Examples Of Power In To Kill A Mockingbird

In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Mayella Ewell is a powerful character. Mayella get’s her power from her class,race,and gender. Her power mostly comes from her race. Tom Robinson has been accused of rape by Mayella Ewell.

Power is or means having control over someone or something. Although Mayella is powerful, class was where she suffered the most. “Maycomb’s Ewells lived behind the town garbage dump in what was once a Negro cabin.. Its windows were merely opens in the walls….what passed for a fence was bits of tree-limbs, broomsticks, and tool shafts….Enclosed

One day in Maycomb, Alabama during the great depression a young girl named Mayella Ewell was raped. This shows Mayella is one powerful young girl in the story To Kill A Mockingbird. It will show how she is power through class, race, and gender. First Mayella is powerful through her class ranking. In the story it said that the “Maycomb’s Ewells lived behind the town garbage dump in what was once a Negro cabin…”.

What is Power? Power means to control yourself and/or others. This story is about a black man named Tom Robinson and a white woman named Mayella Ewell. The story consists of an unfair trial, a lot of racism, and prejudice people. What makes Mayella powerful due to class, gender, and race?

Gender to Ms.Ewell is a powerful topic. Being a female and white are the perfect combinations at the time. But, though she is a lady she does not know how to be treated like one. In (“DBQ is Mayella Ewell powerful?”

Is Mayella Ewell powerful or not? Mayella Ewell, the poorest girl in the town of Maycomb, Alabama, living on a pig farm with her abusive father and in an abandoned Negro shack. The Ewell’s are the lowest of the low in the town of Maycomb, in rank wise and are not respected too much either. Bob Ewell, father of Mayella Ewell is an abusive man, sexually and physically and has an alcoholic problem. Mayella is usually beaten and sexually assaulted by him, especially when he is drinking, but Mayella has a plan that will let her be free from Bob. One would say she is not powerful because she is enclosed from the world, beaten by her father, and not very respected.

During the book and the movie, whites were trying to get rid blacks like they were nothing. As Atticus states “Mayella has committed no crime, she has merely broken a rigid and time honored code of our society, a code so severe that whoever breaks it is hounded from our midst as unfit to live with. In other words, Mayella is trying to get rid of Tom so it doesn’t make her remember her guilt. Atticus explains that anyone who has a relation with a black in the society is segregated like a black, and because Mayella is already poor, she cannot afford to be more lowered in the society. So she’s trying to get rid of Tom.

We see injustice and narrow-mindedness throughout but is most prevalent with Tom Robinson’s trial, with Mayella and Bob Ewell taking the stand and giving their testimony. Because of Mayella’s ignorance and selfishness, she was able to put an innocent man in jail. She didn’t care about the social code that she would be breaking, and lured Tom Robinson, an african american that worked for Mr. Deas. She kisses him, and after Tom is able to run away, faces the consequences of her father. During the trial, Mayella

But, when she is forced to open up during her testimony, her true self can be seen. Some feel that what she exposes is why full sympathy should be shown towards her. Though some sympathy could be shown towards Mayella because of her abusive father and loneliness, her behavior towards

Although due to being a poor, uneducated woman whom is treated like an object, Mayella is not a powerful character. For 19 years of Mayella’s life she has been

Mayella was powerless in gender because she was always abused. “Mayella was beaten savagely by someone who lead almost exclusively with his left” (Document B). Based on this quote it shows that Mayella’s father had beaten her sexual, verbally, and physically. Tom Robinson also was crippled in his left hand which shows her father beat her. During the trial Atticus questions Mayella about if she loves her father and she response “he tollable, except when he is drinking” (Document B).

Additionally to Mayella’s power in race, does she have power in class? Mayella lives behind a dump and her nearest neighbors are negroes. “Get back to your dump.” Said in Document A.

But she said he took advantage of her, and when she stood up she looked at him as if he were dirt beneath her feet.” Mayella’s loneliness and powerlessness drove her to have an affair with a black man, breaking a societal code. She is a victim of poverty because of the hatred and discrimination occurring in Maycomb. Although some might view Mayella Ewell as a victim, others might view her as a villain because she broke a societal code by attempting to have an affair with a Negro.

Mayella, injured beyond repair by the forces of poverty and by the hatred that surrounds her and her family Mayella’s father forces her to lie about what really happened between her and Tom Robinson Although Mayella knows that she can tell the truth about the trial her father forces her to lie about what Tom Robinson really did. All Mayella wants is attention from someone because she has never felt that feeling before because of the way her father treats her. Although Mayella has her flaws, she does not deserve to be harmed and mistreated because truly she has not harmed anyone. This leads to the ultimate act of innocence displayed by Tom

Is Mayella Powerful? Be honest, have you ever felt like you’re better than everyone else? How much do you desire power? What is power?