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Essay On Mayella Ewell's Identity In To Kill A Mockingbird

838 Words4 Pages

Alicen Figueroa
Mrs.Vaniman
English 2 Accelerated
28 February 2023 Mayellas analyzation “Yes suh I felt sorry for her, she seemed to try more’n the most of ‘em–” “You felt sorry for her, you felt sorry for her?”(Lee, 264) In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Mayella Ewell, the white daughter of Bob Ewell convicts an innocent black man of raping her. In Maycomb county, citizens saw the Ewells as a disappointing family. Their children went to school one day out of the year, only two people in the household were able to read and write, and their Father Bob Ewell was living off of support from the government. In the novel, Mayella Ewell convicts Tom Robinson of raping her. Her identity, society’s impact on society, and the importance …show more content…

Mayella Ewell was a white woman. During the 1900s, being white was known to be superior to any other race. In most cases, if the same case between Tom Robinson and Ms. Mayella was between a white woman and a white man, the white man would not be convicted nor would the trial even continue because of the lack of evidence. In this incident, however, Tom Robinson was accused and convicted of raping Ms. Mayella. During the trial, Atticus even stated that “You know the truth, and the truth is this: some Negroes lie. Some Negroes are immoral, some Negro men are not to be trusted around women–black or white. But this is a truth that applies to the human race and to no particular race of men.”(273) Atticus had to state that not all black people were liars, immoral, to not be trusted and it did not apply to just one race but men. In the quote, it showed that society at this time did not think highly of colored people. Mayella was able to easily win the case because she was a white female and she was against a black male who was inferior to her race. Ms.Mayella knew the power she held for being white and the effects that would happen for convicting a black man. She took advantage of her power as a white privileged woman and convicted an innocent man which showed readers her identity being power in the …show more content…

He was an innocent man who was only trying to help Mayella because it “Looks like she didn’t have nobody to help her.” (263) He said he felt sorry for her but because she is a white woman who was living in a racist and prejudice society in the 1900s, he was convicted because a white woman supposedly doesn’t lie. This impacted society because Tom Robinson had a family. He had kids, a wife, and parents which all were harmed during this trial. For example, His wife relied on Tom Robinson to earn income for them to survive but because he was no longer with them, she had to figure out a way to take care of her kids and earn an

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