Who 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.

Mayella had a great amount of power in the courtroom during the trial of Tom Robinson. This completely classless manipulative woman used the disadvantages she was dealt in life to her benefit. She made advances toward this black man, when he did not reciprocate those feelings she accused him of rape. He is convicted and sent to prison because of her. Through this, she also gains power that removes her from her father’s sexual abuse. He does not want her because of the relations with a

Mayella is powerless because of her class. From a Document: At the beginning of Tom Robinson’s trial, Scout describes Mayella’s home, "Against the fence, in a line, were six…jars holding brilliant red geraniums, cared for… tenderly…. People said they were Mayella Ewell’s.” (Document A). According to the quote, she wants people to see that she is not like her father. The public does not care about her family and they

A quote that supports this is “She reached up and kissed me.”(Doc B) this quote shows this because of her gender is she was kissing Tom freely but she was scared to tell her father the truth. Another quote is “Except when he drinks? Asked Atticus gently that Mayella nodded.”(Doc B) Another quote is “Mayella was beaten savagely by someone who was led almost exclusively with his left.” (Doc B) This is why I think Mayella lacks power because of her gender.

Mayella Ewell is a lower class woman that “lives behind the city dump”(Lee, Chapter 17). She has accused Tom Robinson of raping her. Her dad, Bob Ewell is very abusive to his daughter, but no one knows about it yet. All this takes place in the 1930’s in Maycomb Alabama. It states in the text that “Mayella looked as if she tried to keep clean” (Lee, Chapter 18).

For example, when Atticus addresses Mayella as “ma'am” or “miss,” she believes it is a sign of Atticus mocking her. Proving that Mayella was never greatly respected or at all throughout her life. Mayella owns geranium flowers that Scout emphasizes for being so well cared for, because she realizes that Mayella looks like she is trying to keep clean, and one may believe that Mayella wanted more than to live in a Negro cabin where its windows were spaces in the wall with a dirt yard behind the town’s garbage dump. Scout also notes the geraniums because she believes that Mayella uses them to separate herself from the rest of the Ewell family. Bob Ewell is an alcoholic and an abusive father. Presented in To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus says “he thought he’d be a hero, but all he got for his pain was… okay, we’ll convict this Negro but get back to your dump.” (Lee, Chapter 27) Stating that although Bob is white, he is still unwanted by others even after Tom Robinson’s conviction. Mayella suffers from her life at home by being abused, let alone is thought of and expected to be lower than everyone else as a reflection of her polluted appearance, her family’s low income, and her father’s

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

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.

Just like gender, Mayella has power when it comes to her social class. Throughout the trial, Mayella was always called Ma’am. “I will not answer a word you say, as long as you keep mocking me.” (“DBQ: Is Mayella Powerful?” 17) Mayella was not used to being called Ma’am, which is why she thought that she was being mocked by Atticus. This shows that Mayella is usually not respected by anyone, including her father. In addition with Mayella being called Ma’am, the judge calls Tom Robinson by a certain name, which shows that he is from a lower class. “That old Mr. Gilmer doing him thataway, talking so hateful to him, the way that man called him “boy” all the time and sneered at him.” (“DBQ: Is Mayella Powerful?” 17) When considering the social class factor, Mayella is very powerful. Mayella’s social class gives her power because with her class, she is well respected by others, and especially by Negros. People respect her more than they do Tom Robinson, which gives her an advantage in the trial. At another point in the trial, Tom was asked why he

Mayella is a poor white girl that isn’t highly educated. This is shown during the courtroom scene where Atticus questions her. “Long’s he keeps callin’ me ma’am and Miss Mayella”. The judge had to elucidate this quote so Mayella would understand. This quote shows she never gets called those names before. Mayella has little power because of her class.

People feel sympathy towards those that are believed to be unlikely to lie, and Mayella took advantage of this. During the trial, Scout realizes that “Tom Robinson was a dead man the moment [Mayella] opened her mouth to scream” (Lee 323), which is mainly because she was given sympathy. When she tells her story about the events that happened between her and Tom Robinson, the audience pities her, and she is described as “[. . .] fragile looking, but when she sat facing us in the witness chair, she became what she was, a thick-bodied girl accustomed to strenuous labor” (Lee 239). They describe her as someone who looks strong and controlled, but also as frail and fragile. Even though her life is not on the line, the people in the courtroom believe her to need more protection because of her fragile appearance. After Mayella’s father, Bob Ewell spit in his face, Atticus responds to his children by saying “if spitting in my face and threatening me saved Mayella Ewell one extra beating, that’s something I’ll gladly take” (Lee 293). Even the lawyer that shows the town that she was guilty pities her, even after she denies her lies and lets a young man die. In this situation, race is a contributing role towards this sudden acceptance, because in the society that these characters live, individuals with white skin are often viewed as less likely to commit sin

Power is the ability to control one's life and the lives of other .in the trial of tom robinson mayella power is what ,in the end got tom convicted of rape .there are many ways mayella has power and doesn't have power .this paper will be about the ways mayella has and does not have power. Therefore mayella doesn't have much because of here as said “the ewells live behind the town garbage dump(doc A)”. This means they don't get much respect from the townspeople .mayella also doesn't have very many friends because she “lives among pig (doc E)”.

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

When Atticus asks Mayella ‘who are your friends?’ (p.245) she is perplexed by the question demonstrating to us how she must be ‘the loneliest person in the world’ (p. 256). Furthermore, Lee clearly explains to us she is accustomed to being treated poorly as when Atticus refers to her as ‘ma’am’ and speaks to her politely she believes initially that he is ‘mockin’ me’ (p.243). Reflecting on how Mayella is trapped in her improvised, friendless state with nobody who respects her, we realise it would not have been difficult for her to become fixated on and fantasise about Tom Robinson, as he ‘was probably the only person who was ever decent to her’ (p.257). We are also able to understand why she lies about Tom raping her during the trial when we take into consideration that Mayella is living in fear of what her drunk and abusive father, Bob Ewell, would do to her if she was truthful. As she has already been ‘beaten savagely’ (p.272) and possibly raped by her father, after she ‘kissed a black man’ (p.272), her trepidation is unsurprising. By climbing into Mayella’s skin and walking around in it we see Lee is helping us to learn the importance of considering people’s circumstances before judging their actions.

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.