Mayella's Power In To Kill A Mockingbird

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.

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.

In Harper Lee’s novel, “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Mayella Ewell is an abused girl who causes a controversial trouble when she accuses an African American man named Tom Robinson of rape this is one of many ways that show how Mayella is powerful. What gives her power is her Gender, race and class is her downfall since all of Maycomb sees her and her family as trash, so how does a person like that gain power?

As a result of Mayella having such low class and her family being so poor, she did not gain any power in the Tom Robinson trial. She gained no power because of her poor class.The quote “Mayella looked as if she tried to keep clean, and I was reminded of the row of red geraniums in the Ewell yard (Doc A)” lets the readers

Power; everyone wants it, however it is limited to many. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, a woman from a extremely low class family, Mayella Ewell, convicted Tom Robinson, a well respected African- American man, of rape. In this time period, woman still had an insufficient amount of power. The color of someone's skin judged how they were to be treated, and class would continue to be an issue during the 1930’s. Mayella appeared to have power, after winning the court case, however, how much power did she actually have? The only thing that gave Mayella an advantage over Tom Robinson was the color of her skin, which is essentially considered as power. Several times throughout the book, there are hints that Mayella Ewell lacks

Mayella has no power in her gender or her social class; however, she does have power in regards to her race. Mayella has no power in her social class because her family is not financially stable. Mayella’s family lives near the black cabins close to the dump, and her family has no background in the town. During the trial, while Atticus is treating her with respect, she believes Atticus is making fun of her: “Won’t answer a word you say long as you keep on mockin’ me, … Long’s he keeps on callin’ me ma’am an sayin’ Miss Mayella. I don’t hafta take his sass” (Lee Document C).

“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

Mayella Ewell does not have power in regards to her social class or gender, but she does obtain power in her race. Mayella is not powerful when it comes to social class because she is poor. Mayella and her family live in a dump with Mayella as the only pure thing living there. The author writes that “Maycomb’s Ewells lived behind the town garbage dump in what was once a Negro cabin... Its windows were merely open spaces in the walls…

Although Mayella may not have any power because of her class, does not mean that she isn’t a normal human being-- just like everyone else. In Document A, it says, “Maycomb’s Ewells lived behind the town garbage dump in what was once a Negro cabin,” and that’s how we can figure out that she has no power because she is in the lower class; she lived behind the town garbage dump. “Yes suh, I felt sorry for her,” is a quote from Document E, which to me, makes me think that he felt sorry for her because of where she lived. Document C’s quote said, “long’s he keeps on callin’ me ma’am and sayin’ Miss Mayella. I ain’t

Mayella Ewell is least powerful in class because she is poor. She lives in an “old abandoned negro cabin”, that is on a pig farm. She has a abusive father, who drinks and gets violent when he is drunk. Mayella is not treated with respect for example, she claimed that Atticus was mocking her. Mayella says “ Won’t say a word you say as long as you keep mockin’ me” (“DBQ is Mayella powerful”17). All Atticus did was call her “ma’am”. She does not understand that he is just trying to be respectful.

In Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, the character Mayella Ewell, portrays an interesting model of power. Mayella is not powerful in terms of class,gender, or race. Mayella’s family exists at the very bottom of the white social hierarchy. Her power is extremely limited.

Everyone wants power, control over his or her life. In “To Kill a Mockingbird”, which is based on a rape trial, Mayella Ewell wins the case against Tom Robinson and seems to be powerful. Taking into account the troubles of the economic class, the role of women in society, and the importance of skin color in Maycomb, Alabama 1930’s, the real question is: Is Mayella Ewell powerful?

Mayella Ewell has no social class power, because she is poor. Mayella and her family live near the town dump which used to be a Negro camp. The author wrote, “Maycomb’s Ewells lived behind the town garbage dump in what was once a Negro cabin”(Lee Document A). The Ewell family is being represented as trash since they live next to the town dump. During the trial, Mayella tries to clean up and look nice when she takes the stand. Scout says that, “Mayella looked as if she tried to keep clean,”(Lee Document A). Although the Ewells do not have much money, Mayella tries to make beauty out of what she has. Therefore, Mayella has no social class power due to the fact that she is poor.

Mayella Ewell’s racial status leads some to believe that she is a powerful character. In To Kill A Mockingbird,