Examples Of Mayella Ewell In To Kill A Mockingbird

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Mayella Ewell’s family was in the wrong for using Tom Robinson. In To Kill A Mockingbird Mayella Ewell is a young girl in Maycomb county who lives with her seven siblings and her daddy Bob Ewell. She claimed to be raped by an African American man named Tom Robinson while he was asked to help her around the house. Tom Robinson’s lawyer, Atticus Finch, later contradicted these words in court. Mayella’s family is wrong for using Tom Robinson for their own well-being to cover up their mistakes. Bob Ewell scares Mayella away from saying the truth about the situation because he will hurt her if she does not lie. Mayella is caught in a Lie when she says “No, I don’t recollect if he hit me. I mean yes I do, he hit me.” (Lee 188) Mayella stutters while on trial saying that Tom did not hit her but then quickly changes her story that he did. After Atticus asks to make sure of her answer she answers “Huh? Yes, he hit -- I just don’t remember, I just don’t remember…” She answered with this because she knew that she messed up her story and was scared of anyone catching on and has to play it off. This is another example of how Bob Ewell gets away with his actions by blaming it on Tom Robinson because he can not fix the situation himself. …show more content…

During Mayella’s trial in chapter seventeen, Bob Ewell mentions that “…he never thought of it, he had never called a doctor to any of his’n life, and if he would it would have cost him 5 dollars.” (Lee 178) In this statement, Bob is saying how he can not afford a doctor to come check on Mayella. When Bob says this it shows another reason for the Ewells to use Tom to cover up their mistake, because they do not have the money to afford a doctor they can blame the incident on Tom to not have to pay. He gets away with hitting Mayella during the trial but the town should have known he was not the most believable