Jairo Gomez

Only a few people in Maycomb notice how hard Mayella works and feel sympathy for her, including Tom Robinson. While giving his testimony, Tom says, “Looked like she didn’t have nobody to help her...I felt right sorry for her, she seemed to try more than the rest of ‘em” (Lee 264). Explanation. When her mother died, Mayella had to turn her whole life around. Despite the fact that she is only nineteen years old, Mayella cannot go to school, and she has no real friends. Scout narrates Mayella’s background story, saying, “there was a lady who came around sometimes and asked Mayella why she didn’t stay in school- she wrote down the answer: with two members of the family reading and writing , there was no need for the rest of them to learn- Papa needed them at home” (Lee 245). Explanation. There is one more factor in Mayella’s life that causes her to deserve the compassion of

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

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.

No one has ever shown Mayella respect or any sign of friendship. Which is the reason why she does not understand routine courtesy and is often lonely and desolate. For example, during Atticus’s cross-examination on pg198 Mayella says, “Won’t answer a word you say as long as you keep on mockin’ me.” In addition, on pg209 Jean Louise states in her realisation. “…Mayella Ewell must have been the loneliest person in the world” this is because when Atticus asked about her relationships she seemed to not know what he meant. No one besides Tom Robinson has given her an opportunity to establish a relationship; it is obvious from this that the citizens of Maycomb make substantial perceptions towards others because of their lifestyle, therefore, Mayella does not belong to the Maycomb society.

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

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

They live on the outskirts of the town dump and their house is falling apart. Since she is the oldest, Mayella can’t attend school (Lee 244). She has to stay at the house to help with the chores and take care of her younger siblings. Her mother is dead and her father takes the monthly check to buy alcoholic beverages. Mayella only has herself. She doesn’t even know what the word “friends” mean. This word puzzles her (Lee 245). She can’t feel empathy, if she doesn't know what it is or how it feels.

The reason scout think that Mayella Ewell is cut off kid because As stated on page p.256 “when Atticus asked if she had any friends she thought he was making fun of her.She was as sad, I thought as what Jem called a mixed child; white people wouldn’t have anything to do with her because she live with the pigs. Negroes wouldn’t have anything because she is white.”Also I think that she has no time to make friends.

On 01/26/2016 Yannette Gomez came to the SSO in order to complete a housing plan with HS De La Torre in order to explore housing opportunities available for the family.

Mayella comes from an exceptionally poor family, and her socioeconomic status definitely affects how Maycomb county sees her and her family. "Atticus said that Ewells had been a disgrace to Maycomb for three generations. None of them had done an honest day of work in his recollection........they were people but they lived like animals....."(Lee) The Ewells are viewed as essentially pigs to the people of Maycomb county. Mayella who is stuck in this family, has her class overshadowing her racial power. Many people are not kind to Mayella because she comes from such a poor family; “Tom Robinson was probably the only person who was ever decent to her. 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”(Lee). People are not kind Mayella because of her father and what her family is like, yet Tom Robinson was kind to her and helped her, but she still looked down upon him and lied about what he did. Regardless of class, Mayella should know right from wrong. Her class does not affect the obvious power she holds as a white person in the south, especially when she is using it in such a malevolent

In the novel Mayella lives in an old Negro cabin, its windows are merely open places in the walls. Bits of tree lems, tool shafts as a fence.(Doc A, Pg 13) Mayella’s class of people treats her with no respect so when she went to the trial when Tom’s lawyer Mr. Finch call her “Ma’am and Miss” she was offended because she thought she was getting made fun of. Mayella also has little power white people in the higher class even her father. Mayella is so poor and lonely she has only the little things to hold on to, but with this in mind she tried to be better. Mayella was the one decent Ewell “Mayella looked as she tried to keep clean” she tired to grow and become better unlike her seven brothers who never cared about their future. In the DBQ Project: Pg 21, it states that “ Mayella must be the loneliest person in the world…. white people wouldn’t have anything to do with her because she lived among pigs; Negroes [ the Ewells nearest neighbors] wouldn’t have anything to do with her because she was white… Tom Robinson was probably the only person who was ever decent to her because she was not very social because when she tempted Tom Robinson by kissing him on the cheek she said she never kissed a grown man before (DBQ Project: Pg

Whatever respect or sympathy the reader might have had for Bob Ewell is dispelled by his behaviour in the courtroom and the evidence that Atticus produces that he was the cause of Mayella's beating. Not only is he a self-righteous bully but he is prepared to sacrifice Tom Robinson's life for his own selfish ends. The reader is more likely to feel sympathy for Mayella as the trial progresses. Her loneliness and need for simple human contact are made painfully evident as Scout comes to understand that she is 'the loneliest

Mayella Ewell lives behind the town dump that was once a Negro Cabin. She is the oldest sibling and was responsible for taking care of them. Mayella’s father is a drunk and spends his money and checks to buy alcohol. He leaves his oldest daughter, Mayella, to take responsibility of the family and the house. The suffers the Mayella goes through with her father, you could see that she was very patient and had a lot of strength within her family. Also, living in the dump and living very poorly, Mayella seems to get hatred, shame, and pity towards her and the family. The town knows how they live and what her father does to her. Even when the whole town notice that Mayella is getting hurt, they do not try to make a change and try to help her. Instead, the town watches from afar and ignores it. The reader can feel that Mayella had probably felt very embarrassed and sad. Through her abusiveness and problems that she had went through, she was still very strong and smart of what she was

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.