“People think being alone makes you lonely, but I don't think that's true. Being surrounded by the wrong people is the loneliest thing in the world.” This quotation by Kim Culbertson can relate to the character Mayella Ewell in the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Despite her obvious wrongdoings, Mayella Ewell is, in fact, worthy of compassion. Mayella was abused, physically and sexually, by her alcoholic father, despised by the other members of Maycomb, and was extremely lonely. Mayella’s father, Bob Ewell, is one of the main reasons Mayella deserves compassion. On page 31, Atticus tells Scout about how Bob treats his children and it is discovered that they are neglected: “‘…when a man spends his relief checks on green whiskey his children have a way of crying from hunger pains.’” Mayella herself also admits her father’s abuse to the court; when she is asked if her father ever hurts her she says “‘He does tollable, ’cept when-’” This has implications that her father has physically abused her in the past. …show more content…
Her father’s actions are one of the many reasons the Ewells are widely seen as the lowest class in Maycomb, by the white and black communities alike.
Even Scout’s first-grade class knows that none of the Ewell children go to school for more than a day. This is shown on page 26, when a member of the class says: “‘Whole school’s full of ‘em. They come first day every year and then leave.’” Even Atticus, who is very open-minded throughout the book, has a certain disdain towards the family: “…the Ewells had been the disgrace of Maycomb for three generations. None of them had done an honest day’s work in his recollection.” Since Atticus has been proven to be against stereotypes and judging others such as the black community, him saying these things shows how bad the Ewell family seemed to be. Because she is hated by most of her town, Mayella becomes extremely lonely and
sad. Mayella seems to be one of the loneliest characters in the novel, so lonely that she went as far as to seek a relationship with someone considered to be in an even lower class than her family, knowing she would be further shamed for it. When Tom Robinson explains what Mayella did to him, he says that Mayella told him she’d “’Never kissed a grown man before an’ she might as well kiss a n*****. She says what her papa do to her don’t count.’” Mayella reaches a point where she is so devoid of hope she doesn’t care about the public’s opinion anymore. This is also proof that her father may have sexually abused her. Another example of Mayella’s loneliness is in her flower garden. This is the one thing she cares about, the one thing she loves and can call her own, and we see this on page PAGE: “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." Although Mayella Ewell’s actions were partially responsible for the death of an innocent man, she is still a character that is worthy of a bit of compassion. She suffered through abuse, was hated by her entire town because of her background, and was generally a lonely person. Nobody really knew or cared about her story, and like Atticus Finch always told his children, “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.”
She says what her papa did to her don't count”(DBQ:Is Mayella Ewell powerful?15).The second way I can prove Mayella was not powerful using gender is that she gets abused by her father”’I mean, is he good to you, is he easy to get along with?’,’He does tollable, ‘cept when-’, ‘Expect when?’ , ‘Expect ‘I said he does tollable. ’,’Except when he's drinking ?’ asked Atticus so gently that Mayella nodded.
During the trial Tom said, “She says what her papa do to her don’t count… I didn’t want to harm her, Mr.Finch an’ I say lemme pass”(Doc B). As you can tell, this emphasized how Mayella allowed her own father to sexually assault her even though this should have never happened, and she should have stopped him. Scout then described Mayella during the trial and said, “Mayella looked at her father, who was sitting with his chair tipped against the railing. He sat up straight and waited for her to answer”(Doc B). This demonstrated how Mayella was scared of her father and let him control her when she should’ve just told the truth. To sum up, this showed how Mayella was powerless since she allowed her father to control her during the case by making her say what he wanted her to say by scaring
“... 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 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 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:
...s will pass on these ideas to children and family. Even so, compassion emitted from Atticus towards his children are able to shield them from the disease and make them much like Atticus, someone who would see it like it is rather than be blindfolded by the pre-conceived ideas. Wisdom and life experience also are shown as very desirable traits to have as they can motivate you through the toughest tasks and drive you to do what should be done instead of abandon your duties. In conclusion, Harper Lee’s book To Kill a Mockingbird highlights the horrible prejudice and ignorance towards black people in the southern town of Maycomb, but also shows wisdom and compassion as not only desirable but necessary traits to have to withstand the bombardment of pre-conceived ideas from the people surrounding you, and also portrays these qualities as a shield to people around you.
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.
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
While Atticus understood this, the rest of Maycomb chose to stereotype the entire black community as people they had to distrust. Atticus also respected Mayella Ewell even though she was his opposition and referred to her as "Miss Mayella". Evidently, Mayella had not received that kind of politeness before, as she thought that Atticus was trying to "sass" her. At this point, the author is using language to show that Atticus has no prejudice in him. The author also creates a contrast for the reader to consider.
Mayella Ewell one extra beating, that's something I'll gladly take,” (249). Atticus’s calm, thoughtful nature reinforces for Jem and Scout the significance of their father’s standing as a gentleman, and a paragon of being courageous in the face of depravity. Jem and Scout also learn from Atticus that, “It’s not okay to hate anybody,” (282), just
While Mayella did lie which ended up killing Tom Robinson, she is still sympathetic as she demonstrates that she does not want want to be a dumb, dirty Ewell. She is isolated from society and a victim of domestic abuse. Harper Lee, the author of To Kill a Mockingbird leaves a lot of details in the novel for the reader to decide. Lee’s role, was to simply scatter evidence for readers to formulate their own conclusions on her characters, events and themes. Mayella Ewell’s personality and character was a scattered jigsaw puzzle and Lee created each individual piece which represents her words. Those who solve the puzzle correctly can conclude that Mayella is a very sympathetic character that was conceived to embody the evils of Bob Ewell and southern
Some may say that this is the final nail in the coffin for her status as a mockingbird, but this may just represent another facet of the definition of mockingbirds. Corruption of innocence is violence, in a way, and Mayella Ewell has been conditioned many a time, that she should do whatever her father tells her to, regardless of that action's moral ambiguity, and that if she doesn’t, she will have to face the consequences, often at the price of physical harm from her father. The loss of Mayella’s innocence through the corrupted lifestyle of her father, is often more telling of her mockingbird status than, say, her geraniums. Innocence, of a child or otherwise, is all the more precious when it is taken away, piece by piece, until the last scrap someone holds on to is more than anything ever was or will be, and these Mockingbirds, Mayella foremost among them, has had that last little bit of themselves torn away, leaving a wretched husk where there used to be a glimmer of
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
A small city nestled in the state of Alabama, Maycomb has got its faults, just like any other place in the world, but one of its main faults or (pg.88) “Maycomb's usual disease,” as Atticus calls it in the book is prejudice. Jem and Scout learn a lot about prejudice when a black man named Tom Robinson is accused of raping a white woman named Mayella Ewell and their father, Atticus, is called on to be his lawyer. They realize the hate that people have buried deep within their heart when they see a black man accused of doing something only because of his color. On pg.241, Scout starts understanding this and thinks, “Atticus had used every tool available to free men to save Tom Robinson, but in the secret courts of men's hearts Atticus had no case. Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed.” As the case continues, up until the death of Tom Robinson, Jem and Scout learn more and more about prejudice and how the hate that people have towards others causes them to take wrong actions. They also see how unfair it is that a white man can get treated better and think of himself better than a black man only because he was born white. This prejudice and the trial cause Jem and Scout to get in argum...
The hatred that the citizens of Maycomb felt towards the black community extended to anyone who became involved with them, especially the Finch family because Atticus was appointed to defend Tom Robinson. Scout and Jem suffered the most from this hatred because their peers were children, who are nearly always less candid than adults. Most of the people who were unhappy with Atticus would just try to keep away from him, which was bad enough. The children however, verbally abused Scout and Jem. Scout responded to this with physical violence, even though it was discouraged by her father. The sad thing is that they were mistreated even by members of their family, like Scout’s cousin Francis.