Mayella Is Powerless In To Kill A Mockingbird

Trash of Maycomb County, is what the Ewell family was considered primarily because their property looked like trash, and they looked like trash as well. The quote, “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 (Doc E), shows that even though Mayella was able to lock up an innocent black man convicted, her family was still considered the lowest in class of the town. Mayella is socially secluded to the point that she has never been addressed with respect. She wants to change her situation, nut she is powerless to do so. She is a prisoner of her class and lacks the power to leave her

Because the jury did not favor black men, Tom Robinson did not receive a fair trial, although Atticus made a great case. Segregation directly disobeys the fourteenth amendment, “No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.” Maycomb Alabama is where the story, To Kill a Mockingbird takes place. Tom Robinson’s trial out come was not based on factual evidence. Mayella was lying to the jury, while Tom was completely innocent. He could not have done everything that Mayella said he did, due to the fact that he one has one working arm.

Although they are white, their poverty and bad reputation made their social status just a step above the black people. Bob Ewell is alcoholic and abusive, but he still wants to improve his family’s situation as a father. However, the fact that "he was the only man ever heard of who was fired from the WPA for laziness" (Lee 78) proves that he isn 't willing to earn it. But in accusing Tom Robinson, he finds what he believes is a brass ring. From his perspective, the town should think him as a hero for saving Maycomb 's white women from a ‘dangerous’ black man.

No thought of the future. Just run blind the first chance he saw” (Lee 322). The fact that Scout writes, that Tom was just a typical negro man, show that Tom symbolizes a mockingbird because just from being that minority color, in his time, people thought of him differently, not as an individual but a group. Finally when Tom was blamed for raping Mayella, even thought everyone knew the truth, and when he did something to help her out out of the goodness of his heart, but because he was of different status and race backfires, Toms status as a symbolic mockingbird becomes

To give one example of manipulation, Flannery O'Connor, Georgia State author of "A Good Man Is Hard to Find", writes that "You wouldn't shoot a lady, would you?"(421). The grandmother is trying to make the misfit vulnerable, even though he has already killed everyone but her. She's begging the misfit for her life. Every one of those people would still be alive if it was not for the grandmother. She did not have much hope left anyways for her life because she annoyed the misfit with her ugly and selfish ways.

He accused Mister Robinson of raping his daughter because he saw him doing something with his daughter, but he did not hear Tom’s side of the story he only wanted to think in his own way. He used his preconceptions about black people to judge the black man, even if the man was innocent. I would never accuse an innocent man if I knew he was innocent, but if I knew he was guilty I would take him to court in the hopes of him being locked up for the rest of his

The jurors in Twelve Angry Men also had to deal with this problem. Juror number 3 had a son who have not talked to in years because he was so tough on him when he was younger. This juror had no trouble believing that the boy killed his father because he thinks his son could have killed him. Juror number 11 was an immigrant who believed in the American Justice system with all his heart. He wanted to make sure that the boy had a fair trial because he believed that was the American way, his experiences in his own country were very unfair to people of different races, religions and

Of course, some of us know that Mayella is powerful, she has the power to basically decide the fate of a person such as Tom Robinson and controlling a situation. Her little family has no money, they are poorer than the Cunningham's, and they are really poor. Bob and Mayella can barely survive in the world, but maintains to stay somewhat positive in a sense. She may be a dirt poor girl that lives behind a dumpster, but in some ways she is very powerful depending on the situation. One of the big things she uses is manipulation.

Not an old Uncle, but a strong young Negro man. No code mattered to her before she broke it, but it came crashing down on her afterwards," (pg. 208). Atticus helped Tom Robinson even though his life and the lives of his children were threatened and he was able to get the judge to consider letting Tom go free. Atticus is treated poorly because the actions he chooses to take go against the cultural norms of his society.

He wanted justice to happen even if he was the only man in the whole town to stand up for an African American, Tom Robinson. He didn’t care what people were saying about him. He didn’t want to be a racist man who was supporting in injustice accusation. He wanted to be an independent man who chose to defend a man who he believed had been accused falsely. Equally as important is when Juror 8 began to the defend the African American child.

Before going into trial, Atticus already knew he was going to lose his case even if he proved Tom was innocent. He knew the reality was that blacks had no supremacy when it came to their word against a white man’s (“To Kill a Mockingbird,” 2016). He also knew that a black man would never be acquitted of allegations against him when being charged with rape of a white woman, but he wanted to defend Tom to the best of his ability because he knew it was the right thing to do. This representation of African Americans in the movie showed the little power they had within the justice system, and how their fate could be left in the hands of the white man’s word (“To Kill a Mockingbird,”

Atticus leaves the children at home and tells them to stay there, but they sneak out and watch the trial anyway. The kids strongly believe Tom will win, like when Jem says, “He’s not supposed to lean, Reverend, but don’t fret, we’ve won it. Don’t see how any jury would convict on what we’ve heard.” (209) Reverend Sykes explains how a white man has never lost to a black man, but the children are still hopeful. After hours of waiting, the jury came back in. Scout explains how “A jury never looks at the defendant if it has convicted, and when this jury came in, not one of them looked at Tom Robinson… Judge Taylor was polling the jury; ‘Guilty...Guilty...Guilty’”(211) When Scout and Jem hear the verdict, they are distraught.

Gender, age, and race still play a very prevalent role in our society. Many individuals continue to think the ideas of white supremacists play no role in the United States, but individuals such as Dylann Roof, prove them wrong. Innocent people lose their life for having the right to believe what they want to, and overall pay the ultimate price. At the rate in which Americans experience hate crimes, citizens may soon enter war with themselves.