In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird, the relationship of Tom Robinson and Mayella Ewell began as a positive relationship but quickly became a negative relationship once Mayella gave into her destructive impulses. Mayella Ewell’s lonely homelife, the terms of Tom Robinson and Mayella Ewell’s relationship, and Mayella Ewell’s betrayal of Tom Robinson in the end led to their ambiguous relationship’s demise.
Mayella Ewell is a nineteen year old girl. She lives with her father and many siblings in an old cabin. Mayella Ewell’s father is rarely helpful to her and is usually drunk. When Mr. Bob Ewell is under the influence of alcohol he often becomes abusive to Mayella. Mayella and Bob Ewell are the only two literate person in the household. When Mayella was younger, she went to school for a few years, but she stopped attending when she became old enough to work. Because she is always busy, due to her father's laziness, Mayella has no friends that are the same age as herself. Mayella’s one and only friend in the world is Tom Robinson, the black man who works
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Because Mayella was so lonely and ashamed of what she had done, Mayella accused Tom of raping her even when he resisted all of her sexual advances. When the case was taken to court, the jury ruled that Tom was guilty mainly because of his skin color.
In conclusion, because of this negative relationship, Mayella did something that was socially unacceptable, Tom was shot dead, and there was corruption throughout Maycomb County. Some men felt so much anger toward Tom they tried to kidnap him from jail just so they could kill him on their own. I believe the lesson the author, Harper Lee, is trying to teach is that unlike Mayella, we need to take responsibility for our actions. We should not allow other people to suffer consequences due to our own actions on other people like Mayella did to