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How Does Mayella Ewell Use Class Power In To Kill A Mockingbird

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Power can come in all different forms. Throughout history, societies have enslaved others because of race and similarities to that race. Class power dictates the economic structure of all societies, having class power, whether it is in wealth or having it socially, builds up the structure. Gender power comes from the roles, behavior, and attitudes for men and women. In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird, Mayella Ewell is a white poor southern woman who accuses Tom Robinson, a black man of rape. She uses her gender and racial power to have this man killed. Mayella Ewell is powerful because she is able to destroy another man’s life to save her own. Mayella is powerful when it comes to gender because she is able to use her femininity …show more content…

Mayella may not a lot of class power, but she is powerful when it comes to race and gender power because society has an assumption about what Atticus is saying and she uses that inequality to win over the jury. Mayella has very little to no class power, but using her other powers she is able to victimize …show more content…

She is able to use her racial power to accuse and win the trial against Tom. During the trial, it was clear what had actually happened, but when Jem and Reverend Sykes are talking, Jem is sure that the jury will find Tom not guilty, but Sykes knows what will actually happen, “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…” (Lee, D). With all the wisdom that comes with age, Reverend Sykes knows that Tom Robinson will be found guilty, not because he committed the crime but because he is a black man and Mayella is a white woman going against him. Not only was Tom dealing with racism, but also Martin Luther King, Jr. who was a black man who tried to fight segregation with peace and he writes a letter to show to the white people what it is like to be a black man in society, “I guess it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say "wait." But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick, brutalize, and even kill your black brothers and sisters with impunity;” (King, I). Tom Robinson was a black man who was accused and has felt the “stinging darts of segregation” especially when Mayella calls rape against him and he is convicted for a crime he did not commit all because he is black and she is white.

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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, “...

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397 Words | 2 Pages

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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398 Words | 2 Pages

Mayella, a poor white girl, accused Tom Robinson, a black male, of raping her. Does Mayella have the ability to do something or be strong in her class, gender, and race? Mayella doesn’t have much power in her class and gender but she does have power in her race. First of all, Mayella isn’t powerful in her class.

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492 Words | 2 Pages

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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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.

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420 Words | 2 Pages

To Kill a Mockingbird Writing Assignment Everybody wants power in Maycomb like Mayella Ewell. A searus trial was held between Mayella Ewell a white woman and a Tom Robinson a black who was guilty by a white judge. Because of her race ultimately makes her powerful. Do to her being poor it make people avoid talking to her.

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726 Words | 3 Pages

This case will be taken to court were Atticus Finch will defend Tom Robinson the defendant and Mr. Gilmer will defend Mayella the victim. Mayella’s race gives her a lot of power because in this time people thought whites were more of people than blacks, this was the 1930’s the Jim Crow Laws were still in act which prevented blacks from doing different things the whites could do. Since Mayella is a white woman

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607 Words | 3 Pages

“ … Confident that you gentlemen would go along with them on the assumption --- the evil assumption --- that all Negroes lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral beings, that all Negro men are not to be trusted around our women, an assumption one associates with the minds of their caliber.” said Atticus in To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee in (204). In this situation the jury was going on about Tom Robinson raping Mayella Ewell and Atticus proving what people are assuming. These are the people that believe in other people’s word. Racial Inequality has not only been shown in To Kill A Mockingbird pages, but it has been seen everywhere around the world. It takes place when Atticus was having a conversation with Jem about juries and their lack of equality.

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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

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99 Words | 1 Pages

In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, there sits a small sleepy old town in Maycomb, Alabama. Main character Mayella Ewell. Who has her characteristics made up of her class, race and gender. These three factors are to determine how she is as powerful as a hurricane, when it comes to accusing Tom Robinson in court for rape.

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He was extremely optimistic that Tom would be set free immediately. However, Reverend Sykes provided a more realistic opinion on the matter, “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” (Lee 238)... In this time where racial inequity ran high, a black person winning over a white simply would not happen. Colored people at this time did not have hope of a fair trial in any court, and when Tom was convicted his last shard of hope

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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.

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701 Words | 3 Pages

Because of her vulnerability as a woman and a very low-class status, she’s powerless, but her privilege as a white person in a racist society is very powerful. Mayella is powerless because of her gender. In the trial, it’s revealed that Mayella is physically, verbally, and sexually abused by her father. Because Mayella can often be intimidated by her father, as a result of her gender, she wasn’t able to stand up to him, and his abusive characteristics towards her.

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1605 Words | 7 Pages

She is oppressed, she is angry because she is not free. When Atticus faced her with this truth and respects her needs of having a better life for herself in the trial scene, she thought he is making fun of her and refused to answer his question, this scene unveil Mayella’s anger, actually by saying that anger has two types positive anger and negative anger, this one can be considered as a negative one. The Ewells know that they were the poorest in the novel, the only thing that gives them value is they are white; they use this to discriminate themselves. Bob Ewell, is Mayella’s father, the villain of the novel and most figures that struts hatred to the African Americans. Bob Ewell has no money, no education, he wants his life to be better, and he pours his anger on whoever is weaker than him.

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149 Words | 1 Pages

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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