The Unfavorable Class 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 year is 1930 in Maycomb, Alabama and there is a girl named Mayella Ewell who is nineteen years old in the story To Kill a Mockingbird. Mayella and Bob Ewell (Mayella’s father) live in a worn down abandoned negro cabin that is located behind the cities trash dump. Over time Mayella gets aggressively and sexually abused by her father which gives her the wishes of being freed from Mr.Ewell. To do this, Mayella decides to accuse Tom Robinson ( African American man) of rape. After accusing Tom Robinson, Mayella goes to court with her father to further explain the reason for the accusation. Mayella is then given the opportunity to have power for the first time in her life, however Mayella must decide now if she will take this chance of having power and being freed from her father or not be given any power at all. With this Mayella is given power because of her race, class, and gender the main factors of Mayella having power.

It is very evident that Maycomb is a small town in which there is much racism, and social status greatly determines what kind of life you will lead. The different types of social inequality are an important theme in the novel, and Harper Lee

Claim #1: This novel educates students about the racism and prejudice that was present in the 1930’s (reword claim) Support #1: Firstly, one of the main types of racism seen in the novel is racism towards black people. Evidence #1: “He stood up and pointed his finger at Tom Robinson. ‘—I seen that black nigger yonder ruttin’ on my Mayella!’” **find different quote if possible** Elaboration #1: It is much easier to accuse a black man of committing a crime and have the whole town believe it, rather than a white man. It is Bob Ewell, not Tom Robinson, who had raped Mayella. Mayella does not want to tell the truth because she knows that If her father goes to jail there will be no one to support the family. Also, she is embarrassed of her actions and wishes to protect herself. If she tells the court that she was the one who advanced upon Tom, the people of Maycomb would look down upon her.

Maycomb's unjust beliefs on race determined the outcome of Tom Robinson's trail. Atticus´s defence was more than enough to set Tom free, but Maycomb's ignorance and narrow-minded view on African Americans set an innocent man to jail. Atticus told Jem "If you had been on that jury, son, and eleven other boys like you, Tom would be a free man" (Lee 295). The jury members had been affected by the ignorance of society. They convicted Tom because when they grow up they learned racists beliefs and they do not know any other way. In Maycomb, racism is a normal part of everyday life. When kids at Scouts school call Atticus a n***** lover. Atticus explains to Scout what it means, "Scout," said Atticus, "n*****-lover is just one of those terms that don't mean anything—like snot-nose. It's hard to explain—ignorant, trashy people use it when they think somebody's favoring Negroes over and above themselves.¨ (144). The racists views and attitudes determined the guilty verdict of Tom. In Atticus closing argument, he says "She was white, and she tempted a Negro. She did something that in our society is unspeakable: she kissed a black man¨(272). Society has a set of rules which are not written but known, these rules tend to be ignorant and impartial. When it comes to race and the misguided beliefs about race, there is a profusion of ignorance. The expectations on race set by society affect the actions and events of life.

Mayella is powerful in regards to her race; however, she is not powerful in regards to her gender and social class. One of the many challenges Mayella Ewell faces dealing with power is her social class. Mayella is far from wealthy and her father has a bad reputation. While at Tom Robinson’s trial, Scout explains, “Maycomb’s Ewells lived behind the town garbage dump in what was once a Negro cabin” (Lee Document A).

The characters in, To Kill a Mockingbird, a novel by Harper Lee, often use prejudice against people of controversial issues. Many of the townspeople of Maycomb use prejudice on the families who are on the less wealthy end of the spectrum. Issues are still displayed because of the racial prejudice used against African Americans and those of other races. Lastly, gender is a clear issue in Maycomb because of women’s and girl’s rights and lack of respect towards them because they are female. All of the types of prejudice show that Maycomb has many problems all throughout the town between other families and townspeople.

The fourth and lowest class in Maycomb was best described as a "caste" because it was impossible to escape from it. All blacks were included in this group. Prejudice ran deep in Maycomb County. Although many classes existed within the black community, one of colour must always be in the lowest class.

“Hating people because of their color is wrong. And it doesn't matter which color does the hating. It's just plain wrong.” ~ Muhammad Ali

To Kill a Mockingbird is written by Harper Lee, the novel is based on an old town story that deals primarily with racism and class. However, when reading the novel, the audience will be receiving the story through a small town girl, Scout Finch. Scout is an innocent child and she does not see how her small in town, Maycomb, Alabama literally is. The small town, Maycomb is struck with shocking rumors. Mayella Ewell is a young white lady who claims that she is sexually attacked by an African-American man whose name is Tom Robinson. Nobody in Maycomb wants to admit how much race, class, and gender truly has an effect on this small, but broken town.

Harper Lee's ‘To kill a Mockingbird’ explores the prejudicial issues which plague over the town Maycomb. Harper Lee uses the trial of Tom Robinson a black man accused of rape on a young white girl, Mayella as a central theme to portray the prominence of racial discrimination in Maycomb. The racial prejudice is also widely shown through the characterisation of Atticus. Having Scout as the narrator allows Harper Lee to highlight the gender inequity through a youthful unbiased perspective. The chauvinistic attitudes and prejudiced views of most of the town’s folk leaves Maycombs social hierarchy in an unfair order, victimising many of the town’s people due to their socially non-conforming habits some ‘socially unaccepted people’ including Boo

Hypocrisy and injustice are constants that exist in the world. These traits are displayed best on the adults of Maycomb in Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird who seem oblivious to their behaviors and examples they are setting for their town’s youth. The deceptive theme is prevailing not only in the people’s reaction to the trial, but in their daily lives as well. It is seen during tea time, family gatherings, and even in casual conversations. Their opinions transpire into events carried out in their unjust manner; such as the disapproval of Scout’s reading ability, the derogation of Atticus Finch, and the conviction and sentencing of Tom Robinson. Considering the time period, during the extremely prejudice 1930’s of the South, Maycomb

The strong prejudice of Maycomb County and the negative effects of its social system were demonstrated by the trial of Tom Robinson. Tom was a hard-working, warm-hearted Negro who went out of his way to be kind and helpful to some poor white trash. He helped Miss Mayella because he felt sorry for her. His major shortcoming was the fact that he was black. Bob Ewell, a white drunk, who was a blemish and problem to the town, accused Robinson of raping his daughter Mayella.

Maycomb has many different forms of discrimination. Many people in the story are subjected to biased actions.