To Kill A Mockingbird Dbq Essay

In the book To Kill A Mockingbird, which is a book that was written by Harper Lee and is a historical fiction book, Mayella Ewell, a poor white woman who is at the center of an enormous controversy and is abused by her alcoholic father, isn’t powerful when it comes to gender, class, and race, in my opinion.

In the book To Kill a Mockingbird many people are judged based on what they look like. Mayella Ewell is not one of them. Mayella Ewell was a white girl from a town called Maycomb, Alabama during a very racist time period. She deliberately lied to the jury to put Tom Robinson in jail for a crime that he did not commit. In the story a black man named Tom Robinson is accused of raping Mayella Ewell. However Tom never did rape her. Mayella comes from a poor, prejudiced family that was not very respected by the town of Maycomb. When Mayella accused Tom Robinson of raping her, they would gain sympathy and respect from the town that they did not deserve. She ruined someone else's life because she felt bad for herself and could not make something of herself. Mayella is not a sympathetic character because she lied while under oath in the courtroom, she let her father make her decisions and she attempted to seduce a married man.

In Harper Lee’s, To Kill a Mockingbird there are many powerful characters in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama, Mayella Ewell is one of them. The town is controversial while Mayella sets up allegations of rape.Mayella is the strongest mostly in race when it comes to race, class and gender.

In To Kill A Mockingbird, a character named Mayella Ewell is powerful through race, gender, and a little of power in class. Mayella is a poor, white female. She is nineteen years old and gets abused by her father, Bob Ewell. Mayella’s mother died, leaving her taking responsibilities of her younger siblings. She then creates a plan that will help her escape her father. Since her father is really racist, she plans to have Tom Robinson involve because she believe that it is a way for her to gain power. Tom Robinson is an African- American who is a married man and feels sorry for Mayella. In fact, he does not know anything about Mayella’s plan.

Mayella testifies next, a reasonably clean nineteen-year- old girl who is obviously terrified. She says that she called Tom Robinson inside the fence that evening and offered him a nickel to break up a dresser for her, and that once he got inside the house he grabbed her and took advantage of her. In Atticus' cross-examination, Mayella reveals that she has seven siblings to care for, a drunken father, and no friends.

“Mockingbirds don’t do one thing except make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” (page 103) Harper Lee explains that it is a sin to kill someone, (mockingbird) when all they do is sing and/or never harmed anyone. Single story is shown in To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, with the characters Tom Robinson, Boo Radley, and Dolphus Raymond. Tom was accused of beating and raping Mayella Ewell. The town looks at Boo Radley as the “killer of the night” when they don’t know anything about him, and it’s just an excuse. They look at Dolphus Raymond as the town drunk when really it’s just a cover up for hating the white society, and would rather live among the coloreds. Throughout To Kill A Mockingbird, a single story runs

One of “To Kill a Mockingbird’s” main characters, Mayella Ewell, sets the town into a state of turmoil, whilst using class, race, and gender, as her weapons. Notably during the story, Mayella claimed that a black man, Tom Robinson, sexually assaulted her. Throughout the story, Mayella is not only in control of her own future, but everyone’s regarding the court case.

Racism is a part of human nature; everyone judges their surroundings and the people living in it through a secret lens. Since the beginning of time racism has occurred, but during the Great Depression this lens was most clear to all. This goes hand in hand with the story of “To Kill a Mockingbird”, written by Harper Lee. This book is based on Lee’s childhood during the Depression. Some of the characters in the story are portrayed in her actual life; Atticus is based off her father who was also a lawyer, Dill was in reference of her friend Truman Capote, and Jean Louise is referring to Lee herself telling the story of her life experiences (Baddeley). Throughout the novel, Lee expresses the events that went on around her during the

Prejudice has been present for many years in many countries. Almost everyone has been affected by prejudice either directly or indirectly. The definition of the word prejudice is the preconceived opinion of a person or thing. Almost every one has prejudged someone before meeting him or her or before getting to know them. There are many ways in which one is prejudged such as gender, age, race, religion, the way one dresses etc. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird the lesson the author portrait the most was prejudice in the town and how it can happen anywhere and at any time.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, is a realistic tale of Maycomb, a small town during the Great Depression in Alabama. Like many other small towns, Maycomb is full of whispers, lies, and strong, discriminatory opinions of others living in the town. The concepts of class, gender, and race decide what Maycomb’s residences think of each other and where to rank them on their imaginary scale of power and worth. A good illustration of all three of these traits can be found in the character Mayella Ewell. Mayella is a young, white woman who is considered to be part of the lowest and inferior class in the town. Mayella accused an African American man named Tom Robinson of sexually assaulting her and took the case to court. While it may seem as though Mayella is just another residence of Maycomb with no power, there is plenty of reason to believe otherwise.

To Kill a Mockingbird is a mix between unjust, and just ways of life in an old town in Alabama called Maycomb that takes a twist into a court case that creates a racist and deadly argument. Harper Lee, a book writer with lots of thought and creativity produces a now, award winning book that she considers to be a simple love story that has transformed into a masterpiece. (Cover copy) To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in the town of Maycomb with a small population full of big personalities. “Killing a mockingbird” is something that almost everyone in the town did because of all the racist and unjust actions they did whether they realize it or not.

Mayella Ewell is a white lady who lives in Maycomb, Alabama during the 1930’s. She tries to show her power by accusing Tom Robinson, an African American man of rape and abuse, she uses her race and gender as a weapon to help improve her class status. Miss.Ewell can be both powerful and non powerful, although she is trapped with her abusing father, she is smart enough to think of a plan like this. Considering the fact that Tom Robinson is an African American, Mayella takes advantage to accuse him for something he did not do. Having done that her power is now higher than what it was before.

She is drawn to Tom’s kindness and caring and doesn’t care that he’s black, yet she is trapped in the racially charged society in which she lives, and, in the end, she can not find any escape from her situation. As a result, Mayella Ewell betrays her only friend simply because of the color of his skin, and her father would have certainly hurt her had she not followed the unwritten laws of the time. In turn, Tom is murdered because of her accusations, and Mayella must live the rest of her days with his blood on her hands. Mayella Ewell is a mockingbird in so many ways, but perhaps the saddest evidence of the destruction of her innocence-- despite doing nothing wrong-- happens in the few seconds that it takes her to say, “he did

Mayella’s Class helps her in the trail only for a bit, though she had been shunned and ignored by both whites, and African Americans, she earns the right of having power in this case because of the class she is labeled as. Mayella is the bottom class, even below african americans, Tom Robinson is even above Mayella. The jury and the people who have showed up for the trail possibly have took it that Tom might have thought he would have gotten away with raping Mayella because she was shunned and discarded by others, and because she was the lowest class. “...Tom Robinson was probably the only person who was ever decent to her.” [“DBQ: Is Mayella Powerful?” IL, Edison, 2013] Tom Robinson was a gentleman he respected any human being who crossed his path no matter their class, race, or gender. “Mayella Ewell must have been the loneliest person in the world… White

Maycomb Alabama in the 1930s was a part of the Jim Crow south where it was illegal and unacceptable for a white person to have any romantic relations with a black person. Mayella Ewell had kissed Tom Robinson and her father had seen it. So, Mayella had to conform to society and accuse Tom of raping her so as to hide that she would do such a thing. In To Kill a Mockingbird conformity to society’s expectations can bring the worst out of those who were good people.