Examples Of Mayella's Power In To Kill A Mockingbird

Imagine feeling less of a person every day because of not being a white woman. Mayella is a white woman who barely has any power, but in court, she's powerful enough to send an innocent Black man to the electric chair. Her class gets rid of all her power. Her Gender takes and gives her power. But in the end, her race makes her most powerful.

Unfortunately for Mayella, she was born into a poor family, meaning the town wants nothing to do with her family and gets little to no respect as a person. Mayella's class does not give her any power, especially considering she lives behind a dump. The text states, “Maycomb’s Ewells lived behind the town's garbage dump in what once a n*gro cabin”. No one in town wants to go near her or her family because they have worms and other diseases.

Although Mayella is a woman, her power is limited. She was allowed to cry when she was on the stand being questioned, The text states, “Mayella stared at him and burst into tears. She covered her mouth and sobbed”. Mayella can also refuse to answer asked questions; she is also called miss or ma’am and Tom Robinson is called boy. She is treated with the utmost respect. However, she can't leave her house Because she wouldn’t have anyone to go to and she wouldn’t be able to find a job on her own, as her father sexually abused

Mayella's race gives her all the power she needs. She lived in a time when white people were superior but also racist. Mayella was able to win a case without any evidence, purely because of the color of her skin. As stated in the text, “ A jury never looks at a defendant it has convicted, and when the jury came in, not one of them looked at Tom Robinson. The foreman handed a piece of paper to Mr.Tate who handed it; I shut my eyes. Judge Taylor was polling the jury: Guilty… guilty… guilty… guilty…” This shows that she is treated better than African Americans because of her