Examples Of Mayella A Victim In To Kill A Mockingbird

Mayella had a great amount of power in the courtroom during the trial of Tom Robinson. This completely classless manipulative woman used the disadvantages she was dealt in life to her benefit. She made advances toward this black man, when he did not reciprocate those feelings she accused him of rape. He is convicted and sent to prison because of her. Through this, she also gains power that removes her from her father’s sexual abuse. He does not want her because of the relations with a

Mayella does not have power because of class and gender. Mayella has power because of race. The result of the verdict was guilty because of the racism between blacks and

Tom see that Mayella has no one in the house that can take care of her take care of her because her mother died when she was young. She was also forced to be the woman of the household at a very young age and that means that she couldn’t enjoy being “young”. Tom lean that she didn’t get true respect in the house because Mayella got offended when atticus called her mama to pay respect but Mayella took that offensively.

As a result of the Ewell’s living behind the Maycomb county dump, Mayella is looked down on. “We’ll convict this Negro but get back to your dump (Doc A).” This quote shows that though Mayella had won the case against Tom Robinson, the Ewells were still thought of as nothing. “White people wouldn’t have anything to do with her because she lived among pigs; Negroes [the Ewell’s nearest neighbors] wouldn’t have anything to do with her because she was white (Doc E).” Powerful white people looked down on Mayella because she lived in filth; black people would not either because she was white. “Long as he keeps callin’ me Ma’am and sayin’ Miss Mayella, I don’t hafta take his sass (Doc C).” Mayella is not used to being respected as she is poor and is not treated fairly. This shows how Mayella’s class ties with her power.

This can be seen when Atticus announces to the judge, “I have nothing but pity in my heart for the chief witness for the state, but my pity does not extend so far as to her putting a man’s life at stake, which she has done in an effort to get rid of her own guilt” (Lee 271). Atticus is almost positive that Mayella is trying to cover up what she did, but Atticus does not poke around too much. Atticus reveals what is necessary to help his case and nothing more. While Atticus could have targeted Mayella to get her to reveal more information, he simply infers what he thinks happened. Atticus is very fair to Mayella in the fact that he doesn’t destroy her reputation by continuing on further with his idea of the way things went one night when Tom was at her house. Atticus believes that Tom and Mayella need to be treated equal, regardless of whether Mayella is going to hurt Tom or not. Atticus says that he has no sympathy for Mayella, but the rest of the book says otherwise. This shows how Atticus treats everyone equally, whether it be Tom Robinson, Mayella, or even the

Mayella Ewell is a tragic character in To Kill a Mockingbird. She is faced with many struggles involving her family and the people around her. Although Mayella is a poor white woman with an abusive father, no mother, and six siblings to take care of she does have power. Mayella Ewell is powerful as a character and continues to gain power in Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird when it comes to race, class and gender. Despite Mayella being very poor and in a lower class of the society in Maycomb Alabama she uses her status as a white female to manipulate others into deciding in her favor when dealing with her court case against Tom Robinson regarding him being wrongfully accused of

Do you know what it feels like to be powerless? A white nineteen year old woman named Mayella Ewell falsely accuses a black man of raping her in Maycomb, Alabama, in the 1930’s, and rendering her powerless comes from being recessive in her social class, race, and gender. She accuses Tom Robinson of rape in hopes of escaping her abusive father, and a chance to have a better life. Although Mayella is white, African Americans and other white people shun her throughout To Kill a Mockingbird. Mayella is a very young woman that does not own anything nice, nor clean, besides geranium flowers. During the 1930’s, men were the dominant sex, as a female, Mayella has to obey her father, Bob Ewell. As a result, Mayella is mistreated and abused.

Due to Mayella's race she gains power. Mayella is white, living in the 1930's time period. So she will have very little power. The jury will take the side of a white woman over the side of a negro man. This is the only power that Mayella has and uses her race to her advantage in a bad way.

In the courtroom, Mayella is being asked questions in regards to her father. Based on Scout’s perspective, “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,”(Document B). Mayella is a victim of violence; as a result, she fears her father because she has no control or dominance over him. Because of society and stereotypical people, females are generally conceived as dependent and fragile human beings. Her father expects her to be obedient and another stereotype in Maycomb. Mayella is left with no choice but to show submission and vulnerability. By doing so, she is acting like a puppet following the orders of her puppeteer. Her father is a constant reminder of her weakness. She is allowing society’s stereotypes to poison and take over her. Mayella conforms to being nothing but weak and invisible. Soon enough these ideals will invade her entirely causing her to feel powerless. All in all, it is evident that Mayella’s gender is another reason she could be classified as

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Mayella is powerful based on class, gender, and race. The book shows us how she does have power, and gives supporting evidence. In this time period, in a small racist Southern community during the 1930’s, all of the categories listed are very important and contributes a lot to a person. Each category has its own reasoning why Mayella is powerful. Mayella has much more power than the other person in their situation, because of all of the listed evidence. Mayella is in a trial up against a black male, Tom Robinson, who she accused of trying to rape her. They were also caught by Mr. Ewell, Mayella's father. Therefore, Tom Robinson has little to no chance of winning the case based off class, gender, and race especially during this time period.

Mayella Ewell is often mentally, physically, and sexually abused by her father Bob Ewell. Even though Mayella takes care of her siblings each day, she is lonely most of the time, considering nobody wants to be around her. Her father abuses her and beats her often, and Mayella wants the abuse to come to an end. Mayella comes up with and fulfills a plan to end the abuse coming from her father. Her plan involved a Negro man named Tom Robinson. Mayella accuses Tom of beating and raping her, and brings Tom to court, and goes up against him in a trial. Her plan was successful and came out in her favor because she was manipulative, and she knew what it took to win the trial. Mayella Ewell, a poor, white woman, who lives on a dump, is seen as

Besides from Mayella’s power there are things that make her powerless, such as class and gender. “Mayella looked as if she tried to keep clean, and i was reminded of the row of red geraniums in the Ewell’s yard (Doc. A).” is an example of her class making her powerless. Another example might be “Long’s he keep callin’ me ma'am an sayin’ Miss. Mayella (Doc. C.) shows that her class is so low and the white people don’t respect her enough to call her those simple things. “Okay we’ll convict this Negro but get back to your dump (Doc A).” is another example of how low her class is.

When Atticus asks Mayella ‘who are your friends?’ (p.245) she is perplexed by the question demonstrating to us how she must be ‘the loneliest person in the world’ (p. 256). Furthermore, Lee clearly explains to us she is accustomed to being treated poorly as when Atticus refers to her as ‘ma’am’ and speaks to her politely she believes initially that he is ‘mockin’ me’ (p.243). Reflecting on how Mayella is trapped in her improvised, friendless state with nobody who respects her, we realise it would not have been difficult for her to become fixated on and fantasise about Tom Robinson, as he ‘was probably the only person who was ever decent to her’ (p.257). We are also able to understand why she lies about Tom raping her during the trial when we take into consideration that Mayella is living in fear of what her drunk and abusive father, Bob Ewell, would do to her if she was truthful. As she has already been ‘beaten savagely’ (p.272) and possibly raped by her father, after she ‘kissed a black man’ (p.272), her trepidation is unsurprising. By climbing into Mayella’s skin and walking around in it we see Lee is helping us to learn the importance of considering people’s circumstances before judging their actions.

She’s a woman and women were not respected as much, than men were. When Atticus is questioning Mayella, her father intimidates her by leaning back near the railing with his chair (Doc B). She does not answer Atticus’s question truthfully. Mayella is also abused by her father. Her father shouts at her, “Goddamn whore, I’ll kill ya” (Doc B). Her gender is powerless because her father has more power over her. Mayella was beaten savagely by someone left handed (Doc B). In this case, Tom was right handed and the only person left handed was her father, who is a drinker. Mayella’s gender was powerless because she was a

Mayella may come off as an idiot because she “sat silently” when asked what happened (179). She also thinks Atticus is “mockin’ (her)” when he calls her “ma’am” and “miss” (181). But truly, Mayella is just a product of being alone, trapped, and forced to be independent. Without needed care and love she was forced to try to find it herself. Throwing herself onto Tom was an act of desperate need for attention. I think with proper care she could be like everyone else. There is also another side of her, one that does well with what she has. Mayella “tried to keep clean” (179). She also takes care of her flowers. Harper Lee created a character that is slightly relatable but truly understandable. The problems Mayella faces are more severe than needed to be relatable. But what you can understand is her situation. I feel like I understand her need for affection but I would not go to the extremes of throwing myself onto someone. The seemingly logical ways in which Mayella acts at times, make the readers feel sympathy for her. Even though we know she is lying and that the case was racist and unfair, it’s hard to blame her. The lying and