Mayella Ewell 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.

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.

A quote that supports this is “She reached up and kissed me.”(Doc B) this quote shows this because of her gender is she was kissing Tom freely but she was scared to tell her father the truth. Another quote is “Except when he drinks? Asked Atticus gently that Mayella nodded.”(Doc B) Another quote is “Mayella was beaten savagely by someone who was led almost exclusively with his left.” (Doc B) This is why I think Mayella lacks power because of her gender.

In Maycomb, Alabama, Mayella Ewell accused an African American man, Tom Robinson with allegations of rape. Mayella was powerful back in the 1930 because of the Jim crow laws, considering that she was a white woman. Although Mayella was so poor that she lived behind the town dump. Mayella was just about as poor as the African Americans, it quotes “White people wouldn't have anything to do with her because she lived among the pigs.” ("DBQ: Is Mayella Powerful?" 21). That explains that Mayella could not afford to live and also have many of the things she wanted. On the other hand, Mayella was an white woman going to court against an African American man.

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 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

How powerful is Mayella in certain situations? Mayela is white but she is poor and equal to the other race, but at trial, she is white, with a white jury, and in a building filled with mostly white people. Mayella is poor, lives behind the dump, at a pig farm, and in an abandoned slave cabin. Mayella is a woman, and when she is crying or being assaulted we feel sorry for her and she uses the sympathy as her advantage during the trial. How powerful is Mayella in class, race, and gender?

Mayella is a white female who has been savagely beaten with a left hand. She is the daughter of Bob Ewell. Mayella Ewell has power in her race. Regarding her race, she doesn’t have power due to her social class or her gender. Mayella Ewell doesn’t have power in her social class since she is poor.

In Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird”, Mayella Ewell is one of the characters that drive the story. Mayella has convicted a black man, Tom Robinson, of rape. In the three aspects of class, race, and gender, Mayella has a lot of power because she is a white woman living in the south during the 1930’s, when blacks did not have a lot of power compared to whites, and she is protected under the Jim Crow laws.     Mayella gets a lot of power from her race. She is a white woman that is living in the south during the 1930’s, which was when colored and white people were separated, and whites had a lot of power over blacks.

But somehow she still has an advantage, mainly because of her race. She is so low in class that this was said “... Mayella Ewell must have been the loneliest person in the world… white people would not have anything to do with her because she lives among pigs, negroes would not have anything to do with her because she is white… ("DBQ-Is mayella powerfull" 21)” This quote is very helpful to us as readers to understand how the world around her sees her as.

Mayella uses her class to her advantage because she is at a higher rate than the colored. She may not be in the highest class, but she still has more power since she is a white woman. “Mr. Ewell had a scalded look: as if an overnight soaking had deprived him of protective layers of dirt….Mayella looked as if she tried to keep clean, and I was reminded of the row of red geraniums in the Ewell yard.”. (Lee, Chapter 18).

Mayella Ewell uses her class to her advantage because she is at higher rate then the colored. “Mr. Ewell had a scalded look: as if an overnight soaking had deprived him of protective layers of

Mayella is not powerful. Mayella is not powerful because of her low-class status. After the case, the Ewells are told to “get back to your dump” (“Get Back to Your Dump”). Even though the Ewells won the case, no one respected them and Mayella still had no power. Harper Lee writes that “white people wouldn’t have anything to do with her because she lived among pigs” (“The loneliest person in the world”).