How Does Gilmer Use Mayella's Power In To Kill A Mockingbird

Mayella is not powerful under the circumstances of her race. In the trial Atticus Finch is questioning Mayella by calling her Ma’am and Miss Mayella. She says, “...He keeps on callin’ me ma’am and sayin’ Miss Mayella. I don’t hafta take his sass…”. (“DBQ is Mayella Ewell Powerful?” 17) Later in the trial Mr. Gilmer is speaking to Tom Robinson and calls him “boy” ,even though Tom is a grown man that should be called sir. Tom knows how to be treated though being black. Mayella did not understand how to be treated formally. Mayella is white and does not get treated fairly though being white, and Tom knows how to be treated and does not dispute about it being black. This shows how Mayella is not powerful, even within the standards of race.

This novel takes place in the South in the 1930s, a time and place where racial prejudice is very strong. Mayella is a poor white woman, but her race gives her power to manipulate Tom Robinson, since he is a negro. Her word is given precedence over Tom Robinson’s in court simply because of her skin color. In this time period, women,

Robinson was being accused of doing to Mayella. The jury took one look at Tom, and voted

Mayella is powerless because of her class. From a Document: At the beginning of Tom Robinson’s trial, Scout describes Mayella’s home, "Against the fence, in a line, were six…jars holding brilliant red geraniums, cared for… tenderly…. People said they were Mayella Ewell’s.” (Document A). According to the quote, she wants people to see that she is not like her father. The public does not care about her family and they

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.

In addition to Mayella’s race making her powerful her class in society contributed to that power. Even though Mayella was very low in society and looked down upon by the white people in the town of maycomb town, she uses what the people know and think of her to make them feel bad for her and it eventually was what made her win the case against Tom Robinson. For Mayella her class was mostly what started her plan to accuse Tom. This is because she wanted out of her place in society and away from her home where her father was beating and sexualy abussing her. Mayella was gaining power because she had her plan worked out that no matter what happened to Tom she would be able to get away from her father and her home in front of the dump. Mayella was never meant to be placed in that part of society and it is made clear when Scout talks about her appearance “Mayella looked as if she tried to keep clean, and i was reminded of the row of red geraniums in the Ewell yard”. (“DBQ: Is Mayella Ewell Powerful?” 13) While Mayella has a low place in society she is still thought to be better than the colored people and it is looked to be a crime for a African American to think or even consider being better than a white person. This thought and viewpoint is really what made Mayella win the

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

Is Mayella powerful in race? She is white, with a white jury, and in a room mostly filled with white people, and no matter what, they will always go in her favor when she is up against Tom Robinson. Mayella tried to seduce Tom so he will convict of rape. In Document D, Mr. Glimmer and Tom were talking, “‘ Like I say before, it weren’t safe… to be in a-fix like that.’ ‘But you weren’t in a fix-you testified that you were

One way to measure power is to consider the amount of control a person has over his or her own life as well as the lives of others. Tom Robinson is an African American and has been wrongly accused of raping a poor, white woman, Mayella Ewell. Mayella says Tom attacked her and “took advantage” of her. Tom says Mayella asked him to help her with some chores, and was trying to hug and kiss him when her father appeared at the window. In To Kill A Mockingbird Mayella’s power is measured in class, gender, and race.

She was able to use her class, race, and gender in different ways to help win over the jury in her case with Tom Robinson (DBQ Project, p.7). Her class showed her vulnerability, but it did not show that by going through this process it would change her class, gender, and race. It brought to attention that no matter her win or loss in court, she was still going back to her bad home life (DBQ Document A). Her race helped her being that she was white, Tom was African American, and the jury was white (DBQ Document A). No black man had been able to win a case with a white jury (DBQ Document A). Mayella's gender allowed her to be vulnerable and a victim of falling for a man that just interacting with on a normal basis could get her in trouble in which she went over that boundary (DBQ Project p.7). Her gender in court puts her in the spot of looking like a victim of a crime that she lied about in order to save herself (Lee, p.252). In either case an innocent man was wrongly accused of a crime and the one accusing him would be going straight back to a life filled with misery (DBQ Document B). In reality nobody won the

Mayella Ewell is a poor and lonely white woman who was abused for the longest time by her father. She lives behind the town and was not educated. Mayella is an interesting character to examine closely (TKAM mini q). In my opinion, Mayella is one of the most powerful character in the story, even though she is very poor. The meaning of being powerful is having strength, being strong, and having the ability to control or influence people. Here are some of the reasons why I think Mayella is powerful.

However she is not powerful because of her class and gender. As soon as Mayella leaves the courtroom, she goes back to her powerless lifestyle and being controlled from her father. Tom Robinson agrees that she is powerless by going to help her do chores, “I felt right sorry for her she seemed to try more’n the rest of ‘em” Document C. This proves that Mayella is not powerful because as hard as she tries, she can not get out of her lower class and gain more power. Tom is African American and he has more power than Mayella in class. In this time period, blacks were treated poorly by whites, but Tom even saw that Mayella struggles with power and control. As soon as Mayella leaves the courtroom, she goes back to being the powerless woman she is. Mayella is not powerful because she requires other people’s power in order for her to