How Does Harper Lee Use Gender Inequality In To Kill A Mockingbird

Race, class, and gender interact to create challenges in different societies. Power is the ability to control one’s life or the lives of others. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee gave a realistic depiction of how the society of the SOuth was during the 1930’s. It demonstrated how prejudice, violence, and racism not as unavoidable but the effect fear, insecurity, selfishness, and willingness to stand up against injustice influence individuals. In the novel, Mayella is not powerful.

The color of Mayella’s skin puts her ablove the black community, but Mayella and her family are the lowest level of class compared to the other whites. In the passage , it states that “Maycomb’s Ewells lived behind the town garbage dump in what was once a Negro cabin… Its windows were merely open spaces in the wall”(Lee). The Ewells were the dirt of the town. Whether or not they won the case people would see them no different than before. Harper Lee writes, “He thought he’d be a hero, but all he got for his pain… was okay we’ll convict this Negro, but get back to your dump.” In Maycomb County, no one wanted to associate with the Ewells. The black

When Tom Robinson is testifying, he describes the interaction he had with Mayella Ewell:” She says what her papa do to her do not count”(Lee). It can be inferred that Mayella was often physically, verbally, and sexually abused by her father. Because Mayella lacks self confidence or it was torn down by her father, she does not have the power to make a change in her life at home or others around her. In the passage it states that” Mayella was beaten savagely by someone who led almost exclusively with his left”(Lee). Atticus believes Bob Ewell is the offender who had beaten his daughter especially since Tom Robinson has nonfunctional left arm. In the attempt, to gain power she costed Tom Robinson his life because control him in this situation made her feel