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The values and beliefs of a mockingbird
Theme of racial segregation in the novel to kill a mocking bird by harper lee
Theme of racial segregation in the novel to kill a mocking bird by harper lee
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Recommended: The values and beliefs of a mockingbird
Character Analysis of Mr. Bob Ewell
Bob Ewell is an intriguing, yet disturbing character in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. He displays several qualities that make him the interesting character that he is, and has similar ideas towards other races as other white folks in Maycomb. Bob Ewell begins to display his racism and his uncaring and an unlawful/unjust attitude towards specific families and people later in the book. He demonstrates his unjustly attitude when he Ewell harasses Helen Robinson, believing he has the right to disturb her, a negro since he a white. In addition to Mr. Ewells racism he is aggressive. Harper Lee does a straightforward way of demonstrating Mr. Ewell’s aggression against Atticus. In the novel Mr. Ewell spits,
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In the book his unlawful trait and racist opinion had “forced” his mind to twist his testimony, on Mayella’s supposed ‘rape” case against Tom, a negro. He claimed he quote on quote “saw” Tom on Mayella. Mr Ewell claimed in his testimony that “ I was looking in the woods looking for kidlin, and as I got to the fence I heard Mayella screamin’ like a stuck hog inside the house, I dropped m’ load and ran as fast to my Mayella, I ran up to the window” “ I seen that black nigger yonder ruttin’ on my Mayella!” (P. 196) This shows that he is dishonest, and unjust even in front of court, because he believes that even if he’s not a wealthy white man, he is still superior to blacks. Furthermore, when he concludes his testimony, some people already knew he altered the story, but as Maycomb's caste system, whites are supposed to “win”, especially against …show more content…
It also shows he is malevolent, because he creates his own version of Mayella’s story, and he discriminates Tom, and a “nest’ of them living a few blocks away from his house and is mysterious because even though most people in Maycomb knew he was a grinch, and wanted a type of revenge towards Atticus, since Atticus was not as gullible as the jury box, so he mysteriously found him, and Jem and Scout and threatened them everytime he saw them and scared the children. From these events we see that Mr. Ewell is a disgraceful person with a dangerous side, and is a true
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.”
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
One of the storylines in the novel is the Robinson-Ewell trial. Tom Robinson is an innocent African-American, accused of raping Mayella Ewell, a lower-class white girl. At the trial hearing, everyone is able to tell his or her side of the story before Tom is allowed to speak. All stories, however, offer two different versions of Tom and Mayella’s relationship. Moreover, Mayella and Bob Ewell tell the jury what they expect to hear, about Tom being a monster. They explain that there was no reason for his actions against Mayella. According to them, along with the rest of Maycomb, it's just expected that a black man would rape any white woman if he had the opportunity. The Tom spoken of by the Ewells shows the stereotypes that justify whites to be superior to blacks. However, Tom tells the jury about his innocence. He pr...
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.”
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 is mistreated a great amount throughout her lifetime. After all that physical and mental abuse she faces becomes enough 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.
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
...uth to fully understand that it is typical to act superior to those with colored skin. All Dill sees is a man being rude to another, just because of his skin color. While Atticus clearly shows everyone in the court that it was almost impossible for Tom Robinson to have beat Mayella, he still loses the case just because he was a black man against a white woman. Lee includes, “Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed.” (Lee 323) This enforces how it didn’t matter what Tom was really doing or why Mayella was screaming, but just by the way Tom looked they were able to essentially pin the rape and the beatings on Tom. Of course this was not true and he did not receive the justice he deserved, but that didn’t matter to Maycomb. All that mattered was the color of his skin and what the teenage white girl named Mayella Ewell said about him.
Atticus accepts people of the black race and does not see why people are prejudice towards them. Bob Ewell, on the other hand, is extremely racist. His main belief is that black people are scum and he dehumanizes them constantly. One of the many times the reader sees this is in the quote, “I seen that black nigger yonder ruttin’ on my Mayella!” (page 175). Even further, Bob Ewell has spoken about "my Mayella", his daughter, as if it was his property, which is when the idea of Bob Ewell abusing his daughter comes into play. A primary example of this happening is when Scout Finch realizes that "If [Mayella's] right eye was blacked and she was beaten mostly on the right side of the face, it would tend to show that a left-handed person did it." (page 180). This important court case scene is when the reader and the characters in the courtroom very well realize that Bob Ewell abuses his daughter. While Bob hurts his children, Atticus time and time again tries to protect his children. This is seen on page 101, when Atticus shoots the stray dog and the children learn that "Atticus Finch was the deadest shot in Maycomb County in his time". For his career, Atticus still
Another consequence of defending Tom Robinson in court, aside from being known as a "nigger lover" and opening himself to several other forms of racial hatred from the good people of Maycomb, Atticus was also arguing against a man who was known to be a violent drunk. Bob Ewell was a frightening man and it was noble of Atticus to put himself in a position of opposing such an unstable individual. Atticus remained a gentleman when Ewell confronted him at the post office. Most men in his position would have violently lashed out at Robert E. after being spat upon. Atticus did the right thing and remained a gentleman throughout the confrontation.
The lack of knowledge in Maycomb about the outside world and their opinions about black people ingrains ‘Maycomb’s usual disease’ into their minds as they have no other opinions about black people. This is shown by the crowd’s outrage as they gather to lynch Tom, not knowing that he was innocent, but blinded by their pre-conceived ideas about black people, thinking that Tom obviously did it as he was black. Their prejudice and ignorance blinded them to the fact that the Ewell’s had manipulated him for their own benefit. Also, this prejudice causes the people who are prejudiced to be as prejudiced towards people who are not. This is shown by Mrs Dubose’s statement to Jem, “Your fathers no better than the niggers and trash he works for.”
In To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, Bob Ewell assumes the racist, biased, and unjust motivations in order to retain any scrap of dignity in Maycomb County. Bob Ewell sees that he has been bested, and that the town knows the truth, however, he is able to abuse his racial standpoint, using racism to scapegoat his actions. The town, even though they all are aware that Bob Ewell is guilty, has been racially obligated to oppress Tom Robinson, due to the racist roots embedded in the town.
One of the characters in To Kill a Mockingbird is Bob Ewell. Bob Ewell is a selfish drunk who doesn't know how to control himself. He beats his children and he can’t hold a steady job for long. He is obsessed with revenge for Atticus for making him look like a fool at the trial of Tom Robinson, whom Ewell’s daughter is accusing of rape. Because of his false testimony, he can never be trusted again in front of the whole courtroom. He will do anything to get back at Atticus, and is willing to go as far as going after his children. He also has a grudge against the judge in the trial, and against the wife of the accused. Bob is crazy and delusional and is trying to gain back his reputation by taking down all the people that went against him in
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
Hypocrisy is as much a part of Maycomb’s society as church and community spirit. For example, Mrs. Merriweather talks about saving the poor Mruans from Africa, but she thinks black people in her community are a disgrace (p.234). The hypocrisy of this teaching is shown as soon as she mentions the word ‘persecution’. This is due to the fact that she herself is persecuting the black people of Maycomb by not raising an eyebrow at the killing of innocent black men. Furthermore, it is obvious Bob Ewell is abusive to his daughter, Mayella, and that he is the one who violated her, not Tom Robinson (p.178). Since there is such hypocrisy in Maycomb, there are excuses made for whites. The jury probably thinks that if they pronounce Tom innocent the citizens will mock them as they do to Atticus. Harper Lee uses hypocrisy to show how the people of Maycomb are so engulfed in a variety of elements that they unknowingly complete acts of unjustified discrimination.