To Kill A Mockingbird: Is Mayella Powerful?

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.

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

Power, it is something that everyone wants, it classifies us. “To Kill a Mockingbird” is about a powerless black man, Tom Robinson, accused of raping a white woman, Mayella Ewell. Because of Mayella’s class and gender she is powerless, but her race makes her have a little more power.

Mayella is so poor that she lived behind the local town dump. The old dump, was once also an old Negro cabin, it was very decrepit and was not very clean. Mr. Ewell and Mayella were just about as poor as the African Americans, sometimes the colored folks would even look down on them. Although, they were still able to afford more them the African Americans could, they could have had better living conditions. “... Okay we’ll convict this Negro but get back to your dump.” ("DBQ: Is Mayella Powerful?" 13 ). This was showing that everyone in Maycomb knew they were very poor and did not seem to care, or offer to help.

In addition to Mayella’s race making her powerful her class in society contributed to that power. Even though Mayella was very low in society and looked down upon by the white people in the town of maycomb town, she uses what the people know and think of her to make them feel bad for her and it eventually was what made her win the case against Tom Robinson. For Mayella her class was mostly what started her plan to accuse Tom. This is because she wanted out of her place in society and away from her home where her father was beating and sexualy abussing her. Mayella was gaining power because she had her plan worked out that no matter what happened to Tom she would be able to get away from her father and her home in front of the dump. Mayella was never meant to be placed in that part of society and it is made clear when Scout talks about her appearance “Mayella looked as if she tried to keep clean, and i was reminded of the row of red geraniums in the Ewell yard”. (“DBQ: Is Mayella Ewell Powerful?” 13) While Mayella has a low place in society she is still thought to be better than the colored people and it is looked to be a crime for a African American to think or even consider being better than a white person. This thought and viewpoint is really what made Mayella win the

Do you know what it feels like to be powerless? A white nineteen year old woman named Mayella Ewell falsely accuses a black man of raping her in Maycomb, Alabama, in the 1930’s, and rendering her powerless comes from being recessive in her social class, race, and gender. She accuses Tom Robinson of rape in hopes of escaping her abusive father, and a chance to have a better life. Although Mayella is white, African Americans and other white people shun her throughout To Kill a Mockingbird. Mayella is a very young woman that does not own anything nice, nor clean, besides geranium flowers. During the 1930’s, men were the dominant sex, as a female, Mayella has to obey her father, Bob Ewell. As a result, Mayella is mistreated and abused.

Mayella does not have power because she is a white female, being the lowest class. Mayella is a white female living in Maycomb, Alabama. Mayella has some power being white, but not in her class and gender prevents her from having any power. Mayella is an eighteen year old taking care of her younger siblings. She does not have any power.

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.

(“DBQ: Is Mayella Powerful?” 15) With this situation in mind, Mayella gains power because the jury can see how Mayella is usually treated by her father, which brings her closer to completing her plan and getting rid of her father. When measuring power, the factors of gender and social class are closely related.

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.

Besides from Mayella’s power there are things that make her powerless, such as class and gender. “Mayella looked as if she tried to keep clean, and i was reminded of the row of red geraniums in the Ewell’s yard (Doc. A).” is an example of her class making her powerless. Another example might be “Long’s he keep callin’ me ma'am an sayin’ Miss. Mayella (Doc. C.) shows that her class is so low and the white people don’t respect her enough to call her those simple things. “Okay we’ll convict this Negro but get back to your dump (Doc A).” is another example of how low her class is.

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

In conclusion, Mayella is not a powerful character based on class, gender, and race. Mayella is not powerful because she still has to go back to her dump with her father. Based on gender, Mayella is not powerful because her father is taking advantage of Mayella based on his actions. Mayella is completely powerless when it come to whites and African Americans but, except to Tom Robinson who the only guy who was decent to her. All of the examples show that Mayella is not a power

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?