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Who Is Mayella Ewell Powerless In To Kill A Mockingbird

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The 1930’s was the time period where race, class, and gender dominated the charts that dictated how much power an individual would have. White, rich men- Is that the definition of being powerful? In Harper Lee’s story, “To Kill a Mockingbird” Mayella Ewell is a young, white woman that accuses a black person of rape. She lives in a dumpy house with her dad and her siblings. She has no power in the community and her family is the definition of the lowest class. Even though Mayella Ewell might have some power in race, ultimately that does not matter because she has no power in gender and class.

Mayella Ewell is powerless in the category of gender because she is a girl in a time period where men have all the power. When Tom Robinson states that Mayella Ewell said “ . . .what her papa do don’t count” (Lee B). It shows that she gets taken advantage of by her father and gets no respect from him because …show more content…

People might say that Mayella Ewell has power in the category of race because she is white, but this is not true because the society around her looks down on her and feels pity for her.
Mayella Ewell has no friends and is considered to be “the loneliest person in the world. She was even lonelier than Boo Radley” (Lee D). No one wanted to be her friend, the white people view her as a dumpy person and the black people just do not like her. She has no power over a group of friends or anything which made some black people at the time think they have a better life than she does: “‘Yes, suh. I felt right sorry for her . . . ’” ( Lee E). Black people were not supposed to feel sorry for a white person back then, but for them to feel sorry that must mean that she has a awful life. Even though she is white she does not have power because some black people proved that they have a better house life than her and pity her for her unfortunate life

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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…”.

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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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In the town of Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930’s, a young woman by the name of Mayella Ewell sets the town in commotion by accusing an African American man with rape. Mayella will be powerful like a hurricane when she is in court in front of the judge, the jury, and the community. The novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee will show Mayella’s power by using class, race, and gender. Mayella’s class is not efficient, but she can still be powerful. In Document A it said “The Ewells live behind the town’s dump, in what used to be an old Negro cabin...

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She came from a very traumatic background with a passed mother, seven useless siblings, and a father who abuses her. Her father has very immense power over Mayella and she does all of the chores in the yard. She is a very hard-working young woman and tries her best to impress her father. Mayella was completely cut out of the real world and did not even comprehend the thought of kissing and hugging Tom. Mayella was seeking attention and possibly affection because it was never given to her by her father.

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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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The climax of this story is a rape trial that involves a Negro, Tom Robinson, and a white woman, Mayella Ewell. In the court’s eyes’ her power is clear, but is she that powerful? Because of her vulnerability as a woman and a very low-class status, she’s powerless, but her privilege as a white person in a racist society is very powerful. Mayella is powerless because of her gender. In the trial, it’s revealed that Mayella is physically, verbally, and sexually abused by her father.

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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.

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Humans live in a world where moral values are very clearly set determining what is good and what is bad. We know what scares us and how racism should be treated. Nevertheless, this was not the case back in Alabama during the 1950s. In the famous novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee narrates the lives of the people of Maycomb, Alabama, focusing on the story of Scout and Jem Finch, and the case of a said to be rape. In this emotion filled narrative, readers learn how life was back then not only in general, but for the separate social statuses that there was.

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In the novel: To Kill A Mockingbird, Mayella Ewell, a poor white woman, accused Tom Robinson, an African American, of rape. The Ewell’s are very indigent and her father, Bob Ewell, gets drunk and abuses Mayella. Since Mayella is very poor, this makes her not so powerful. In Maycomb, Alabama, A poor white woman named Mayella Ewell who lives behind the town garbage dump, accuses Tom Robinson, an African American, of rape.

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