ipl-logo

Examples Of Power In To Kill A Mockingbird

662 Words3 Pages

Power? Power is the ability to do something or act in a particular way, especially as a faculty or quality. Many people have power like the President, parents, the law, but not as much power as of what happens in the book “To Kill a Mockingbird” This story is about a great trial involving a man named Tom Robinson and a lady name Mayella. The story is based on a trial because the man Tom Robinson was accused of rape and the beating of Mayella. Mayella is going to be powerful and powerless. Is it possible Mayella is powerful in her class, gender, and race? Although Mayella is powerless when it comes to class and gender. Her race ultimately makes her powerful. Earlier in the book, Mayella is not an ordinary girl. She is a poor, lonely girl who doesn’t take sass too well. “One corner of the yard… bewildered… against the fence, …show more content…

Mayella was exacerbate when Atticus kept on calling her “Ma’am and miss.” (Doc:C) Judge Taylor told Mayella that Atticus was not making fun of her because he was being polite and of what she’s been through so Mayella got away with being rude to Atticus. “Now don’t you be so confident, Mr. Jem, ain’t ever seen any jury decide in a favor of a colored man over a white man…’” (Doc:D) The jury decided in favor of a colored man over a white man due to all the evidence that was found and leading to Mr. Ewell. “Tom Robinson was probably the only person who was ever decent to her.” (Doc:E) Tom helped Mayella with chores and not for one penny because he felt sorry for her and for her being white and left him vapid. In this time period race overpowered everything. Although Mayella is powerless when it comes to class and gender. Her race ultimately makes her powerful. Mayella from now on is going to have a strict life because Tom won the trial and leaving Mayella still poor, no family, and embarrassed because they chose a black man instead of a white

Show More
Related

To Kill A Mockingbird Mayella Powerful Quotes

401 Words | 2 Pages

I think Mayella is mostly powerful because of her race and here is how. There was quote on page nineteen of the DBQ that said “Now don’t you be so confident, Mr. Jem, I ain’t ever seen any jury decide in favor of a colored man over a white man…” This here showed us that not one single colored man ever beat a case against another man. And since Miss Mayella is a female, Tom is definitely going to have a hard time winning against her. There was another quote on page twenty-one that said, “...

Read More

How Is Mayella Powerful In To Kill A Mockingbird

492 Words | 2 Pages

Mayella can over take the court case that she is in just because she a white

Read More

Mayella's Power In To Kill A Mockingbird

638 Words | 3 Pages

Power is or means having control over someone or something. Although Mayella is powerful, class was where she suffered the most. “Maycomb’s Ewells lived behind the town garbage dump in what was once a Negro cabin.. Its windows were merely opens in the walls….what passed for a fence was bits of tree-limbs, broomsticks, and tool shafts….Enclosed

Read More

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

431 Words | 2 Pages

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.

Read More

Tom Robinson Trial Essay

894 Words | 4 Pages

She wanted to do to things with Tom and tempted him to do them. Tom fell into Mayella’s trap while trying to help her out. “She was white and she tempted a Negro. She did something that in our society is unspeakable: she kissed a black man. Not an old Uncle, but a strong Negro man.

Read More

How Does Mayella Ewell Change In To Kill A Mockingbird

422 Words | 2 Pages

Mayella is also the woman who accused the african american named Tom Robinson of raping her. For one thing in the novel Mayella does not show she has power. She does not come from

Read More

Mayella Ewell's Power In To Kill A Mockingbird

773 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More

To Kill A Mockingbird Dbq Analysis

709 Words | 3 Pages

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

Read More

To Kill A Mockingbird Dbq

118 Words | 1 Pages

Mayella was powerless in gender because she was always abused. “Mayella was beaten savagely by someone who lead almost exclusively with his left” (Document B). Based on this quote it shows that Mayella’s father had beaten her sexual, verbally, and physically. Tom Robinson also was crippled in his left hand which shows her father beat her. During the trial Atticus questions Mayella about if she loves her father and she response “he tollable, except when he is drinking” (Document B).

Read More

How Does Mayella Ewell Have Power In To Kill A Mockingbird

1161 Words | 5 Pages

A black man named Tom Robinson also lives in Maycomb and was accused of raping Mayella. While some may think that because of Mayella's race she can outdo her lack of power in social class and gender with the fact that she is white, but during the novel people's actions and reactions contradict that. Mayella did not have power with social class because she is from a poor family who is looked down upon by

Read More

To Kill A Mockingbird Dbq

1060 Words | 5 Pages

Mayella must have been crestfallen most of her life because she never had any friends and never had a social life. But Mayella “looked as if she tried to keep clean” this includes keeping herself clean and her belongings like her little section in the garden. (Doc A) Since her father spends all his paychecks on liquor and never takes care of his children and house Mayella must try and keep clean by herself. This is sad to see because Mayella is restricted by what she can do because of her father's irresponsible spending habits that keep them in a low class and abusive household. This is why Mayella's class makes her less powerful outside of court and in Maycomb’s

Read More

Character Analysis Of Mayella In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

958 Words | 4 Pages

One's personal opinion About Mayella is thinking if she is powerful or not, but in one's opinion she's not powerful due to the fact that she's a woman living in a poor neighborhood but the only thing she has as an advantage is that she's white. She tries to keep control over herself and tries her best to look like a normal person and not looking like a lower class citizen. On the other hand, she is powerful because she is white and accused Tom Robinson of rape and she got away with it. She isn’t powerful really due to the fact that she lives in a broken down home with an abusive father and been hurt mentally and physically and she's been getting more and more abused toward her life. Mayella had to think of a way to stop being with him so she said Tom Robinson sexually abused her even though it was a lie due to the fact Tom Robinson never did.

Read More

Essay On Mayella Ewell In To Kill A Mockingbird

732 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More

Mayella Abuse Quotes

996 Words | 4 Pages

Everybody has two different sides to him or her- one that is seen by others and one that is buried in their personal lives, completely hidden from others. People tend to perceive themselves as how they are seen by other people, but can open up or be exposed when they are put in that position. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, both of Mayella’s sides are evident. On the outside, she can be dismissed as a lying cheat, as she lied while on the witness stand.

Read More

Southern Womanhood In Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird

730 Words | 3 Pages

First, she had to make up a story about Tom Robinson because she had kissed a black man, which was frowned upon for a white woman to do. “She was white and she tempted a Negro. She did something that in our society in unspeakable: she kissed a black man”(272). Mayella is also used as an example when she convinces the jury to convict an innocent black man because of Southern Womanhood. “That n***** took advantage of me, an’ if you fine fancy gentlemen don’t wanna do nothin’ about it then you’re all yellow stinkin’ cowards, stinkin’ cowards, the lot of you”(251).

Read More

More about Examples Of Power In To Kill A Mockingbird

Related Topics

Open Document