ipl-logo

What Does Mayella Ewell Symbolize In To Kill A Mockingbird

532 Words3 Pages

The novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a story set in
Southern Maycomb, Alabama during the 1930s. The story shows an improper American society filled to the brim with prejudice, which ends in the extensive separation of the the people of a different social status. First mentioned by Atticus, the well-known saying “it is a sin to kill a mockingbird,” (Pg. 90) that mockingbirds are benevolent animals that do nothing but sing their hearts out. Lee weaves in the depiction of the mockingbird to symbolize the destruction of innocence. The image of a mockingbird can be seen in Tom Robinson who received plenty of injustice and unfairness only because he was African American; and Mayella Ewell, also experiencing her share of hate due to her low place in society.
Tom Robinson represents a mockingbird, having been getting a bucketload of racism and mean comments from the people of Maycomb. Tom was a kind African American man who was …show more content…

Mayella Ewell is a girl who is facing discrimination from society while also receiving abuse from her father. She looks after her geraniums, tends to her younger brothers and sisters, and does all of the chores of the house without any help. Instead of praising her, her father Bob Ewell, regularly pummeled her. The whites want nothing to do with her due to her social position whereas the African Americans keep her distance from her because she is white. Given this, being kind and compassionate is not her strong suit. During Tom Robinson’s trial, Atticus keeps on being polite to Mayella. Annoyed, she said to the judge: “[As long] as he keeps on [calling] me ma'am and [saying] Miss Mayella. I don’t [have to] take his sass, I [am not] called upon to take it.” (Pg. 182) Her innocence was taken from her, leaving her to neglect and poverty. Mayella is a eliminated mockingbird, a victim of the prejudice of

Show More
Related
397 Words | 2 Pages

Mayella Ewell is a poor white woman who lives in Maycomb County. Mayella’s house is a desolate Negro cabin behind the town’s trash dump. Her fence is made up of tree branches and broken tools. Despite all this, Mayella Ewell does have power. “Yes, suh.

Read More
582 Words | 3 Pages

Mayella and Ruby are both viewed as victims because they were supposedly raped by black men. Society makes Mayella a victim by isolating the Ewells and for viewing them differently than everyone else in Maycomb. Mayella deeply cares about what people care about her, so when people think of her as trash that really gets to her. She was lonely leading her to wanting attention from people. Ruby

Read More
492 Words | 2 Pages

One day in Maycomb, Alabama during the great depression a young girl named Mayella Ewell was raped. This shows Mayella is one powerful young girl in the story To Kill A Mockingbird. It will show how she is power through class, race, and gender. First Mayella is powerful through her class ranking. In the story it said that the “Maycomb’s Ewells lived behind the town garbage dump in what was once a Negro cabin…”.

Read More
638 Words | 3 Pages

In Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird Mayella Ewell's is a powerful young teenager. In the 1930’s in Maycomb, Alabama Mayella set news to the small town, she made allegations of rape against Tom Robinson. Mayella is as powerful as the ocean when it takes you underwater. In Harper Lee’s, To Kill A Mockingbird will show Mayella’s  power by using Class, Race, and Gender.

Read More
188 Words | 1 Pages

Tom has to go by the Ewell’s house daily to go work. One day like any other day Mayella ask Tom to come inside the house and check a door for her. Tom went in and relaized that there was nobody else in the house beside him and Mayella. It was on that particularly day the incident happened. As statted on page 225.

Read More
302 Words | 2 Pages

During the trial of Tom Robinson many asked themselves, “Does Mayella Ewell deserve pity?” The answer to that question is this, Mayella Ewell does deserve pity. There are many ways that this is true but two of them are the face that she doesn’t have any friends and doesn’t truly understand the concept of friendship. The second being that her father depends on her to be the ‘mother’ to his many children and may be somewhat abusive. The whole city is in the courthouse to witness the trial of Tom Robinson.

Read More
773 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More
576 Words | 3 Pages

Ryan Dabrowski Mr.Moynihan English 8 2-21-23 Does Mayella Ewell have power? “Mayella, who is never treated with politeness, does not recognize Atticus’s politeness or compassion in the court”(Chapter 18).In The book, To Kill a Mockingbird , Harper Lee shows the true racism in the US during the early 1930s.

Read More
199 Words | 1 Pages

The story, however, did not match that of her father’s, when it came to him witnessing the rape. Claiming he wants to get acquainted with Mayella, Atticus begins asking her more personal questions. When Atticus speaks properly to

Read More
709 Words | 3 Pages

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

Read More
391 Words | 2 Pages

In the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the idea of the mockingbird represents much more than a simple bird. Tom Robinson and the mockingbird have a lot in common. They do no harm to anyone, are innocent of what people accuse them of, and face persecution from most people. In the South right after the end of the Civil war, people of color were still persecuted and regarded as unequal to the white man. This was exactly the case in the fictitious small-town of Maycomb, Alabama.

Read More
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.

Read More
436 Words | 2 Pages

Have you ever thought the power people have over each other? Either race, social class, or gender. Although your gender, race, or social class is not as important as it used to be, it is still used to determine the power of people in some places. Mayella Ewell is the daughter of Bob Ewell , they come from a family of low social class with no education, and no money. The only thing that elevates their place in the community is the fact that they’re white.

Read More
316 Words | 2 Pages

Tom Robinson is accused of a crime he claims he did not do; yet the jury has a different opinion. To Kill a Mockingbird, a historical fiction novel by Harper Lee, is set in the 1930’s and the town they are in is Maycomb, Alabama which is based off of the town of Monroeville, Alabama. The book was written for young adults at the time, but was written over 50 years ago and i still relevant to modern readers today because of how school systems want to teach about The Great Depression, it read to or is being read by students because it teaches cultural and moral lessons. Throughout this novel you will meet many different type of people, with all kinds of personality. Harper Lee wrote To Kill a Mockingbird for readers to know more about what

Read More
548 Words | 3 Pages

In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird Mayella is powerful due to the fact that that she’s is not rich, instead live’s in the dump’s almost makes her powerless. But when she accuses Tom Robinson of rape it stirs up the town. Her and her family take Tom Robinson to court and put him up for trial. In To Kill a Mockingbird Mayella will use class, race, and gender to win this trial.

Read More

More about What Does Mayella Ewell Symbolize In To Kill A Mockingbird

Related Topics

Open Document