella Ewell unfortunately belongs to the filthiest family in the town. This is proven in the text, which states: Atticus said the Ewells had been the disgrace of Maycomb for three generations… 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, had Miss Maudie deigned to permit a geranium on her premises. People said they were Mayella Ewell’s… it was easy to tell when someone bathed regularly, as opposed to yearly lavations: Mr. Ewell had a scalded look; as if an overnight soaking had deprived him of protective layers of dirt, his skin appeared to be sensitive to the elements. Mayella looked as if she tried to keep clean, and I was reminded of the row of red geraniums in the Ewell yard. (Lee 30-179) It is evident that Mayella wants to be better than her set familial status when she tries to keep clean and make her living quarters presentable, actions that the rest of her family would never bother... ... middle of paper ... ...ticus’s naïve mindset in believing everyone to having a fair and equal chance. Treating everyone with respect and courtesy, whether they be rich, poor, black or white, was not how he should have behaved according to the adamant rules of society. 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.
“...Mayella looked as if she tried to keep clean, and I was reminded of the row of red geraniums in the Ewell yard.” (Lee, Chapter 18). Mayella Ewell and her family were very low on the class scale. They lived in a filthy house by the town dump and everyone thought of them as a trashy family. This quote from To Kill A Mockingbird is taking place during the trial of Tom Robinson. Bob Ewell still looks as filthy as usual but Mayella has attempted to keep herself clean because she wants people to look at her differently. Mayella does not want people to compare her to her father. Her father is a slob, filthy, rude, and a trashy man and Mayella wants a better life that that.
Mayella is not one of those of other people in the small town of Maycomb that lives in a nice neighborhoods. Mayella lives behind a garbage dump with her father and siblings. During the trial of Tom Robinson, Scout describes Mayella’s home. ‘“Maycomb’s Ewells lived behind the town garbage dump in what was once a Negro cabin….Its windows were merely open spaces in the walls….What passed for a fence was bits of tree-limbs, broomsticks and tool shafts….Enclosed by this barricade was a dirty yard….”’ Mayella only has one thing that keeps her sane from all the horribly things that has been happening. Which is her red geraniums, Scout says that they are well nurtured by Mayella. Mayella has six of these red geraniums at the corner of her yard. Mayella and her father lives in the neighborhood of Negroes, nor would ever bother them except Tom because he's to 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 wored.
In To kill a mockingbird by Harper Lee people were judged by unfair standards that resulted in oppression. Scout and Jem are the children of a white lawyer who has to defend a black man accused of raping a white female. In the 1930’s in Maycomb, Alabama equal rights were not factors. Which says that the problems of human inequality and the divisions within society were unfair and unjust, like Boo Radley being treated unequally by others. People were judged regarding their race, economic status, or social standing. The race of Tom Robinson led to think he was guilty of a crime he didn't commit. Racism also led to Aunt Alexandra's harsh beliefs against Calpurnia.
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...
The Ewells are viewed as the dregs of local society, as even "Atticus said the Ewells had been the disgrace of Maycomb for three generations" (Lee 21), during which they had "lived on the same plot of earth behind the Maycomb dump, and had thrived on county welfare money" (Lee 91). The lack of social exposure due to where and how he lives justifies Bob Ewell's lack of even the slightest form of respect in any scene in which he speaks. Atticus even passively allows Ewell to...
The Ewells are immensely poor, so the city gives them special privileges that not everyone has. They are allowed to hunt wherever they like and whatever they please. Another interesting concept about the Ewell’s that is unlike any other family in Maycomb is they only go to school the first day, then they are marked absent the rest of the year. This keeps them out of trouble because they have no manners and are highly underprivileged. Calpurnia, the Finches caretaker lived in the black community just outside the town of Maycomb. Most African Americans do not get to have an education. They are not allowed to go to school and aren’t remarkably smart and can’t read. In their church, they do not have bulletins or a music program because they are not able to read it. Instead, one man would go up to the front of the church and sing a verse and the blacks would repeat it. All the blacks live in the Quarters. The black community can only acquire exceptional jobs from whites. Calpurnia is the Finch’s nanny and
She lived in an old, decayed house behind a trash dump. In Document A, section one, it says “Maycomb’s Ewells lived behind the town garbage dump in what was once a Negro cabin…” Also in Document A, it describes what the outside of her house looks like. For example, it says “Its windows were merely open spaces in the walls...What passed for a fence was bits of tree-limbs, broomsticks and tool shafts...Enclosed by this barricade was a dirty yard…” By reading this quote, it shows how poorly Mayella lives. During this time, The Great Depression was also taking place. It caused people to live poorly, no places to live, and no jobs to be found. Overall, Mayella did not hold any power because she was the poorest of the poor, just like it declared in the Background
Growing up in Maycomb, Southern Alabama in the 1930s was not an easy thing. Amid a town of prejudice and racism, stood a lone house where equality and respect for all gleamed like a shining star amid an empty space. The house of Atticus Finch was that shining star. Jean Louise Finch, also known as “Scout”, is given the opportunity of being raised in this house by her father, Atticus. I stole this essay from the net. As she grows, Atticus passes down his values of equality and righteousness to Scout and her brother Jeremy Atticus Finch, also known as “Jem”. In “To Kill a Mockingbird”, by Harper Lee, we see Scout learns many lessons about dealing with prejudice by observing the behavior of other characters in the story.
The Ewells are “ the disgrace of Maycomb for three generations. None of them had done an honest day’s work in his recollection” (Lee 30). They had lack of education, no parental guidance and no morals. The Ewells had not gone to school for no more than a day and takes the rest of the school year off. They were “members of an exclusive society made up of Ewells” (Lee 30). They were looked as below the normal because Mr. Bob Ewell would “spend his relief check on green whiskey his children have a way of crying from hunger pains (Lee 31). Mayella is the oldest sibling of the Ewells and is responsible for taking care of all her brothers and sisters while her father is either drunk or in the swamp. Nonetheless, they live in the dump, with little
The Ewells were treated poorly by white people because of their social and financial class. The Ewells lived in a dump, some black people had nicer houses than the Ewells. While Mayella was on the stand, Atticus was calling her Ma’am and Mayella said, “won’t answer a word you say as long as you keep mocking me”.(DBQ: Is Mayella Powerful?) Mayella thought this way because she had never been respected at home and was abused by her father. Mayella was not happy with her life at home or in Maycomb. This proves that Mayella Ewell is clearly a victim when it comes to
Mayella Ewell did not grow up with a family that had a lot of money, she was considered poor. Where she lived it was like a junkyard, it was poor and of low income. Her cabin was also once inhabited by Negroes. ( DOC A) “Maycomb
Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird expresses the ideology that the social standard of a particular individual, classifies their status in the world. Individuals placed in social classes are labeled to create a sense of social identity. The socio-economic class an individual is born into should not be the determining factor of how the individual is regarded and treated, however, their character and personality should be a primary factor in determining how they are thought of in society.
From the reading, one can conclude that Mayella does not have that much power according to class. She is the lowest of the low when it comes to financial terms. She lives among the poorest of the poor in Maycomb, Alabama. She is in the middle in a way too. She does not fit in with the white people because of her
In the book ‘ To Kill A Mockingbird ‘ by Harper Lee there are many themes that emerge throughout the novel from either the character’s actions and the progression of the plot. The themes that I would like to focus are those of social inequality and that of racism. Both of these themes guide the plot and help to shape the setting of the novel. The themes of social inequality and racism deeply trouble the main characters of Jem and Scout.
In court, Lee writes Mayella to tell lies after lies, but maybe she did it to give a realistic effect of how someone abused would actually be, scared straight of the abuser himself. With Bob Ewell being in the court and having a chance of getting away with the rape of his own daughter would give any reader even the littlest of sympathy for her. Even to those circumstances though, Lee writes the Ewells to be these rude and filthy people but shows a small amount of goodness that Mayella has yet to found within herself. This is shown with “one corner of the yard….were six chipped-enamel slop jars holding brilliant red geraniums, cared for as tenderly as if they belonged to Miss Maudie