Mayella Powerful 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.

“To Kill A Mockingbird,” was set during the Great Depression. Times were hard for many, but Mayella Ewell’s class was the lowest of the low. In the novel, it says that even the negroes would not live where Mayella did. The less money you had, the less powerful you tended to be. Mayella actually took this disadvantage and turned it into an advantage. She used her poor financial status to get the people of Macomb to feel sorry for her, which gave her power.

Both of the women had been poor , Mayella had a very sad life she not only was she poor but, it was said that she was possibly raped by her Father .On the other hand carolyn was Married so it was very strange that she had accused a child off sexually harrasment .Each trials both happened in the 1900’s ,Mayella 1935 which would explain even tho her story was very unbelievable hey still had believed her because they were more prejudiced .A quote from to kill a mockingbird ’’Nigger-lover is just one of those terms that don't mean anything—like snot-nose.”.This saying shows that they didn’t value blacks as

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

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 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.

An example of her race being powerful is “okay, we’ll convict this Negro (Doc. A).”just because Mayella said this black man raped her with no proof they’d convict him because she’s white and he is black. Another example on how Mayella is powerful is “‘were you… scared of arrest, scared you’d have to face up to what you did?’ ‘no suh, scared i’d have to face up to what i didn’t do’ (Doc. C).” and ironic effect “‘yes, suh. I felt sorry for her’ (Doc. e).” because a black man feeling sorry for a white person was known to be disrespectful, but it shows power for her as a white woman because they had no freedom, and they were usually

Mayella has power because of her race, but she wouldn’t be in court if she was black and if she.

woman accused a black man of rape.Mayella is a woman and lower class but because she was white it gave her power.

Mayella’s race gives her a big advantage over Tom. When the jury decided “Guilty...guilty...guilty...guilty…”(Lee 282). The fact that Tom was black and Mayella was white was already almost a given that Mayella was going to win. It is not rare for a black man to get accused of something he did not do “A petit jury found the youth's admitted abductors not guilty of murder. In November, in Greenwood, a grand jury declined to indict them for kidnapping” (Document II). The same accusation happened to Tom where a black man was accused of raping a white women. They were both innocent; however, because of they were black they were guilty. Because Mayella is white the jury is more likely to say that Tom is guilty.

But even though Tom Robinson didn’t do anything wrong, Mayella Ewell won the case. So, was Mayella Ewell powerful or powerless in class, gender, or race? Mayella’s family was very poor, but she was poor so she lacks of power in class. Back then whites had to have money and if they didn’t people looked at them like if they were garbage. When Mayella and her father went to trial Mayella’s father “ thought he’d be a hero…”

First of all, Mayella is extremely poor. Maycomb’s Ewells lived behind the town’s garbage dump in what was once a Negro cabin (Doc A). Mayella was very low for being a white woman when it came to class. She was living behind a dump and her windows were open spaces in the wall. She was shunned on because of her class. Mayella’s lower class status also shows when Atticus calls her “ma’am” and “miss” because she takes it as an insult (Doc C). She was so low in class that her own race insulted and shunned her. She and her father were told to go back to their dump (Doc E). Mayella’s class is powerless due to how poor she is.

“Does Mayella have power or not and why”. The small town of Maycomb Alabama turned upside down when a young lady by the name of Mayella Ewell uses her class, race, and gender to try and gain power and escape her situation. Although she failed to gain power she makes a scene and is noticed in the small town of maycomb when she is her father catches her with tom robinson who says he was trying to help her with chores is accused of raping Mayella Ewell. Mayella Ewell if a white female in the early 1930’s during this time women did not have the rights that they do so today. Her being white and being so poor that even the negros shunned her meant that they though lesser of her than themselves which in a white dominated society in the early 1900s took away any power that her race could have given her .Tom

The town saw their family as the lowest income white family in the town, so the people would turn a cheek to their life. This made Mayella lonely and hungry for attention. She had feelings for Tom and he would come and see her. When her dad Bob Ewell, A drunk and abusive father caught them, he beat and raped his daughter. Instead of Mayella pressing charges on her dad, she saw it as a way to get the attention she needs. That’s when she decides to press charges on Tom because she knows the town will look their direction and get the attention that she wants. The situation with Mayella is very similar to Ruby bates during the non-fictional Scottsboro trial. Ruby lived in the black community and Society turned an eye towards their family as well because of their poorness. This makes her similar to Mayella because they both are

Some of the big reasons why Mayella Ewell won in the trial of Tom Robinson is because no one would believe that a white woman tried to have sexual actions with a black male, the entire twelve members of the jury were white, and in the overall whites were still dominate over blacks in 1930’s due to the segregation. As was said before, even though Mayella was white she was still considered lower than the blacks because of her class and the location that she lived. In determining the trial of Tom Robinson, the jury did not want to believe that a black man would want to help a white woman for no pay during this time period. Mayella Ewell lied in order to save herself from her father Bob Ewell so he would not beat her any longer. Mayella Ewell has neutral power when it comes to race because how she is white and no jury would convict a white woman over a black male but, she is still considered lower than Tom