Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird is a book about the Finch family that lives in Maycomb, Alabama. The story takes place in the 1930’s, during the Great Depression in the United States. The narrator is Scout Finch, at the beginning of the book she was a little girl that did not wear dresses or nice shoes, but instead dressed like a boy. At the end of the story she had then changed to a young lady that wore dresses and normal attire that a girl her age would wear. Her brother Jem Finch has always been with her and he looks out for her, they go on adventures together, even though they wind up in situations they should not be in. Both of these characters learn and grow from the events of the Tom Robinson trial, This is where the antagonist of this book is brought to light, Mayella Ewell. Mayella is a poor girl that lives in a garbage dump, you will later find that her father, Bob Ewell, is abusive to her physically, mentally, and sexually. The real question is if Mayella is powerful,and if so what makes her powerful? For starters, when it comes to class Mayella is the poorest of the poor. Mayella lives …show more content…
The was Mayella speaks shows her class because she has terrible grammar and no manners. The less important thing that shows her power is race, she is treated better because she is white, but she also lives near African Americans so she is judged due to that. Mayella was going to win the court case due to the color of Tom Robinson's skin color. The least important thing that shows her power is her gender, even though she was given sympathy and was abused due to her gender, it was nowhere near as important to her class or race. If Mayella was to get judged by her looks about who she is and how she acted in that time period, she would be judged by her ripped clothing and skin color not gender. So in conclusion Mayella is moderately
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.
In the book “To Kill A Mockingbird”, Mayella Ewell is the conflict of the story. To challenge herself to see if she is powerful based on class, gender, and race. Mayella is powerful due to her race; however, she would not be powerful due to her class and gender. One might think she is powerful over all; however, she does not have power in the eyes of some readers. Proceeding on to see if Mayella has power in the race.
To some it is very unclear whether Mayella is powerful or powerless. In the book to To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, a family tries to defend a ‘Mockingbird’ who is being charged with crimes of rape. The book ironically takes place in the mid 1930s after similar events have just recently happened relating to blacks vs. whites. While Mayella Ewell can be considered as powerful based on her race, her class and gender indicates that Mayella is powerless based on the circumstances during the mid 1930s.
In chapter 18, Atticus questioned Mayella during the trial. Atticus stated “so you did, so you did, ma’am. You’ll have to bear with me, Miss Mayella, I’m getting along and can’t remember as well as I used to (Lee 243). As you can see in the quote, Atticus is being respectful to her. Then, Mayella stated “Won’t answer a word you say long as you keep on mockin’ me” (Lee 243). Mayella became offended when Atticus was being respectful to her. Then in chapter 19, Mr. Gilmer, the Ewell’s lawyer questioned Tom Robinson during the trial. Mr. Gilmer said “Had your eye on her a long time, hadn’t you boy?”(Lee 263), Mr. Gilmer also said “Then you were mighty polite to do all the chopping and hauling for her, weren’t you, boy?”(Lee 263). Tom probably would have wished he was given the respect that Mayella was given, but instead he was called “boy” and not respectfully called “sir”. This is where “class” sets in. Since black men and women were placed in a lower part of their social class than the white women and men they were given the least respect, but If Mayella was a black female and Tom was a white male would they still be given the same
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
In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird three characters, Scout, Jem, and Atticus Finch, experience the many hardships and difficulties of human inequality in their community, Maycomb County. Scout, the narrator, gives insight to readers about the many different characters of Maycomb, yet two are alike in many ways. Mayella Ewell is a 19-year-old girl who is considered white trash and lacks education, love, and friends. Dolphus Raymond is a wealthy white man who is married to an African-American and has mixed children. Although these characters may seem different, they share many of the same advantages and disadvantages of human inequality.
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,
In Maycomb, Alabama around the 1930’s, the race, class, and gender of people made a big impact on their life and determined their future. A girl named Mayella Ewell, from To Kill A Mockingbird, is a great example of this situation. Tom Robinson was an African American that was accused of raping Mayella. Her powers were based on her race, class, and gender. Her race was her strongest advantage towards her power. On the other hand, her gender and class were her least powers. She was a white, poor female that lived behind a trash dump. All of these characteristics played an important part in Mayella’s life and determined if she held powers or not.
Mayella Ewell is a character in “To Kill a Mockingbird”. She lives in the town of Maycomb, Alabama, where the inhabitants are very sexist and judgemental. In the book, Mayella is not powerful considering her class, race, and gender. The community members she lives near are a very large contributing factor to her powerlessness. Mayella has been mistreated a great amount throughout her lifetime.
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
The novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, takes place in the 1930s in a small Alabama county called Maycomb. The novel is about the Finch family of three. Atticus, the father, Scout the older brother and Scout the younger sister, who acts like a tomboy. Scout may be a lady, but does not like to act like one, she likes to play and get dirty with her brother. Being young, both children learn lessons throughout the novel by many different residents, such as, Calpurnia, the maid, Miss Maudie, the neighbor, and their father, Atticus. In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird various citizens in the town of Maycomb play an important role in the lives of Jem and Scout Finch
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
The idea that all whites are superior to blacks play a big role in the court system, making Mayella powerful. The mistake Tom vocalizes in court is that he felt sorry for Mayella: “Yes, suh. I felt right sorry for her, she seemed to try more’n the rest of ‘em—” (Lee 19). After Tom says this he quickly realized it was unacceptable to feel sorry for a white woman when whites are supposed to be superior to blacks. The people present inside the court were not happy with Tom’s answer and chose to
Poor, lazy, and unwilling are all words that many townspeople would use to describe Mayella’s outside appearance. Initially, the only information stated in the story about Mayella is that she is nineteen and a half years old and the
“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