To Kill A Mockingbird Dbq

In the book To Kill a Mockingbird, the author, Harper Lee, uses the character of Tom Robinson to give her insight on the recent crime of Emmett Till. The trial was a very controversial case in the 1950s, involving the brutal murder of a young black boy, in racist Mississippi. In the real-life case, there is a woman named Carolyn Bryant who accuses Till of cat-calling and using vulgar language. However, Till was innocent, yet received punishment. Lee also recreated the persona of Carolyn into Mayella Ewell, who is the women that accuses Tom Robinson of raping her. Because of her race, gender, and class, she is considered a powerful character in the novel In To Kill a Mockingbird, Mayella’s race gives her an incredible advantage, because society

In this instance, her class works to her advantage- being poor made people more sympathetic to her cause. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout states that “Maycomb’s Ewells lived behind the town garbage dump in what was once a Negro cabin. . .”(Lee Document A). In many cases, when people are seen as weak, others rise to their defense and become advocates to their case. An example of this is last year’s world series: The Chicago Cubs were highly favored because they were “underdogs,” much like Mayella is. They had not won a world series in over one-hundred years and were due to win in many people’s minds. Having the “court of public opinion” in your favor does in fact convey power to “underdogs” like the Cubs and Mayella. Being of a lower class also provides Mayella Ewell with being seen as having the mentality of not being very consumeristic. Eleanor Roosevelt stated that “We cannot prepare for a peaceful world unless we give proof of self-restraint, of open mindedness, of courage to do right at home, even if it means changing our traditional thinking and, for some of us, a sacrifice of our material interests,”(Roosevelt Document III). Eleanor points out that having expensive things means so little compared to the actual important things in life, such as world peace. Mayella is a poor person, but her status gives her power because she is seen as someone who has values above materialism. Furthermore,