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Mayella ewell character analysis
Mayella ewell character
Mayella ewell character analysis
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Mayella Ewell is a white women of a low class going up against a black man in a court case on rape. Have you ever thought about how this would turn out or who is more socially powerful? Mayella won the court case, but that still does not make her powerful. Mayella lives in a very poor and low family, she is also a white woman who is claiming to have been raped by a black man named Tom Robinson. She is powerful up against Tom regarding her race since he is black in a time and place where racism is strongly present. That is still not enough to give her power because, she is a women and not respected or treated well. She also comes from a low income family that is usually referred to as “trash”. Mayella does have power regarding her race, but …show more content…
Her race is what will eventually allow her to win the case. However, even though she has power because of her race, she is still not socially powerful and is deemed as an outcast within her society. Maycomb county, the white part, do not deem the Ewells the same as them even though they are the same race, “an assumption one associates with minds of their caliber” (Document D). Even though the Ewells are white the rest of the county does not see them as the same “caliber” of the rest of the white people making their race unable to give them much social power. White people don’t want anything the do with their family because they are not as good of people as others, “white people wouldn’t have anything to do with her because she lived among pigs” (Document E). While she is white the white community doesn’t want anything to do with their family because they are considered “white trash” taking away a lot of her race power. To sum things up, Mayella won the court case because of her race. She overall does not have much power and even though she is white the rest of the white community doesn’t accept them. Her family, although white, is not given much power socially and in the
Is Mayella Ewell powerful?That is the question that is asked and must be answered.Throughout the story” To kill a mockingbird” Mayella shows some glimpses of power, but not enough to say she is powerful.For example, in the beginning she shows that she cannot even control her home life so how can she be powerful.Also she shows that she is just too poor for her to have power.Now in the next three paragraphs I will explain my thinking on why I believe Mayella is not powerful.
It is Mayella's deceit that brings Tom Robinson to trial. Though she may not be forgiven for this lie, Atticus and Scout feel sympathy for her because of the terrible poverty in which she lives. Whenever Scout feels sorry for Mayella we do as well as we are viewing the trial from her point of view.
Power is something that can be given right at birth, or it could be something that is worked for throughout life. Race, class, and gender all affect how powerful someone is. Why was it that in the early 1900’s if someone was black, a female, and were poor there was no way for them to gain power no matter what they did? If a person was white, a male and sometimes a female, and had tons of money; there was no rush in how much time there was for them to gain power. Back in the day when the book “ To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee was written people were known by other people by their race, gender, and class that they are. In the book, Mayella was white, which gave her a little power, but the reason she did not have much power was because she
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
In harper Lee's, To Kill A Mockingbird, Mayella Ewell is powerful because of her class, race, and gender. Mayella is powerful because she is white women so that means that she has an advantage of some rights. During the Jim Crow Laws it restricted African American men to have an affair with white women. When Mayella went to court for Tom Robinson, Tom Robinson gets convicted of rape and goes to jail, but when Tom tries to escape prison he gets shot. When Mayella won her case against Tom Robinson, Mayella abusive father died. After Mayella won fer case against Tom Robinson, She went back to living in her family shack by the dumps.
To clarify, Mayella Ewell has little power in class because she has no friends. Tom Robinson feels bad for her which leads Tom to help her. Mayella lives poorly and is described as dirt poor. Many people do not like her and do not get around her. Tom Robinson was the only so called “friend” that she had. Tom was only trying to help her out and she ruined it. Then she blames everything on Tom in court.
Over all, Mayella is powerful. With race and gender on her side, there is not a single thing Tom Robinson could have done to save himself. But in the society then, it would not matter if Tom Robinson had more power or not. It would still be extremely consequential if they had let a black man win a trial against a white
Again mayella lacks power because of her class as being part of one of the poorest families in town. This means in any situation if it came down to it rich man or female could win over mayella. The ewell family could barely afford a home ,(document a)“Maycomb's ewells lived behind the town garbage dump in what was once an african american cabin used in slavery.” The ewells take what they can get and try to keep it , if they make the wrong people mad they could lose everything. Mayella ewell was just about disgraced by everyone except for african americans,(document e)”As Tom Robinson gave his
2.Mayella race gives her power. In court mayella is automactically gives her respect because of her race . but when tom robinson testifies he is shown disrepect by being called
Some people might argue that Mayella is powerful because, she is white. Mayella said Tom did not matter because he is black. “After all he’s just a Negro” (Lee document C). Since Mayella is white she has more power over Tom Robinson. Scout said “Negro people wouldn’t have anything to do with her because she was white” (Lee document E). Mayella means nothing to the black people because she is white. Even Though Mayella might love a racial advantage, ultimately she is not powerful because, she is a women.
Mayella Ewell accuses Tom Robinson of raping her. Although she is pressing charges, she has very little power in this situation. Race had a huge impact on power in the 1930’s. White people garnered more power and respect than black people in society in this time, which also extended to the court of law. However, race was the only aspect that Mayella had going for her. Although Mayella was white, she was poor and women did not get a lot of respect back in this time period. Mayella had the power to change Tom’s life, but not enough to change her own.
To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in Maycomb County, an imaginary district in southern Alabama. Maycomb was an old southern town where the streets are not paved and the courthouse was described as sagging in the square. The time was in the 1930’s during The Great Depression, many people were poor and did not have much education. The Ewell family fit this description perfectly, Mayella Ewell struggled with having power in the small town of Maycomb. Is Mayella powerful? Mayella is considered weak in the novel, because of her race, class, and gender. This paper will explain how Mayella is considered “powerless” on many occasions.
...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.
To begin with, the Cunninghams are a family that exemplifies how money and class can be a near impossible boundary to overcome. While they are a family with commendable values, such as never accepting something they cannot pay back, they can never be as good as some of the other townspeople. This is simply because the Cunninghams have less money than most. Additionally, a family that finds it hard to overcome the boundary of class is the Ewell family. While Bob Ewell has dragged his family into the situation of poverty and recklessness they are in, the children are now trapped in a class that is looked down upon by everyone but African Americans. Nobody in Maycomb County will associate themselves with the children, which becomes apparent in the trial when Mayella is questioned about having friends her own age and responds with “You makin’ fun o’me agin, Mr. Finch?” (208). By Mayella’s hostile and defensive reaction, it can be deemed that she doesn’t have friends. This all shows that the Ewell children have a barrier around them that unjustly isolates them from all the other white people of Maycomb based on their poverty and father. Lastly, boundaries of class are maintained by the women of Maycomb County, particularly Aunt Alexandria. The most important thing to Aunt Alexandria is heritage, which creates an unjust way of judging people based on the actions of those who have come before them. She shows how important silly things can be to those who need another reason to feel they are better than others, therefore perpetuating the social class system of Maycomb. As it has been clearly demonstrated, class is a boundary in Maycomb
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).