How Does Mayella Ewell Have Power In To Kill A Mockingbird

In Harper Lee’s, To Kill a Mockingbird, a young white woman from Maycomb, Alabama, named Mayella Ewell is charging Tom Robinson a black man of rape. Mayella Ewell is not powerful in the sense that she is classified within class, race, and gender.

In the small town of Maycomb, Alabama lives Miss Mayella Ewell. She is a smart but helpless teen that accuses Tom Robinson of rape to escape from her father's abuse. In “To Kill A Mockingbird”, Mayella is powerful, as defined by class, race, and gender. All though in many circumstances, Mayella's class and gender make her less powerful than most, her race makes her more powerful than substantially all negroes.

The definition of power is to have control over a person's life as well as the lives of those around them. The Jim Crow Laws are laws that separate the whites from the African-American. Southern women in the 1930s are considered delicate and fragile. In the book To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Mayella Ewell accuses Tom Robinson of raping her. At the end of the book, Tom Robinson was executed because he tried to escape prison. Mayella and her family are non-working poor people who live by the dump. Mayella accuses Tom Robinson of raping her. Tom Robinson is an African-American, who is considered to be the lowest class during the 1930s. Race refers to the categorization of people based on physical differences. Class refers to a person’s level of income and education and often boils down to how much money one is able to earn. Gender refers to the roles and behaviors that society expects from men and women. Mayella Ewell can be a powerful or powerless character. Mayella is powerless because of her class, but her gender and race ultimately make's her powerful.

How Mayella lacks power because of her class.The quote i’m using to show how Mayella lacks power because of her class is “Maycomb’s Ewells lived behind the town dump what was once a negro cabin.” (Doc A) the quote shows that MAyella lives where blacks used to live and shows that she is very poor. Another quote is “white people wouldn’t have anything to do with her because she lives among pigs; Negros wouldn’t have anything to do with her because she is white.” (Doc E) this quote shows Mayella lacks power because of class because she lives

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.

Mayella is so poor that she lived behind the local town dump. The old dump, was once also an old Negro cabin, it was very decrepit and was not very clean. Mr. Ewell and Mayella were just about as poor as the African Americans, sometimes the colored folks would even look down on them. Although, they were still able to afford more them the African Americans could, they could have had better living conditions. “... Okay we’ll convict this Negro but get back to your dump.” ("DBQ: Is Mayella Powerful?" 13 ). This was showing that everyone in Maycomb knew they were very poor and did not seem to care, or offer to help.

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

Mayella is forced to stay in her house and do chores and take care of her siblings since her father was too drunk to ever take care of them and their mother is dead. ¨Mayella Ewell must have been the loneliest person in the world. She was even lonelier than Boo Radley, who had not been out of the house in twenty five years¨ (256 Lee). The only person she ever comes in contact with is Tom Robinson because ¨white people wouldn't have anything to do with her because she lived among pigs: Negroes wouldn't have anything to do with her because she was white¨(256 Lee). The Ewells were the lowest class of whites, they lived in a black community and had no money or education. The only people they had power over where the colored people, such as Tom Robinson.

Mayella does not have power because she is a white female, being the lowest class. Mayella is a white female living in Maycomb, Alabama. Mayella has some power being white, but not in her class and gender prevents her from having any power. Mayella is an eighteen year old taking care of her younger siblings. She does not have any power.

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.

In the book “To Kill A Mockingbird”, Mayella Ewell is the conflict of the story. To challenge herself to see if she is powerful based on class, gender, and race. Mayella is powerful due to her race; however, she would not be powerful due to her class and gender. One might think she is powerful over all; however, she does not have power in the eyes of some readers. Proceeding on to see if Mayella has power in race.

In the first paragraph I will explain why and how I believe Mayella Ewell is not powerful, with the use of class.First off I would like to show you one of my biggest reasons for believing Mayella is not powerful “Maycombs Ewells lived behind the town garbage dump in what used to be a negro cabin”.(DBQ:Is mayella Ewell powerful?13)The second reason I believe Mayella Ewell is not powerful while using class for my examples is that “longs as he keeps on callin’ me ma’am and sayin miss Mayella.I don’t hafta take his sass, I ain’t called upon to take it” (DBQ: Is Mayella Ewell powerful?.17). Now you can see even in her dialect she does not know or have class, you can also tell by the way she is not used to being called ma’am and miss Mayella.Next I will show how much of a lower class the Ewells are in “Mayella Ewell must have the loneliest person in the world…; white people wouldn't have anything to do with her because she lived among pigs”(DBQ:Is mayella Ewell powerful”21).The final reason I believe Mayella

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

Mayella Ewell may not have power in regards to her social class or gender, she does have power in regards to her race. Mayella is not powerful when it comes to her social class. Her father, Bob Ewell, has ruined the family's reputation by being known as the town drunk and living in a dump that was previously a negro cabin. In the novel it states, “Maycomb’s Ewells lived behind the town garbage dump in what was once a negro cabin” (Lee Document A). The Ewells live in a dump that used to be owned by negros which is considered the lowest of lows, due to their social class.

Mayella has no power in gender because she lives in Alabama and it is 1930s, so people thought men were more powerful and women have to stay home a take care of the kids. Atticus is delivering his closing argument and says that “[w]e don’t know, but there is circumstantial evidence to indicate that Mayella Ewell was beaten savagely by someone who led almost exclusively with his left” ( Lee document B). Atticus accuses Bob Ewell of beating his daughter and he is left handed, while Tom