Mayella Ewell
In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, the author exhibits Mayella Ewell uniquely. Towards the end of this novel, Mayella becomes involved in a major court case. While the readers become familiarized with her, they can comprehend her unique character. Mayella’s character structure is a unique one, because of her diverse character traits. She possesses good qualities and bad ones. Throughout her lifetime, Mayella is portrayed as hardworking, deceitful, and stubborn.
Harper Lee depicted Mayella Ewell as a hard worker. Mayella labored for hours around the household. Tragically, Mayella lost her mother as a child. Consequently, her father dropped her from school and made her complete chores around the house. In the courtroom, the judge questions Mayella on her life and why she did not attend school; she replies, “With two members of the family reading and writing, there was no need for the rest of them to learn – Papa needed us at home.” (245). Mayella desired to attend school and lead a strong life, however she was aware of her responsibilities, and that she had to raise her siblings; she would not abandon her family. Mayella Ewell completed a substantial amount of work for her family, and this trait occupies a large
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amount of her personality. Despite her hard work for her family, Mayella displayed deceitful qualities in the novel.
To illustrate, she developed a close friendship to a man named Tom Robinson. He seemed to care for her, and always comforted her when she seemed depressed. However, once noticing Mayella hanging out with Mr. Robinson, her father began to abuse her; because of Mr. Robinson’s race, the judge blamed for him the abuse. Surprisingly, in the courtroom for this case, Mayella supported her father and explained that Tom beat her up. Mayella explains about Tom Robinson, “He chunked me on the floor an’ choked me’n took advantage of me.” (241). Because of this example, one can conclude that Mayella demonstrated deceiving traits in To Kill a
Mockingbird. Lastly, Mayella demonstrates stubbornness. To elaborate, in the courtroom, Mayella refused to comment any further on the case due to her own guilt. This shows that she took the life of a Negro, just so she would not seem as a disgrace to her family. Additionally, Mayella states to Atticus, “Won’t answer a word you say long as you keep mockin’ me” (243). In this quote, Mayella exhibits stubbornness by delaying Atticus’s questions and by not answering for a comical reason. Hence, Mayella Ewell displays tenacious characteristics. Conclusively, throughout the captivating novel, Mayella Ewell displays several diverse traits. She exhibits hard work, deceitful, and stubborn characteristics. Although many pity her, for her family overworks the girl, dishonesty towards Tom Robinson in the courtroom, distinguishes her character traits. Furthermore, Lee describes Mayella as stubborn. She demonstrates this quality while in the courtroom. Mayella displays these three features thoroughly, which guides one in understanding her distinct character.
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?
The concept of a white woman being touched, let alone raped by an African American male was an assumption in the little town of Maycomb Alabama, 1930’s. During this period Mayella is considered helpless due to being a female as well as lonely and afraid considering her status as a poor white piece of trash. She manipulates people by using her social class, gender, and race to her advantage. In particular, her accusations made against Tom Robinson, an African American man. These factors lead to her gaining power with the trial and conviction of Tom Robinson. Race refers to the categorization of people based on physical differences.(“Is Mayella Powerful?” 7) Mayella Ewell had perquisites due to her race, which helped her during the conviction.
“You never understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... until you climb into his skin and walk around in it,” said by Atticus Finch. This quote explains how a person can be different in the inside than they are in the outside such as, a character named Mayella Ewell in To Kill a Mockingbird. To Kill a Mockingbird was a book set during the 1930’s, written by Harper Lee that explained the struggles of segregation and racism. But was Mayella’s race the only aspect that made her powerful? Although Mayella can be seen as a powerful character due to her race, the areas she lacked in was her social class and gender. The concepts that will be explained will be why Mayella Ewell was not powerful because of her social class
Mayella Ewell is living in a racist southern community in the 1930’s. During this time no one was treated the same because of their skin color or if they were intelligent. Mayella has one thing that makes her powerful, her race. Laws back then was harsh. Between white and Negroes, both were wrong and mean to each other. Whites had
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.”
To KIll A Mockingbird was written by Harper Lee in the 1950’s. She based this book of her own home town. Two characters in the book are Boo Radley and Mayella Ewell and they are very different people. Although the book does not tell us much about Boo, the end reveals a caring and thoughtful guy. Mayella on the other hand, is racist and “white trash”. Mayella and Boo are also similar because they are both not liked much in Maycomb.
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.
Throughout the novel, Bob Ewell is profusely illustrated as an abrasive, abusive, and generally unpleasant man who hasn’t a care for his children. As Tom says when describing why he would help Mayella: “Mr. Ewell didn’t seem to help her much” (263) . In addition, Bob Ewell plays a major role as to why Mayella lies in court, in fact he makes her do so. To cover up for his own crime he says that Tom Robinson was “ruttin' on my Mayella!" (231) . The most substantive and saddening display of Mr. Ewell’s character is when Tom directly reveals the abuse taking place. In his testimony, Tom explains that his accuser threatens Mayella after seeing the two of them together (263). Even if Mayella was able to overcome the social repercussions of telling the truth, she would face the tragic domestic abuse that her father is evidently capable of. Like striving towards acceptance, resisting oppression is another example of human instinct. As following instinct is by definition natural, one must have sympathy for Mayella
During the Tom Robinson Trial, Mayella is called up to the chair, asked a few questions and after she has had enough, she screams, "I got somethin ' to say an ' then I ain 't gonna say no more. That nigger yonder took advantage of me an ' if you fine fancy gentlemen don 't wanta do nothin ' about it then you 're all yellow stinkin ' cowards, stinkin ' cowards, the lot of you. Your fancy airs don 't come to nothin '—your ma 'amin ' and Miss Mayellerin ' don 't come to nothin ', Mr. Finch-" (She is scared of the town knowing that she is wrong and Tom robinson is innocent. 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 brung 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
To conclude, Mayella should be fully responsible for her actions. She is someone that should be condemned instead of pitied because she is conscious while deciding to kiss a black man, kills Tom Robinson by giving false testimony in court, and knows in advance the consequences of her actions. Tom’s miserable fate is in sharp contrast with Mayella’s, as this event in To Kill a Mockingbird is meant to reflect how white people are easily forgiven even when all evidence is pointing against them. Unfortunately, Scottsboro Boys’ end is the same as Tom’s – all but one of them were convicted and sentenced to death for something that did not happen.
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
After all that physical and mental abuse she faces, 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. For example, even though her race can be deemed an upside to her specific situation, it has major downsides.
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
Mayella is the daughter of Bob Ewell and both of them actually live in trash and they are known as white trash.They live in trash near where the blacks live which Bob and Mayella do not like at all.They do not like their skin color because they don't like how they are different. Mayella could not have any friends because she hated the blacks and those are the only people she can talk to that are close are the blacks.Mayella is very poor and she does not like anyone and hates they way people talk to her like when Atticus called her what she does not want him to call which makes her think that is bad.She was never interested in other people and wants to stay away from them. She judges them on the way they talk to them and the way their skin color is because she thinks blacks are a threat and they way people talk to her are mean things even though they try to be really nice to her. Scout says “Mayella Ewell must have been the loneliest person in the world” This shows that Mayella is lonely because Mayella is always alone or with the children to take care of which she can't leave home because she has to take care of the children and that can't get her out of her home. This causes Mayella to become lonely because she is judging them the wrong way like she judges the blacks because they are black and she
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