Power is when a person has more control over someone's else's life and there own life. They story was about Tom robinson's conviction and Mayella automatic power and more dependence on winning the trial because of her race and gender. Class is where you stand financially or their level of education, gender is the roles of men and women that society expects from them. Racer is categorized by their physical differences ,Skin color. Gender and class makes her unpowerful, But race makes her powerful.
Throughout some of the documents Mayella is very powerless because of her class. In document C it shows her level of class, it says “Longs he keep on callin me ma’am an sayin Miss Mayella. I don't hafta take his sass, I ain't called upon to take it”.
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This shows that her level of class because it shows that she has never really been treated with respect everyone has disrespected or tried to not even acknowledge her. They do this because she is white trash. In document A Scout says that “Maycomb's Ewells lived behind the old town garbage dump in what was once a negro cabin…..Its window were merely open spaces in the walls”this shows how the Ewells class is not caring and dirty. But Scout also says that “one corner of the yard bewildered Maycomb. Against the fence, in a line, were six jars holding brilliant red Geraniums that were cared for….people says that they were Mayella Ewells. This shows that Mayella wants to be a neat class and respected women. But she cant she was born into being poor and white trash so she has to live with it. Emphasis on gender in this article is very important,Gender is basically the roles and personal behaviors that society expects from the gender males and females.
You know that mayella is physically abused by document B. Atticus questions Mayella and says “Do you love your father” mayella and she replies with “love him whatcha mean”and Atticus says “is he good to you, is he easy to get along with”? And Mayella replies with “he’s tollable cept when. Then she has no answer after that she looks at her father and stops dead in her sentence you can tell she was scared when he sat straight up and she didn't say what she was gonna say. We knew that she had gotten scared.When knew that she was verbally abused by the document B When her father leans up in his chair and exclaims a waiting answer look on his face she gets very frightened and didn't tell the truth she didn't say what she was gonna say. It also shows verbal abuse in document B when Atticus is questioning Tom Robinson, Tom says that he was trying to get out but right when that happened Bob Ewell yelled “you goddamn Whore i'll kill ya”. In document B when Atticus continues to question Atticus he says that when Mayella was kissing up on him she says that “ she'd never kissed a grown man before”. Then she said what her papa do to her don't count. This shows that her father sexually abuses her by kissing and maybe other sexual acts. Gender makes Mayella powerless by her being the girl with boys she has no say in what she wants …show more content…
and her physical strength she couldn't help herself even if she tried her father has all power over her. Even though she has been treated very wrong in certain ways in her life but there is also some ways that make her very powerful most importantly her race.
Her race makes her very powerful you can see how powerful race makes her in document C Mr.Gilmer is questioning Tom and the first thing that he says to Tom is “Are you being impudent to me, boy” By using the word boy this shows that because of his color he is very disrespected and not treated fairly so it gives Mayella Ewell a advantage to the trial. It also shows another example of Toms race being powerless and Mayella's race being very powerful in document D “The Ewells present themselves to you gentlemen, to this court...confident that you gentlemen would go along with them on the assumption that all negroes lie, that all negroes are basically immoral beings, That all negro men are not to be trusted”. This shows that the Ewells a white family and Mr.Gilmer is trying to present them off the true facts that they are just trying to convince the people that all black people are bad. In the most important part it shows that in document E it was in the first excerpt. Scout starts to think “Mayella must have to be the loneliest person in the world…:white people wouldn't have anything to do with her because she lived among pigs...negroes the closest neighbor to her wouldn't have anything to do with them because they are white”. This shows that even though tom was black and he treated her descent that they took advantage of it
because he is black and Mayella being the white person over powers her race and makes her more powerful. Her race makes her very powerful because back when she lived the white race was well respected and always had nothing to do wrong if it dealt with a black man. Although her race has helped her throughout this whole case it's still the most important factor. Even though she's powerless because of her class and gender. A example of how her class is powerless is she lives behind a dump and he and she has never been very treated with respect because she is white trash.A example of her gender being powerless is by her father and where she lives since she lives with him he doesn't respect her well because he has more power over her and she doesn't really have a say in anything in her life at home. Her race made her very powerful because she was white people had more respect for her and believed her more because of her race this made her so powerful throughout the book because it shows that even though she's not well respected other times because a black man was involved they respected her and treated her better because of Tom's race they all thought he was just a dirty lying negro. Because of her power she had won the whole trial because her race has prevailed, In that time white was the more respected race and more treated well race compared to blacks this shows why she had won the trial.
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
“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
During the trial for Tom Robinson, Atticus is questioning Tom on what Mayela had done while he was with her. Tom Robinson explained she was kissing him on the side of the face and was explaining how she had never kissed a grown man before. “......She says what her papa do to her don’t count….” (Lee, Chapter 19). Given this quote from the book, it is implying that Mayella’s father sexually assaults her because he is the “man of the house” which seeing that Mayella is female, it renders her powerless against Bob. Mayella’s gender takes away her power greatly. “...Mayella Ewell was beaten savagely by someone who led almost exclusively with his left….” (Lee, Chapter
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.”
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.
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
After years of emotional and physical abuse inflicted by her father, Mayella was finally able to control one thing in her life. Having an affair with Tom Robinson, a black man, was an enticingly risky idea to Mayella; in the 1930’s, racism was still alive and especially prominent in the South, so the idea of a white woman being romantically involved with a black man was practically taboo. She was well-aware of the consequences that would come with that interaction when she forced him to kiss her, so when she was caught, she had to blame Tom in order to avoid the shameful truth caused by her years of loneliness and abuse. By the time Mayella reached the stand and swore upon the Bible in court, she had already decided that she had to lie about what had really
To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee sheds light upon the controversy of racism and justice in his classic novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. The notion of equality in accordance with the law and the pursuit of justice are hindered by racial discrimination. The essence of human nature is pondered. Are we inclined to be good or in the wrath of evil? The novel reflects on the contrasting nature of appearance versus reality.
One of the major events in Harper Lee’s award-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird is Tom Robinson’s trial. It is based on the Scottsboro Case that took place in 1931 in Alabama, in which several black men were accused of raping two white women. Both the Scottsboro Boys and Tom Robinson are unfairly judged, however, because of prejudice against colored people. The racial discrimination makes whites’ testimony more believable even when it contradicts itself. The same happens in To Kill a Mockingbird. As we delve deeper into the case and get increasingly closer to the truth, it is quite suprising to see that Mayella Ewell is the true villain rather than a victim. She shall and must bear full responsibility for her actions because she makes the decision to tempt Tom Robinson, gives false testimony in court that directly leads to Tom’s death, and has been well aware of the consequences of her behaviors.
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.”
In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus is an ideal father, who sets a great example for his kids. A picture of Atticus is important to Scout because Atticus teaches Scout many important life lessons about life. Firstly, as Atticus talks to Scout about Miss. Stephanie, he states “if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. 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” (Lee,30). Scout realizes that one can never feel someone’s pain, happiness, or glory until she looks at their point of view of things; she learns to consider other people’s situation and feelings. She also understands that she will never know what goes in other people’s lives, and therefore she cannot judge anyone. Scout matures as she learns to apply Atticus’ wise advice to understand Mrs. Dubose and Boo Radley, who are individuals that are misunderstood by the community. Furthermore, as Miss Maudie talks to Scout, she states “Atticus Finch is the same in his house as he is on the public streets” (Lee, 46). Miss Maudie knows about Atticus’ personality quite well. Miss Maudie explains to Scout Atticus is a man with moral principles, he does what he believes is right even if others are not there to praise him. Through Atticus’ exemplary role, Scout understands the importance of integrity, and strong moral values. Finally, when Scout questions her father about the possible outcome of the trial, Atticus states “simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us to try to win” (Lee, 76). Atticus teaches Scout toleration, determination and moral courage. He already knows he is going to los...
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
Mayella is forced to put an innocent man in prison because she wants to put the " evidence of her crime away from her" and save herself from another. punishment. The snare of the snare. She has reason to be afraid, as Atticus implies she was " savagely beaten" by Bob Ewell. Therefore not only does she fear being driven out of society but also fears physical abuse.