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To Kill A Mockingbird Dbq Analysis

709 Words3 Pages

The 1930s was a very challenging time for america, it was the peak of the the Great Depression and the social oppression of women. The fictional novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is centered around the political issues america faced. The novel takes place in the fictional town of Maycomb Alabama where we look at the case of Tom Robinson against Mayella and Bob Ewell. The story goes that Tom Robinson went into the Ewell household and took advantage of Mayella and beat her. Although Mayella was actually the perpetrator, she won the case and Tom Robinson was sentenced to prison. 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 …show more content…

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. She doesn’t get a say in anything because to her nothing is wrong with what is happening to her. Mayella doesn’t know that she could speak her mind, it makes her powerless. In either case, Mayella Ewell had many chances to speak up for herself and tell the truth. Which possibly could have turned the entire case around she chose to stay quiet and comply with what everyone was telling her. Mayella was was just a poor girl who had never been to school a day in her life and suffered so much abuse from her father, she didn’t give herself the opportunity to be powerful. In a time of oppression and depression Mayella standing up would have been a monumental change but she never seized it and took advantage, she let everyone else take advantage of

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Someone who is abused can not be in control. Control is power, and power is something you have to earn. Mayella is trying to earn power but in the wrong way. She also does not have an education, which is also one way to gain power. Mayella is also a lower class lady, which takes away from her having power.

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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

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Although Mayella is powerless when it comes to Class, and Gender, her Race ultimately, makes her powerful. Although, Mayella is not powerful in this story. “Maycomb’s Ewells lived behind the town garbage dump in what was once a Negro cabin…”(Doc A)

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Mayella is not a sympathetic character because she lied under oath, “tempts” a married black man, and was the reason Tom died. During the trial Atticus asks Mayella if her dad ever has beaten her, or abused her in anyway.

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Her gender further makes her powerless when Tom was explaining that Mr. Ewell said, “He says you goddamn whore, I’ll kill ya.” (Document B). Mr. Ewell would only refer to a woman like that because the word is mainly used against women. Mayella’s gender negatively impacts her power by causing her to be more vulnerable and regarded

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Is Mayella Ewell powerful or not? Mayella Ewell, the poorest girl in the town of Maycomb, Alabama, living on a pig farm with her abusive father and in an abandoned Negro shack. The Ewell’s are the lowest of the low in the town of Maycomb, in rank wise and are not respected too much either. Bob Ewell, father of Mayella Ewell is an abusive man, sexually and physically and has an alcoholic problem. Mayella is usually beaten and sexually assaulted by him, especially when he is drinking, but Mayella has a plan that will let her be free from Bob.

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Harper Lee does a great job at making me feel sympathetic for Mayella because of her lack of education and the life she has been to. “Long’s he keeps on calling‘ me ma’am an sayin’ Miss Mayella. I don’t hafta take his sass, I ain’t called upon to take it.” She lives in this horrible place where she has never been called ma 'am.

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To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee takes place in fictional Maycomb, Alabama during the 1930s where racism is common and socially acceptable. Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, the young protagonist, tries to understand the complex lives of the people living in her town throughout the book. Additionally, she attempts to get Arthur “Boo” Radley, a reclusive man in their neighborhood, to go outside with Jeremy Atticus “Jem”, her older brother, and Charles Baker “Dill” Harris, their friend who visits during the summer. At one point, Atticus Finch, a lawyer and their father, has to defend an African-American man, Tom Robinson, who is falsely accused of raping Mayella Ewell, the daughter of Bob Ewell and a lower class white woman. During the trial, Scout

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Power comes into play very much in this situation. But does Mayella really have power? Some categories that her power is put into class, race, and gender. For instance, in everyday life we use class as a way of judgement. There are the richer ones, the middle class, and the poor, dirty, scums.

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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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She understands she must say what is needed in order to sway the jury in her favor, even if that means lying under oath. By her own volition Mayella averts the attention from her fallacious testimony, and onto Tom Robinson, a black man. By doing this, Mayella is unknowingly signing Tom’s death sentence. In any other situation, it’s man’s word against a woman's, in this case it’s a black man against a white women.

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Mayella takes care of all the seven younger siblings. She feeds them and makes sure their safe but she can not do much because her father does not get enough money from his

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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

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The comparison implies that Mayella is trying to bring some beauty and order into her life, despite the fact that she lives in poverty and chaos. The

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In the 1930’s, being a woman was considered a bad thing, no matter if you were rich or poor, black or white you were not really respected, in lieu of that fact Mayella takes many of her misfortunes and turns them into power. Although this may be true, it must be remembered that Mayella and her family are the poorest of the poor in Maycomb, they are even poorer than many of the black people in the town. Mayella

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