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Loneliness In To Kill A Mockingbird

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Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird is about a young girl and her family’s life as they grow up in Maycomb County, Alabama. During this time Scout and Jem experience the trial of Tom Robinson and the mystery of man named Boo Radley. A central theme in To Kill A Mockingbird is that loneliness can have a deeply harmful effect on society. One of the ways in which the story examines the concept that lonesomeness can considerably harm society is how Mayella Ewell’s loneliness leads to the trail of rape against Tom Robinson. During the trial Tom Robinson is testifying about the events about the Ewells’ residence. “The witness swallowed hard. ‘She reached up an‘ kissed me ’side of th‘ face... She says, ‘Kiss me back, nigger.’ I say Miss Mayella lemme outa here an‘ tried to run but she got her back to the door…’” (Lee 260). Here we see how Mayella threw herself at Tom without Tom’s consent. Everyone seems to agree that Mayella seems very lonely. Even scout says,”’ that Mayella Ewell must have been the loneliest person in the world”’ (Lee 256). It seems that due both to Mayella living with just her family and being an outcast in society, her loneliness compels her to plunge Tom and her family into trouble. Her actions lead to problems for everyone in the …show more content…

When the characters are first introduced the narrator speaks of a ramshackle home at the end of the street and. “Inside the house lived a malevolent phantom...When people’s azaleas froze in a cold snap, it was because he had breathed on them. Any stealthy small crimes committed in Maycomb were his work. Once the town was terrorized by a series of morbid nocturnal events: people’s chickens and household pets were found mutilated; although the culprit was Crazy Addie, who eventually drowned himself in Barker’s Eddy, people still looked at the Radley Place...” (Lee

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1434 Words | 6 Pages

The jury learns that in the Ewell household, they were uneducated, which Mayella says, “There was no need for the rest of them to learn- Papa needed them at home” (Lee, p.245) This proves that they, especially Mayella, did not know literature and laws. If she had learned the laws, she would have known it was illegal for a white woman to kiss a black man. If she were to acknowledge the law, she would not kiss Tom Robinson and this situation would not occur in the first place.

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293 Words | 2 Pages

" This is trying to say that no matter what they will always belief Mayella. “Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed. ”(pg.241)This is an example of injustice and racism as well then Tom was scared he would have to go through the consequences of something

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638 Words | 3 Pages

Tom Robinson is saying this quote because, he is trying to defend himself on the stand. Tom knows that he did not rape Mayella so he is trying to get his point across the jury and judge that he is innocent of the rape of Mayella Ewell.. Tom should not have felt bad for a white woman because she has to chores. Mayella should have told Tom that that was part of her daily life. “ The evil assumption- that all Negroes lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral beings, that all negro men are not to be trusted around women”.

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188 Words | 1 Pages

On page 256 Scout feels that Mayella is lonely because she is a mixed child,Mayella comes from whites and black people side. Mayella lives in a poor town where blacks live and some white people so whites won’t talk to her. Black people wont talkj to her beacuse she has white blood in her so they put her aside. During the court Atticus asked her if she has any friuends she did not know what friends ment she thought that Atticus was making

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609 Words | 3 Pages

“Atticus was quietly building up before the jury a picture of the Ewells’ home life… and there was a strong suspicion that Papa drank it up anyway.” (Narrator 244). Atticus portrays Mayella’s life at home, he tries to get the jury to feel sorry for her which helped him to be successful in the trial. Since Atticus was acting so nice and acting like he relates to Mayella, she eventually let her guard down and got cornered by Atticus. Atticus “trapped” Mayella, and the only reason he was successful in doing so was because of his solicitude.

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709 Words | 3 Pages

Mayella was not favored by the people in Maycomb. She was extremely poor and never spoke on any harassment she suffered from her father. Tom Robinson attempts to get the truth out in the open when he is giving his testimony, “She said what her papa do to her don’t count” (Doc B). Mayella doesn’t fully understand that her father is physically abusive towards her. To her it’s just love.

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118 Words | 1 Pages

Mayella father must have been an alcoholic and raped her during the month of November. Mayella wants to try to protect her dad from getting accused of raping her when it actually happened and falsely accuse Tom Robinson.

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1438 Words | 6 Pages

Sleepy Maycomb, like other Southern towns, suffers considerably during the Great Depression. Many things happen, and poverty, racism, and violence encompass nearly everyone in Maycomb. Poverty, racism, and violence reaches from the privileged families, like the Finches, to the Negroes and “white trash” Ewells, who live on the outskirts of town. Harper Lee paints a vivid picture of life in this humid Alabama town where nearly everything explodes into conflict. The theme of racism, poverty, and violence is present throughout nearly every chapter in To Kill a Mockingbird.

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436 Words | 2 Pages

Her being a white woman in the 1930’s in Maycomb, Alabama helps because, of the Jim Crow laws which was made to segregate the black and white people. The trial of Mayella being raped by Tom Robinson is based on race because, Tom Robinson is a Negro and does not have power. Mr. Gilmer said to Tom Robinson “Are you being impudent to me,boy?’’. ("DBQ is Mayella Ewells powerful" 17). Tom is a grown man and has two kids and a wife and should not be called a boy by calling him that Mr.Gilmer is showing that he does not have respect for Tom, he should be called sir which shows respect.

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1046 Words | 5 Pages

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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1253 Words | 6 Pages

By analyzing the struggle of these individuals throughout Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, the reader observes that the prejudiced society hurts the mockingbirds; this is important because the author demonstrates it is a sin to harm an innocent being. To start, Mayella Ewell symbolizes a mockingbird that the discriminatory society misjudges as a result of her low social class. When Scout is in first grade, readers see that the Ewells are poor and struggle to survive. Atticus tells Scout, “the Ewells had been the disgrace of Maycomb for three generations” (Lee 40).

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934 Words | 4 Pages

Perhaps your reputation is destroyed or maybe a lifetime of utter loneliness has taken its toll on you, is it any excuse for murder? In Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Mayella Ewell’s isolation leads her to fall for and advance on Tom Robinson, which results in her father, Bob Ewell seeing this as an opportunity to accuse Tom of raping his daughter and forcing her to lie in court. This false accusation can lead to a death penalty and Tom who is at a clear disadvantage due to his race doesn’t stand a chance. In the article written by Studs Terkel, American Dreams: Lost and Found, it reiterates the idea that our life experiences take part of who we are and partly shape us, but it is mainly up to ourselves to choose who we are. Three prominent themes in To Kill a Mockingbird are lost honor, loneliness as destruction, and will to survive.

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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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616 Words | 3 Pages

“‘... What did her father do? We don’t know, but there is circumstantial evidence to indicate that Mayella Ewell was beaten savagely by someone who led almost exclusively with his left(Doc B)....’” Mayella knows that no white man will love her, because she is poor, so she goes to the next best thing which is Tom. “She reached up an’ kissed me’ side of th’ face(Doc B).” Based on the evidence she is powerless based on her

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476 Words | 2 Pages

Is Mayella Ewell powerful? That is the question that we are asking in “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee. Mayella is a poor girl who is occasionally abused by her father Bob Ewell. She has not had an easy life, her mother walked out to get away from Bob, and did not take Mayella with her, but she is a smart person, this is a point that is often overlooked until she gets into court with Tom. Of course, some of us know that Mayella is powerful, she has the power to basically decide the fate of a person such as Tom Robinson and controlling a situation.

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