Class, Gender, and Race in “To Kill A Mockingbird”: Is Mayella Powerful? Only a handful of people have power. Those who do not have power seek to obtain it. Those who have power, do what is needed to keep it. In the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, Mayella Ewell, a white woman accuses Tom Robinson, a black man of rape. Tom is convicted of rape and is later shot when trying to escape. In this story Mayella is powerless in class and gender, but in race is powerful, however ultimately she is a poor, woman which makes her powerless. When it comes to class Mayella is powerless. She is poor and lives by a dump where all the Negros live. On one corner of her yard there’s a line of roses that look nice, around a place looks like a dump. “One corner of the yard, though, bewildered Maycomb. Against the fence, in a line were six…jars holding brilliant red geraniums, cared for tenderly…” (Doc A). Her father thought that people would view him differently, but they …show more content…
At the time that this story was taken place the Jim Crow Laws were restricting the rights of African Americans. There was no way Tom could have won this case because he was an African American male going a white male. “Now don’t you be so confident, Mr. Jem, I ain’t ever seen any jury decide in favor of a colored man over a white man…” (Doc D). Even Reverend Sykes, an African American knew that an all-white jury would never rule in favor of a black man. Mr. Gilmer, the Ewell’s lawyer, speaks hatefully to Tom. Dill, Scouts friend thinks that the way Mr. Gilmer is treating Tom wrong. “It was just him I couldn’t stand; Dill said … ‘that old Mr. Gilmer doin’ him thataway, talking so hateful to him… the way that man called him “boy’ all the time an” sneered at him…” (Doc C). Most people knew that the Ewells were lying, but it didn’t matter they still won because they were white. In race, Mayella because she was white was more powerful than
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.
Mr. Ewell leaned back again. Except when he’s drinking. asked Atticus so gently that Mayella nodded.” (Doc B) This quote shows how Mayella was powerless because of her economic class.
Accused of raping a poor white girl, innocent Tom Robinson is now faced with a desperate trial. “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, an assumption one associates with minds of their caliber.” (Lee 273). Atticus delivers a powerful speech to the courthouse audience highlighting the disturbing truth of the unfair society. Although there was substantial evidence proving Tom’s innocence against Mayella Ewell, Tom was convicted for the rape the Ewell’s made up to disguise their guilty faults. The stereotypical accusation of the unjustifiable verdict costed Tom his life, when he grew “tired of white men’s chances and preferred to take his own.” (Lee 315). There are always two sides to a story and specifically someone from the black community had their strong opinion on those of the white community. When Calpurnia brought Jem and Scout to her church, they were interrogated by an angered Lula. “You ain’t got no business bringin’ white chillun here-they got their church, we got our’n.” (Lee 158). Lula makes a stereotypical judgement, after seeing Jem and Scout she immediately labels them white, and we can infer her thoughts are pulled from her prior knowledge of the stereotypical racist white community. She has never met Jem and Scout yet is quick to group
To Kill A Mockingbird displays an environment where one must be inhumane to another in order to become socially compatible. Maycomb has established a hierarchy where social compartmentalisation is the way of life. Men with a profession and a career are superior, while the farmers are near the bottom of the social strata and are considered inferior. No matter which remarkable qualities Negroes possess, they are always s...
When describing Mayella’s family, “[Ewell’s] place by the dump is highly symbolic in that they are truly the discards of society” ( “Critical Reading: The Margins of Maycomb: A Rereading of To Kill a Mockingbird” 174). However, Mayella is often described as being different from her family. She does her best to keep clean and even plants red geraniums where she lives. “Mayella plants flower to bring beauty to her house near the junkyard” (“Critical Contexts: To Kill a Mockingbird: Successes and Myths” 33). These flower symbolize hope for Mayella. The red geraniums symbolize beauty and a better life for Mayella as she tries to make distract herself from her unsettling
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.
In the courtroom that night it is revealed that the alleged crimes of Tom Robinson, a decent Negro man, most likely did not happen. As Atticus says in his closing argument, "The state has not produced one iota of medical evidence to the effect that the crime Tom Robinson is charged with ever took place. It has relied instead upon the testimony of two witnesses whose evidence has not only been called into serious question on cross-examination, but has been flatly contradicted by the defendant. The defendant is not guilty, but somebody in this courtroom is” (Lee 271). Showing the clear innocence of Tom Robinson due to lack of evidence, Scout thinks that the white jury will do the right thing only to find out that they still, unfairly, accuse him of being guilty. Scout and her brother, Jem, get very upset when they hear the verdict, however, it allows them both to learn the lesson that the county is unfair towards anyone who is not white. The county demonstrates this evil racism due to the social divisions in Maycomb between the whites and the blacks and because the whites see the blacks as unworthy of rights and freedoms. It was not just the trial itself that displayed evil in the world, but the comments and arguments surrounding the case did
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
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
During the 1930’s, there was this evil assumption that Atticus draws attention to which is that “....all Negro men are not to be trusted around our women…”( Harper Lee TKAM 273). With that in the minds of all the townspeople, Mayella being a “helpless” female amongst the lowest of the low gave her continuous power in the case against Tom Robinson. Moreover, being a female prompted the town to want to protect Mayella even more. The white to black ratio was unwavering in the 1930’s. Even though white people look down upon her, when it came time for Mayella’s case against Tom Robinson her class was disregarded and her race and gender trumped all.
...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.
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
Tom Robinson’s trial, and in fact his entire life, was badly affected by racism. It is truly a testament to the corruption of society when a person who has earned a bad reputation is held in higher esteem than a person who was born with it, as is the case with Bob Ewell and Tom Robinson. Even though Tom was obviously honest in his testament, the jury sided with Bob Ewell because he was white. They made this decision despite the fact that the Ewell family was widely known to be a worthless part of society. Jem, not being racially prejudiced, could not understand this mentality. As Atticus pointed out, “If you (Jem) had been on the jury, son, and eleven other boys like you, Tom would be a free man.”
Mayella, the woman defending against Robinson, comes from a low income and low educated family, making them a poor family. Yet Mayella’s word is still favored against Tom because she still holds a higher social status than Tom just because she is white. In fact, in the novel, Atticus has an important quote regarding the court system that is still true today, “In our courts, when it’s a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins.” (Lee, H. (1960). To kill a mockingbird. Philadelphia: Lippincott. pg. 251-252).