Mayella Social Class

Strict Social Scrapes in the Segregated South

In Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, a small town in Alabama exemplifies one of the many towns that has clearly defined social classes. Some of these stereotypes are determined by one’s class, nationality, and gender, and the authority that people believe they may possess, which leads to conflict. During the 1930’s in the south, Mayella Ewell’s gender and class did not provide her with a voice. However, her skin color outshone her disadvantages, and allowed her to be highly respected, and this also gave her power over all black people. 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,
During the court case, Mayella was referred to as, “Ma’am,” while Tom Robinson was asked by Mr. Gilmer, “Are you (Tom Robinson) being imprudent to me, boy?” (Document C, “Ma’am” vs. “Boy”). Both of these people are adults, yet they were addressed differently. Tom Robinson was treated like a child and Miss Mayella was treated like a proper adult. The way that this society looked at these two people is very segregated and is dependent completely on their race. Many others in this town suffered from racism and rude remarks being made towards them, like Helen. One day Scout asked Calpurnia about Helen Robinson and, “Calpurnia said it was hard on Helen because she had to walk nearly a mile out of her way to avoid the Ewells, who according to Helen, “chunked at her,” the first time she tried to use a public road.” (TKAM, pg 333). There are many individuals who are looked at as those of the lesser class due to their skin color and they often faced awful circumstances. White people automatically were set above all black people during these decades because of the strict social boundaries that were set. However, even though Miss Ewell had one advantage of being white in a southern segregated town, she still struggled with being categorized due to her class and
However, it is understandable that one can argue that Mayella’s two disadvantages trump her one advantage, socially, and make her a less powerful character in the story. Although it can be debated that women were looked at as a minority and class drives a person’s reputation (which can also lead to the amount of power one possesses), this topic’s evidence is irrelevant to the time that this story took place. Maycomb, Alabama was a very small town filled with conservative and stereotypical people who were stuck in their old ways and were very stubborn when it came to changing their ideas. Race was such a social hurdle that no one could overcome, due to it being a physical trait, during the 1930’s. Even if there was a poor, white woman, she would be automatically respected at a higher level than a wealthier black man. If one’s cultural group were to be ignored in this scenario, a wealthier man would have been at a higher advantage compared to a poor woman. However, race played a large role in this society, and during the court case, “(The Ewells had) presented themselves to you gentlemen (the all white jury), to this court… confident that you gentlemen would go along with them on the assumption- the evil assumption- that all Negroes lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral beings, that all Negro men are not to be trusted around our women.”