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Literary analysis of to kill a mockingbird
Literary analysis for to kill a mockingbird
Literary analysis for to kill a mockingbird
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Danielle L. McGuire’s At the Dark End of the Street, “an important, original contribution to civil rights historiography”, discusses the topic of rape and sexual assault towards African American women, and how this played a major role in causing the civil rights movement (Dailey 491). Chapter by chapter, another person's story is told, from the rape of Recy Taylor to the court case of Joan Little, while including the significance of Rosa Parks and various organizations in fighting for the victims of unjust brutality. The sole purpose of creating this novel was to discuss a topic no other historian has discussed before, because according to McGuire they have all been skipping over a topic that would change the view of the civil rights movement.
In court, they 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 quote is saying because she is a white person that means that she will always win in court or get her way over a colored person. The people in the court say “that all Negroes lie, that all Negroes, men are not to be trusted…”. The quote is said, because that African Americans are liars that no one should trust or believe anything they say or do. Mayella most power is race because she is a white person and white people are the better people during this time.
Women were only looked at for cleaning, washing clothes, and making things for the house. When Tom had told the court that Mayella had reached up to him and tried to kiss him. People didn’t believe him because women were not suppose to be doing things like that. People were more against Tom because he ran away when Bob Ewell saw him. For this reason, Mayella Ewells had a lot of power for the race.
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
We see the story in the eyes of Jean Louis a.k.a. Scout. In this story, Tom Robinson (a Negro) is convicted of raping Mayella Ewell (a Caucasian) After this case Tom is pleaded guilty and dies in prison after he got shot. Seeing how Mayella Ewell easily took a life away from a young Black man, a question is posed throughout the end. ‘’Is Mayella Powerful’’
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.
Power is having control over something or someone's life, if you had power would you use it in a good or bad way? In the story “To Kill a Mockingbird” Mayella a white girl and a black man named Tom Robinson went to trial because Mayella said he raped her. After the trial was done Tom was sentenced to jail and found guilty because of Mayella’s power she had. What made this worse was that Tom was black so it would have been arduous for him to win the case. Although she was powerful when it came to class and gender her race made her most powerful.
At the same time, the southern rape complex includes a “passive, white, heteronormative woman” (Halpern 11). Mayella Ewell might have been considered white trash, nevertheless, in this case “she necessarily symbolizes the pure and sacred white Southern womanhood” (Vestil). The irrational fear of the black rapist stereotype made the southern society keen to protect their white superiority. A white female, regardless of class and at any cost, would have been believed, in contrast, a black male would never be trusted but he would be convicted of a capital crime. The jury into Kill a Mockingbird does not believe Mayella, but because of race Tom Robinson will be sentenced to death.
“Mayella was beat savagely by someone who led almost exclusively with his left… (Doc. B)” this quote shows Mayella receiving some attention due to her injuries. “He says you goddamn whore, I’ll kill ya (Doc. B)” Tom Robinson claimed that Mr. Ewell yelled this quote to Mayella, this shows what her father does not have much care for his own daughter. From this evidence, it seems that being a female had no difference to the society; especially to
Bob Ewell intimidated Mayella to lie on the witness stand, which led the jury to believe that she was telling the truth. You could tell that Mayella is under the intimidation of her father when she is testifying: “Mayella looked at her father, who was sitting with his chair tipped against the railing He sat up straight and waited for her to answer.” (Lee 245). As they were interrogating Mayella, she would constantly look at her father, as if she was waiting for approval. This implies that her father told her what to do and what to say.
I find that this example highlights the fact that while women had far less political power in society during the nineteenth century, the least the law could do was to protect the sexual integrity of women; However, African American women suffered from racial, gender and class discrimination that makes it difficult for them to prosecute those that sexually assault them. Furthermore, anger of white men were usually taken out on the wives of freed African American men and usually in the form of sexual assaults and this made the situation for African American women
Her desires were stronger than the code she was breaking. When she tried to put the evidence of her offense away, instead of being honest, she had put a man’s life in danger. However, Mayella is not a criminal. She is simply a woman who carries a heavy burden with no one to support or respect her. Mayella is a victim of abuse and
Despite all the mess going on around her, she tries to focus on her geraniums which are vibrant and lovely, exactly what she aspires to be. Once it’s Mayella’s turn to testify, she seems to be fragile as she appears on the stand according to Scout. Her father, Bob Ewell, is likely to blame for this, as his alcoholism leads him to often abuse his own daughter. Scout compares Mayella to Bob, who seems very dirty and unhygienic from a lack of showering, while “Mayella looked as if she tried to keep clean, and I was reminded of the row of red geraniums in the Ewell yard” (Lee 204). It appears that Mayella attempts to look presentable and Scout thinks this is similar to how she cares for the geraniums in her yard.
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.
Black women are treated less than because of their ascribed traits, their gender and race, and are often dehumanized and belittled throughout the movie. They are treated like slaves and are seen as easily disposable. There are several moments throughout the film that show the racial, gender, and class inequalities. These moments also show exploitation and opportunity hoarding. The Help also explains historical context of the inequality that occurred during that time period.
