How Does Mayella Ewell Have Compassion

Compassion can be practiced to create a better world for children and future generations. Compassion is a kind act or an understanding of how others are feeling in a situation. Although it is kind to offer compassion to someone, in some situations, people’s actions can cause them to be undeserving of compassion. In To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, Mayella Ewell is part of the lowest-class family in Maycomb. Her family is very poor, never goes to school, and she has to work on her family's farm a lot. Mayella Ewell accuses an African American, Tom Robinson, of raping her, and she goes on trial against Tom. This trial is motivated by race, and whose word the judges trust more. Mayella knows that every white person is trusted more than an

The division in race causes Tom Robinson to be scared for his life. He understands that even being near a white woman as an African American is not an acceptable position to be in. Scout explains, “I did not understand the subtlety of Toms predicament: he would not have dared strike a white woman under any circumstances and expect to live long, so he took the first opportunity to run-a sure sign of guilt” (Lee 260-261). Tom understands the division in race and how he is in a lower class than the least respected white family. He would never ever try to do something to hurt another soul, much less a white woman. He is a compassionate person and was only trying to help Mayella with her chores when she came up and tried to make a move on Tom even though he did not do anything wrong. Mayella takes advantage of people and their Achilles heels. Mayella does not give compassion to others; accordingly, she is not entitled to compassion. Compassion could be described as “a mental state or an orientation towards suffering” (Jazaieri). Compassion is an empathetic feeling that is able to detect when someone is feeling down or is undergoing a challenging situation. If someone feels compassion, they have a want to cause someone relief from their suffering. Mayella does not deserve relief from her home life becasue she caused worse suffering to a kind and unsuspecting