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
Second, Mayella isn’t powerful in her gender. In
Another reason how Mayella is powerful is by her gender. It states that he “... tried to help her…”. This is saying since Mayella is a girl that a guy will do anything to help a girl that needs help. It states “yes, suh I felt sorry for her…”. According to this statement, it
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.
Therefore knowing that Mayella is a woman it indicates that she is not the strongest in the household.
Power isn’t something given it is something earned. Well did Mayella earn her power? Due to Mayella’s class and gender her power may be limited. How do Mayella’s class, gender, and race affect her power? Well maybe she’s powerless, and because of her advantages she earns a limited amount of respect giving her power.
In Conclusion to this Mayella did not have as much power when it came to her class level, because her family was very poor and people often called them trash. As in result to this document A
She lives in a terrible house with a lot siblings and a abusing father who drinks all the time, they are very poor. Since they are so low on the scale no one pays any attention to them, the whites have nothing to do with the Ewells because of how low class they are and the blacks don’t like them because of their race. Although Mayella has little schooling she is far from dumb, she is very powerful in multiple ways like even though all she has been through she tries to stay positive. She does not have any proper manners or does not talk properly for example when Atticus is talking to her in court she says “won't answer a word you say long as you keep on mockin’ me”("DBQ Is Mayella Powerful" 17) Atticus replies
Although due to being a poor, uneducated woman whom is treated like an object, Mayella is not a powerful character. For 19 years of Mayella’s life she has been
Mayella Ewell, is a caring and nurturing white girl growing up in the 1930s. She lives in Maycomb, Alabama. Which is a racist community. However Mayella is not seen as much better because she is very poor. So she tries to get power in the only way she knows how.
In the book "To Kill A Mockingbird" power is based on class, gender, and race. In the story Mayella Ewell is powerful because she planned everything that she wanted to happen and she had control over most of it. She also had some control on how she wanted it to go. If she did not have power, she would've maybe lost the case or people would not believe her. In the book, Mayella is describes as dirt poor.
Mayella is not powerful due to her gender and class, but all people white have an advantage over blacks. Mayella has less power because of her gender. Back then the priority was men. They got to make all the big decisions and they were believed more because
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.
Mayella Thoughts of having an affair with a black man is exciting in a dangerous sort of way, but more importantly, making advances toward Tom gives Mayella power. This completely powerless woman has total control over Tom. Something that she has never had as the part of the ewell family the lowest of the white people, only them making their family respectable is the fact that they are white. But dangerous in that she is toying with social norms and if caught can become even lower in society for doing something unthinkable in the time period this novel takes place in trying to seduce a black man. Mayella throughout the novel only feels loneliness she belongs to The Ewells family, they are the lowest of the low amongst the whites in Maycomb.
What does Power really mean overall? Do we really even know what it means to have power or do we think of power as what we want it to be? This book is about many things, growing up in the south, and being around prejudice people, also a white woman Mayella Ewell claiming to be raped by a black man Tom Robinson. How would where and how you live, or her being a female, also her race effect her power in Maycomb, Alabama. Although Mayella class and gender do not make her powerful how does her race make her powerful.
