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? Although Mayella is powerless when it comes to class and gender, her race ultimately makers her powerful. When it comes to class Mayella is powerless. Mayella and her father live in a dump and not in opulence. When the trial ended Bob Ewell, Mayella’s father thought he’d be a hero, but instead everything turned back to normal. “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(DocA).” There …show more content…
Mayella is very loquacious when it comes to talking about her father’s drinking problems. “He’s tollable, ‘cept when-’” and “Except when he’s drinking?” asked Atticus so gently that Mayella nodded(Doc B).” We know that Mayella’s father beat her, because she was hit on the right side of the face, and her father is left handed. It was reprehensible to accuse Tom of hitting Mayella, when his arm was partially amputated. “‘... What did her father do? We don’t know, but there is circumstantial evidence to indicate that Mayella Ewell was beaten savagely by someone who led almost exclusively with his left(Doc B)....’” Mayella knows that no white man will love her, because she is poor, so she goes to the next best thing which is Tom. “She reached up an’ kissed me’ side of th’ face(Doc B).” Based on the evidence she is powerless based on her …show more content…
Tom was called “boy” by Mr. Gilmer when he was questioning him, which was rude and impolite. “Are you being impudent to me, boy(Doc C).” Reverend Sykes says tells Jem to not get his hopes up, because he has never seen a black man win a court case before. “Now don’t you be so confident, Mr. Jem, I ain’t ever seen any jury decide in favor of a colored man over a white man(Doc D)...” It’s wrong for a black man to feel sorry for a white person, ever. Tom did her chores only because he felt sorry for her(Doc E). Mayella won the case because she was white and Tom was black. The jury definitely obliterated Tom’s chances of getting
During the trial, Tom Robinson revealed that Mayella’s father verbally and sexually abuses her. Tom states “She says she never kissed a grown man before. She says what her papa do to her don’t count.” (Doc. B) After Mr. Ewell caught Tom and Mayella, he called Mayella a “goddamn whore” and threatens her by saying “I’ll kill ya.” (Doc. B)
Power: the amount of control one has over their own life, as well as the life of others. In the story, To Kill A Mockingbird, an African American man named Tom Robinson is accused of rape even though he was the one who was attacked. He is accused of raping a woman named Mayella Ewell. We will be seeing how powerful she is based on her class, gender, and race. We will be doing this by examining several documents on each of the three.
The firm declaration of Mayella denying that her father abuses her after claiming he can be intolerable while drunk and her hesitant answer gives us the clear conclusion that Mayella is being abused by her father and her injuries and rape were done not by Tom Robinson but by Mr. Ewell
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…”.
She also says “What her papa do to her don’t count” (Doc B) which shows that he’s probably took advantage of her because she can’t physically do anything to stop him. The last quote i got was “There is circumstantial evidence to indicate that Mayella Ewell was beaten savagely by someone who led almost exclusively with his left” All these quotes show that Mayella has been beaten by someone they don’t know who but being a female she isn’t as strong as whoever beat her so she can’t defend herself. She won’t say it’s her father but from the circumstantial evidence that whoever beat her was left handed and it couldn’t have been Tom because he can’t use his left hand so the only other suspect left is her father and it makes sense that it could be him because he told her that he would kill her if she didn’t say that Tom raped her because there is evidence to pass that someone has beaten her and her father doesn’t want the truth to come
Then some people thought that Tom was innocent but the judge decided to make Tom go to prison. In the book it said that Mayella hugged and kissed Tom on the cheek. From this I can infer that Mayella is desperate and can get away with this because Tom Robinson is a black person. This reminds me of a couple southern movies I’ve watched where black people are always the first to suspect because of their color. Tom Robinson on trial for his life said Bob Ewell yelled “whore I’ll kill you” when he saw Mayella kiss Tom from the window.
The evidence heavily supports that Tom Robinson could not have beaten Mayella Ewell. Robert not only lied in court, but he also beat Mayella himself. After seeing Mayella kiss Tom, Mayella’s father, who is extremely racist, beat Mayella which caused Tom Robinson to run away in fear, making him look guilty. Mayella Ewell has been abused by her father, sexually and physically, but he refuses to take the blame. Mayella Ewell unwillingly lies in court to sacrifice an innocent black man to keep her father free of accountability.
He is accused of raping a girl by the name of Mayella Ewell and Atticus is appointed as his lawyer. Mayella accused Tom because she needed him to disappear after what she’d done “She was white, and she tempted a Negro. She did something that in our society is unspeakable: she kissed a black man” (Lee, Pg. 204) Atticus said this to Jem after losing the trial. If people of color weren’t viewed as negatively none of this would’ve been an issue.
Document B “Except when he’s drinking” states that, “Mayella Ewell was beaten savagely by someone...” The quote is an example of physical abuse. Since Mayella was beaten by a man and she is a woman she could not get away. In the 1930s, women were not supposed to stand up to men therefore, Mayella being a woman makes her more powerless against them. In the same source, when Mayella was looking “at her father, who was sitting with his chair tipped against the railing.
In the novel: To Kill A Mockingbird, Mayella Ewell, a poor white woman, accused Tom Robinson, an African American, of rape. The Ewell’s are very indigent and her father, Bob Ewell, gets drunk and abuses Mayella. Since Mayella is very poor, this makes her not so powerful. In Maycomb, Alabama, A poor white woman named Mayella Ewell who lives behind the town garbage dump, accuses Tom Robinson, an African American, of rape.
In Harper Lee’s “To Kill A Mockingbird”, the issue of Southern Womanhood is brought up many times throughout the novel. Lee uses many different characters to help show how she viewed Southern Womanhood. Specifically she uses, Scout, Mayella Ewell, and Scout’s Aunt Alexandra. In "To Kill A Mockingbird", Harper Lee uses specific characters to show how negative of an impact Southern Womanhood used to have. Harper Lee uses Scout in many cases to show how she thought Southern Womanhood used to have a negative impact.
Mayella was was just a poor girl who had never been to school a day in her life and suffered so much abuse from her father, she didn’t give herself the opportunity to be powerful. In a time of oppression and depression Mayella standing up would have been a monumental change but she never seized it and took advantage, she let everyone else take advantage of
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.
Mayella Ewell is a victim. Mayella is a victim of her father, Bob Ewell, because he is an alcoholic that abuses her. During the Tom Robinson trial, Atticus proved Bob Ewell to be left-handed. Based on Bob and Heck Tate’s testimonies, Mayella’s right eye was blackened
Tom Robinson is a young African-American who's been accused of raping and abusing Mayella Ewell, a young and closeted white woman. Racial discrimination is hinted throughout Tom’s trial as Atticus Finch explains to Jem that a white man’s word will always win over that of a black man’s - "... In our courts, when it's a white man's word against a black man's, the white man always wins. They're ugly, but those are the facts of life" (220). Atticus explains to Jem that in the courts of Maycomb, a black man’s state of innocence or guilt is truly determined by a white man’s testimony.