Sophia Hoeflicker Mrs. Hewlett English 1H-2 26 January 2023 Is Mayella Ewell Worthy of Compassion? Compassion is a natural human emotion that is felt for others, but those whose lies could do great harm, do not merit it. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, a 19 year old woman by the name of Mayella Ewell had errorneously accused a black man of raping her. In 1930s Alabama, racism was a prominent part of life; in most cases, when blacks were accused of a crime, they would end up being found guilty. Being a lonely, abused girl in hysterics in court, Mayella Ewell induced others in the courtroom to have compassion for her, but not everyone held compassion for a woman telling a lie that could have an innocent man put to death. Mayella Ewell …show more content…
Atticus Finch, a powerful local attorney defending the accused Tom Robinson, questioned Mayella about the event. However, it is evident that Mayella’s recollection of the event was not consistent and she ended up sobbing hysterically on the stand. The markings on her body seem as though they had been inflicted by a left-handed individual. Tom does not physically have a left hand, but Mayella’s own father, Robert “Bob” E. Lee Ewell uses his dominantly.Mayella may be protecting her father from facing the charges and hurting her more, but she threw the blame on an innocent black man who could easily take the fall. While the accused Tom Robinson gave his testimony, he included a small detail that slightly entailed what Mayella’s father does to her. Tom attested, “She says …show more content…
Admittedly, she is a young girl who doesn’t know what a friend is, and had been placed under responsibility for her younger siblings and caring for the house her whole life. Although she is lying with intent to cover for her father, she may not know what else she could have done because of the two to three years of education she received. However, Mayella should have had the whole image of what she was doing in her mind. It is true that Mayella has never had much of a social life, but because her father implied what was wrong with her physically, she could have learned what was right. Placing the blame on a man who could easily be prosecuted for her injuries is something that can not be pitied and sympathized