Mayella A Sympathetic Character Essay

“To Kill A Mockingbird” is a classic novel of modern American literature that was published in 1960. Author Harper Lee loosely based the plot and characters of the story on her childhood. Bob Ewell, the main antagonist of the novel, is a drunken white man who lives off of welfare. He and his family are the eyesore of Maycomb. In “To Kill A Mockingbird”

In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, Power can be refer to as the ability to influence or change one’s opinion base on how an individual is being viewed by the human specie. The book, To Kill a Mockingbird, is simply about a girl, Scout, whose life is influenced both positively and negatively as a result of how society was created. In this book there is a side character, Mayella,; and because of her class and gender, she is powerless, but her race makes her powerful. With this in mind, powerless is a result of poverty, the reader can understand how Mayella’s class makes her powerless; she cannot not fit in due to her lack of money and her lack of hygiene and that makes everyone want to avoid her thus, makes her powerless. “Maycomb’s Ewells lived behind the town dump the town dump in what was once a Negro cabin….(Document

To Kill A Mockingbird a novel written by Harper Lee, general setting in Maycomb Alabama 1930’s. The Author uses language techniques throughout the book portraying social inequality. This was mainly focused on the character Tom Robinson , there was talk about other black characters like calpurnia. However wasn’t involved intentionally in the book , but however was treated unfairly by a certain person. Aunt Alexandra a considered high class citizen of maycomb treats calpurnia like she is their maid.

Mayella Violet Ewell Harper Lee once said, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view…Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.” Mayella Ewell is a lonely abused girl whose family has let her down and left her abandoned. Her symbol, color representation, character traits Taking a closer look at her reveals the true character that she is. She is a confused and blinded girl.

In “To Kill a Mockingbird” the character Mayella Ewell is powerful and capable, though not through traditional means such as strength or intellect, and even so, as strong as she is, she is just as weak in the same aspects which enable her to be strong. She still manages to obtain what she wants through her race, class, and gender to her advantage, and by any means necessary. Mayella, at a glance, appears to be the victim and a weak character; however, if taken into deeper account, it is visible how mighty she truly is. Class notes on how low and lonely she is, being ignored and glared down upon by whites and blacks alike. The red geraniums she keeps in jars in her yard, represent her, and wanting to be free and not restricted by social standards and her controlling, abusive father.

To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee Hadrien Olinger Newspaper Article Report on the death of Tom Robinson Maycomb country Tom Robinson, accused of rape People involved in this trial: Atticus Finch, lawyer of Tom Robinson Mayella Violet Ewell (19) - says she got raped Judge Taylor- the judge Mr Gilmer- lawyer of Mayella Ewell Tom Robinson (27)- accused of rape Tom Robinson gets shot dead a few hours after his trial. Had no hope left in him and decided to go for the run. He was accused of raping a white girl.

Tom Robinson is a mockingbird in that he doesn't do one thing wrong. All he does is provide help to the people he interacts with. That is exactly how he got in trouble. Tom Robinson was helping Mayella with some chores. He was humming a melody and when he chopped up the dresser drawers.

When you read To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, you meet Mayella, a white woman that lives with her dad and her siblings who gains power throughout the story. Mayella gets this power using her race, gender, and class in the society in the story. Mayella uses her power from being poor and by everyone feeling sorry for her and making people help her out. Mayella is white so she has power over the black people in the story, Mayella is a woman so she gets respect from the people in the society. Now you know more about Mayella and her lifestyle more, is Mayella powerful?

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. Mayella race is where most of her power comes from.

Bob Ewell, is Mayella’s father, the villain of the novel and most figures that struts hatred to the African Americans. Bob Ewell has no money, no education, he wants his life to be better, and he pours his anger on whoever is weaker than him. He bashes his daughter when he discovered her intentions towards Tom Robinson; he also tried to hurt Scout and Jem. "I see that black nigger yonder ruttin' on my Mayella!" (84)

Perspective and beliefs go hand in hand when talking about someone's personal views on society and what is morally right to them. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee, Lee shows all throughout the novel that someone’s perspective can change in a matter of seconds. When Atticus educates Scout about stepping into someone else's shoes, when Jem is told that Mrs. Dubose was struggling with an addiction, and when Bob Ewell’s credibility was lost after the trial where he was exposed as a liar. All examples are prominent in this novel as well as many others. The very first sense of perspective that we get from Lee is very pronounced.

In society today there are those that are pushed out of the crowd because of what they look like, how they act, and what others say to be true about them. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee shows that unselfish, kind hearted people can experience prejudice from others. Always wanting to be the better person, Atticus Finch is like the mockingbird when taking the responsibility of defending Tom Robinson, who is a black man. Once Atticus gets the news that he will be defending Tom Robinson, who is accused of rape, he is very stressed until the end of the trial. Harper Lee shows this when she says, “It’s this Tom Robinson case that’s worrying him to death...”

Moral dilemma of characters in the novel To Kill A Mockingbird The way people handle moral dilemmas are often different. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird Harper Lee show various moral dilemmas and how different characters deal with it. Scout chose to be different in handling with her moral dilemma and change for the better while Mayella does not change and does wrong.