To Kill A Mockingbird Quote Analysis

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 author portray Mayella Ewell as a symbol of ignorant innocence warped into an outlet of evil, specifically the strain of racism. She is the victim of horrible and abusive influence. Her character development and testimony truly show this in the book. When Atticus begins to cross examine her on the witness her weak character begins to shed light on the lies her father installed into her head. Not only is her memory foggy due to the strenuous abuse, but also she lies on oath. “No answer. ‘What did your father see in the window, the crime of rape or the best defense to it? Why don’t you tell the truth, child, didn’t Bob Ewell beat you up?.’” (Lee 187). As her testimony continues, it is self-evident that Mayella is not being fully truthful and her father emotionally, physically and sexually exploits her. Mayella is forced to keep her and her father’s secret under safe keeping, but some of her account and questioning sheds light on the raw ways of Bob Ewell and the keeping of his family. “‘Do you love your Father, Miss Mayella?’ was his next. ‘Love him, watcha mean?’ ‘I mean, is he good to you, is he easy to get along with?’ ‘He does tollable, ‘cept when--’ ‘Except when?’ Mayella looked at her father, who was sitting with his chair tipped against the railing. He sat up straight and waited for her to answer.” (Lee 183). Through slight inconsistencies and small actions as her time of the witness it is easy to tell that Mayella knows her father’s wrongdoing and that she is being used for his evil purposes.

Mayella Ewell does not exert power through her gender because there is suspicion about Mr. Ewell abusing and beating her. Scout describes the interaction between Mayella and her father during the trial: “Mayella looked at her father, who was sitting with her chair tipped against the railing. He sat up straight and waited

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…

When the Ewell’s propose the accusation that Tom raped Mayella, the Ewell’s are told, “okay, we’ll convict this Negro, but get back to your dump.” (Document A). That statement demonstrates that when Mayella accused Tom, the town held a trial against him because of her race but after the trial was over they wanted nothing to do with her because she was low class. Mayella’s power of race was not enough to defeat her lack of power within her class. Women in Mayella’s time period were not respected the way they are now and, “the young miss of to-day is certainly more thrilled with life and its possibilities than her sister of two to three decades ago ever was.”

Mayella’s is very poor and is not powerful due to her social class. She lives in an area where blacks once lived by a dump. In the passage, it states,”Maycomb’s Ewells lived behind the town garbage dump in what was once a Negro cabin” (Lee Doc A). There home reflects on Mayella and her family. Her dad, Mr.Ewell, does not look appropriate for court. In the text it states,”Mr.Ewell had a scaled look:as if an overnight soaking had deprived him of protective layers of dirt”(Lee doc A). When Mr. Ewell was at the trial his class reflects on how he looks. He was dirty and presentable. Mayella and her family do not have power in their social class, even though they are white.

In the story To Kill a Mockingbird, there are many characters. The antagonist, Mayella Ewell, had many conflicts with the amount of power she had. Her power is greatly debated on. Power is defined as having control of your life, and being able to control others around you. While Mayella is white, she does not have much power at all. Mayella is a poor, young lady who lives on the wrong side of town, which hurts how much of a say she has in her life decisions because of where she lives. The story takes place in Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930’s. Women did not have rights, and the rich were the ruling class. Mayella is involved in a trial where Tom Robinson is wrongfully accused of raping her. During this time period, the Great Depression was going on, so there were more poor than rich. The three leading factors of power are class, gender, and race.

Mayella Ewell is beggarded in her class and relies on others to survive since their is no structure in her dirty household. In the city of Maycomb, welfare is given to Mayella’s family because they can not survive on their own. Her home is uncivilized with many dirty kids and a home that resembles a dump. Families of Maycomb try to avoid the Ewell’s home since it has a terrible smell due to the fact they

The timeless novel by Harper Lee, To Kill A Mockingbird, tells the tale of a poor, white, woman and her accusation of a black man raping her. This man didn’t rape her, but, he still went to jail and was killed there. The woman who accused him and sent him to jail is Mayella Ewell, an interesting character that has challenged readers to classify as powerful or powerless. The story is set in the 1930’s, when whites were extremely more superior than blacks, men were more superior than women, and high classed people had a lot more power. Because she is poverty stricken and a female in the 1930’s, Mayella Ewell us clearly powerless.

Mayella Ewell, a young white woman was responsible for playing during Tom Robinson's trial. She was the woman of lonesome and lower class who seeked attention. Her lifestyle was as an unstable home in which she grew up to play mama and raise her seven younger siblings. From time to time she was often used as an abused sexual intercourse item by her junkie father. Since Tom was of African American, made of the used to power against time to cover up the fact that she was being physically and verbally abused by her father. Therefore, since Mayella was of white race, her word against Tom was worthy enough to encourage the jury that he had raped and physically abused her. Mayella was a character hidden behind her own father’s shadow. She never had

Mockingbirds appeared in this novel several times. Not necessarily in the literal text, but in the characters themselves. During the 1930’s, racism and prejudice against African Americans were common. This is a perfect “real-world” example of a mockingbird (in symbolism). The mockingbird symbolism showed up in the beginning of the novel, when Uncle Jack, Atticus’s brother, gifted an air rifle to the children.

during the 1930’s, racism was at its best. African-Americans could not associate with whites because of Jim Crow laws, which gave Mayella an idea. She would accuse Tom Robinson, and African-American, of raping her to get her father Bob Ewell to stop the sexual abuse because a Jim Crow law states “Any white woman who shall suffer or permit herself to be got with child by a negro or mulatto... Shall be sentenced to the penitentiary for not less than eighteen months”. Her class and race help her to try and get out of this bad situation, but her gender also helps her have

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the author of “Americanah,” once said, “Race doesn’t really exist for you because it has never been a barrier. Black folks don’t have a choice.” In To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee’s character Atticus matches quite well to this description. Atticus doesn’t fully face racism towards him or his family since they are white. They’ve only seen discrimination in their town but they have never lived racism or fully experienced what black people have.

“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…. What passed for a fence was bits of tree-limbs, broomsticks and tool shafts…. Enclosed by this barricade was a dirty yard….” Because of this status as the “disgrace of Maycomb for three generations,” no one wants anything to deal with the Ewells. Their power in this state is imaginary and Bob Ewell thinks if he gets Tom found guilty of rape, it would help gain him some respect. That isn't the case, the people's view of the Ewells doesn't get any better. This leaves Mayella as lonely and powerless.

Mayella Ewell had a very specific way of getting what she wanted at the time that she wanted it. Although she was very poor and did not have much money, most people felt extremely sorry for her. Mayella had a very poor social life, she did not have that many friends, she was extremely poor and she lived behind a trash can. Mayella’s class contributed to her power, because she was a white woman, and the man that she accused of raping her was african american. Mayella has power over Tom Robinson and she has a higher class than him, he calls her “ma’am” and she gets extremely offended by it so much that she tells the judge he is “making fun of her”. (Doc C.1)