Is Mayella Ewell Sympathetic

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We have all felt sympathy towards others during our lifetime. We have all been told ¨to put yourself in someone else's shoes.¨ Sympathy for others is a difficult thing to accomplish, but once we feel it, it's even harder to forget. It is an emotional response that includes understanding, and being touched by the suffering of another. In the story To Kill a Mockingbird, Mayella Ewell is a sympathetic character, because she is lonely, defenseless, and poor.
The Ewell children only came to school on the first day each year. Mayella never had any friends because of her school attendance. She had no one her age to talk to and no one to care for her. No one to share her secrets and feelings to. Imagine walking down the school hall, and everyone stares at you differently. Some feel pity, others feel disgust, and you feel ashamed. ¨As Tom Robinson gave his testimony, it came to me that Mayella Ewell must have been the loneliest person in the world. She was even …show more content…

¨A young girl walked to the witness stand. As she raised her hand and swore that the evidence she gave would be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help her God, she seemed somehow fragile-looking, but when she sat facing us in the witness chair she became what she was, a thick-bodied girl accustomed to strenuous labor.¨ Even though her lies put an innocent man in jail to eventually get killed, Mayella's reason was to protect herself from her father. Mayella is frightened of what her father can do, so she lies in front of the jury. Yes, she puts an innocent man in jail, but did she have a choice? Her testimony seemed scripted and practiced, like her father told her exactly what to say to the jury. Mayella knows she is lying and covering for her father, but she is afraid of what he may do to her if she doesn't follow his instructions. Mayella Ewell lies with a necessary

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