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Examples Of Mayella Ewell's Power In To Kill A Mockingbird

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In To Kill A Mockingbird, based on class, gender, and race, Mayella Ewell does have power because, she has the power in the court and power over Tom. But one of her weakest points is her class, since she is poor, a lot of people look at them with no respect. But for her gender, she has power but little of it. During that time women had little power, but not as much as men. Mayella's strongest power is her race, she has power in court over Tom because she is white and Tom is African American.
In other words Mayella had little power in her class. People didn’t respect her because of her class, and you can tell Mayella is not used to being respected because in court Atticus calls Mayella “ma’am and miss” (DBQ Mayella, 15) and Mayella gets mad …show more content…

Women were only looked at for cleaning, washing clothes, and making things for the house. When Tom had told the court that Mayella had reached up to him and tried to kiss him. People didn’t believe him because women were not suppose to be doing things like that. People were more against Tom because he ran away when Bob Ewell saw him. For this reason, Mayella Ewells had a lot of power for the race. She had more power because she was white and that Tom was African American. Apart to why Tom had lost the case was because he had said “I felt bad for her.” During this time period African Americans were not supposed to feel sorry for Americans. At this time white people had more respect and privileges than African Americans. So people in court saw that as an insult. To put it differently, Mayella Ewells had power but, she had power in many differents ways. Her most powerful was her race. Her race had helped her out a lot due to Tom being African American. But for gender Mayella has power but no power. Mayella Ewell's weakest part about her is her class. She is really poor and has no education. Her class is what takes away her power. The conclusion is that Mayella is

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Because she is poor, people think she can not take care of herself or other things, but she can and tries, therefore proving that she has power. One might think that Mayella take care of the children of the house as well, not just herself and the

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One day in Maycomb, Alabama during the great depression a young girl named Mayella Ewell was raped. This shows Mayella is one powerful young girl in the story To Kill A Mockingbird. It will show how she is power through class, race, and gender. First Mayella is powerful through her class ranking. In the story it said that the “Maycomb’s Ewells lived behind the town garbage dump in what was once a Negro cabin…”.

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Although Mayella was powerful, due to her race, she was still a poor and young teenager. “Why were you so anxious to do that woman’s chores? Tried to help her, ‘you’re a mighty good fellow, ‘yes, suh, I felt sorry for her….’ ‘you felt sorry for her, you felt sorry for her. (“DBQ Is Mayella Powerful? 21”).

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When thinking of the term power, the upper rich class may come to mind. Mayella definitely does not live in the rich class. She lives in “the town’s garbage dump” (document A). In document E, they say that she lives by blacks, which back in their time was seen as a bad and poor thing to do.

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One would say she is not powerful because she is enclosed from the world, beaten by her father, and not very respected. For example, as Atticus asked Mayella to see if her father is good and tolerable to her, but she says “He does tollable, ‘cept when-”, ‘Except when he’s drinking?’ asked Atticus so gently that Mayella nodded. ”(Lee, Chapter 18) This would prove that Mayella has less power than usual when her father is drunk because, his gender as a male has the power over her and gets violent when drunk.

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The book also provided the reader with the following evidence, ¨The jury learned the following things: The relief check was far from enough to feed the family, and there was a strong suspicion that papa drank it up anyway - he sometimes went off in the swamp for days and came back home sick.¨ (page 244) On (page 245) we also learn, ¨there was a lady who came around sometimes and asked Mayella why she didn't stay in school - she wrote down the answer; with two members of the family reading and writing, there was no need for the rest of them to learn - Papa needed them at home.¨ This evidence shows that she needs to be working to provide for her family. Plus, she was the one who had to do everything in the house. Her life was basically working, doing chores, and obeying her father so that he wouldn't hurt her when coming home drunk.

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In the courtroom, when Atticus is questioning Mayella, he often calls her “miss Mayella.” Mayella is feeling offended from Atticus because she believes that he was exacerbating her. ”I’m not answering anymore questions until he stops

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Due to the fact Mayella is a female she isn’t able to be as powerful as she seems. Back in those times women barely had rights and now she’s waist deep in stuff she got herself in by forcing herself on

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Although Mayella claimed rape, it still does not change the town’s point of view on her. “Maycomb’s Ewells lived behind the town garbage dump in what was once a Negro cabin…. (Doc. A)” this explains and tells us that the Ewells are not rich nor do they have an abundant amount of money; since they do not have riches, that are not considered high-class nor middle-class, which mostly likely leads to the Ewells receiving little to no respect or value to the town. “White people wouldn’t have anything to do with her because she lived among pigs (Doc. E)” this statement proves that, although she is a white woman, no one would get involved in her business or life because of her background and her “atmosphere”. “Long’s he keeps callin’ me ma’am and sayin’ Miss Mayella.

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Mayella was was just a poor girl who had never been to school a day in her life and suffered so much abuse from her father, she didn’t give herself the opportunity to be powerful. In a time of oppression and depression Mayella standing up would have been a monumental change but she never seized it and took advantage, she let everyone else take advantage of

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In Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, Lee took the minor character of Mayella Ewell and made her into a sympathetic role to her readers in a latent way. Mayella's life at home is told through the story's background and foreshadowing references. This is how Lee made Mayella memorable enough to the reader to know who she is and her family situation without needing her point of view of her side of the story. Once Mayella enters the storyline, her actions will become understandable to the reader and generate sympathy. One way Lee makes Mayella a sympathetic character is how before entering her into the story, one of Mayella's younger siblings was introduced.

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But she said he took advantage of her, and when she stood up she looked at him as if he were dirt beneath her feet.” Mayella’s loneliness and powerlessness drove her to have an affair with a black man, breaking a societal code. She is a victim of poverty because of the hatred and discrimination occurring in Maycomb. Although some might view Mayella Ewell as a victim, others might view her as a villain because she broke a societal code by attempting to have an affair with a Negro.

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In the novel: To Kill A Mockingbird, Mayella Ewell, a poor white woman, accused Tom Robinson, an African American, of rape. The Ewell’s are very indigent and her father, Bob Ewell, gets drunk and abuses Mayella. Since Mayella is very poor, this makes her not so powerful. In Maycomb, Alabama, A poor white woman named Mayella Ewell who lives behind the town garbage dump, accuses Tom Robinson, an African American, of rape.

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During Tom Robinson’s testimony, Scout had epiphany. “As Tom Robinson gave his testimony, it came to me that Mayella must have been the loneliest girl in the world” was what she had said. Mayella’s loneliness can be clearly seen by anyone who talks to her. Furthermore, she does not know what it feels like to be treated politely. For example, when Atticus Finch calls her ma’am, she asks him to stop giving her attitude and then proceeds to yell at him.

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