The Innocent Killer Imagine a fragile, lonely woman who emerges as a brave, worthy adversary to Atticus. Mayella Ewell is an extremely polarizing figure in to To Kill A Mockingbird. She is the daughter of Bob Ewell, an unemployed man, who is widely looked down upon by his fellow peers. Unfortunately for Mayella, this distinguishes her from society and does not allow her to be educated or make acquaintances with the people of Maycomb. She is not capable of this because there are basic rules of society which inhibit her from socializing with the blacks nor the middle class white people. Since she is not able to socialize with most white people, she chooses to speak with Tom Robinson, a black man. Then a few months later, Bob Ewell accuses Tom …show more content…
While white society considers the Ewells inferior, the Ewells hold themselves above the community’s African Americans. They are looked down upon by the whites because their family has never worked nor gone to school and are not considered productive members of society. Yet the Ewells attempt not to associate with the black people because, in the South in the 1930s, there was extreme racism against colored people. Living in immense poverty means she is not allowed to go to school and engage in friendships. This is clearly displayed when Atticus Finch asks if Mayella has any friends to a shockingly aggressive reaction. “Mayella’s hostility which had subsided to grudging neutrality flared again ‘You makin’ fun o’ me agin, Mr. Finch’”(245). She believes that Atticus had been making fun of her because he treats her with great manners which she had never experienced before, since the she never socializes with the proper people of Maycomb. Yet, she not only lacks friends, she also has a shockingly distant relationship with her father. Mayella’s father care for her, rather he beats her and leaves her alone for days. This is displayed perfectly through, “Their relief check was far from enough to feed the family and there was strong suspicion that Papa drank it up anyway- he sometimes went off in the swamp for days and came home sick”(244). No wonder Mayella is lonely, her father leaves her alone to take care of the entire family and when he would return she would have to take care of Bob. Her lack of friendships and no parental figure leaves her devastated and lonely in an unforgiving
Along with that Mayella has been given many chances to call out her father for his wrongdoing. She needs to protect herself and Atticus has been asking her multiple questions to help her. “You seem sure enough that he choked you. All this time you were fighting back, remember? You kicked and hollard as loud as you could,
Being a girl in this situation, gave Mayella the power over Tom. While Questioning Mayella, Atticus asked her a question that changed the way people saw her, “Do you love your father, Miss Mayella,”... “He does tollable, ‘cept when—,”...“Except when he’s drinking?” asked Atticus so gently that Mayella nodded. “ All her life Mayella has been mistreated her father.
Although Mayella claimed rape, it still does not change the town’s point of view on her. “Maycomb’s Ewells lived behind the town garbage dump in what was once a Negro cabin…. (Doc. A)” this explains and tells us that the Ewells are not rich nor do they have an abundant amount of money; since they do not have riches, that are not considered high-class nor middle-class, which mostly likely leads to the Ewells receiving little to no respect or value to the town. “White people wouldn’t have anything to do with her because she lived among pigs (Doc. E)” this statement proves that, although she is a white woman, no one would get involved in her business or life because of her background and her “atmosphere”. “Long’s he keeps callin’ me ma’am and sayin’ Miss Mayella.
Mayella is a poor person, but her status gives her power because she is seen as someone who has values above materialism. Furthermore,
While Mayella was being interviewed she thought Atticus was mocking her. A realization occurred and that realization was, “I wondered if anybody had ever called her “ma’am,” or “Miss Mayella” in her life; probably not, as she took offense to routine courtesy. What on earth was her life like?” (Lee 184). Mayella Seems to have never received proper respect in her life, She is offended by simple civility because she thinks she is being mocked.
Seeing Tom brought back thoughts of what she had done, and she knows that what she did is wrong, so she feels guilty. Atticus is saying that he feels bad for Mayella. She’s poor, she has to take care of 7 siblings, she doesn’t have enough food to eat, because they get money from the government, but because her dad is an alcoholic, he uses the check to buy alcohol. Nobody helps Mayella, they live by the dump, and they have no running water. Atticus is acknowledging that yes, he feels bad for Mayella and how she lives, but he doesn’t feel bad enough to kill an innocent man.
She was in the worst part of the social structure there is, "Maycomb's Ewells lived behind the town garbage dump in what was once a Negro cabin […]" (Doc A). Unfortunately, because she's so poor, no one above her wanted anything to do with her, "[…] white people wouldn't have anything to do with her because she lived among pigs […]" (Doc E). Unfortunately, Mayella turned out
“Atticus was quietly building up before the jury a picture of the Ewells’ home life… and there was a strong suspicion that Papa drank it up anyway.” (Narrator 244). Atticus portrays Mayella’s life at home, he tries to get the jury to feel sorry for her which helped him to be successful in the trial. Since Atticus was acting so nice and acting like he relates to Mayella, she eventually let her guard down and got cornered by Atticus. Atticus “trapped” Mayella, and the only reason he was successful in doing so was because of his solicitude.
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.
Mayella was not favored by the people in Maycomb. She was extremely poor and never spoke on any harassment she suffered from her father. Tom Robinson attempts to get the truth out in the open when he is giving his testimony, “She said what her papa do to her don’t count” (Doc B). Mayella doesn’t fully understand that her father is physically abusive towards her. To her it’s just love.
Yet another factor contributing to Mayella being pitiful is that she is very lonely. Mayella's lonesome is due too many reasons namely, she has no companions. During the trial, Atticus asks her if she has any friends, and she appears to be confused and feels insulted even by the question. (Lee, ?) She is so lonely, she can't even comprehend the concept of having friends.
In the courtroom, Mayella is called “Ma’am” by Atticus. Mayella takes offense to this because she has never been spoken to with this type of authority. Mayella thinks that Atticus is mocking her in the fact that she has always been called derogatory names and never spoken to with any kind of power from anyone else. “Won’t answer a word you say long as you keep on mockin’ me” (Lee 1960 Chapter 18). Mayella says this because she does not like the fact that in her mind, Atticus is “mocking”
She is oppressed, she is angry because she is not free. When Atticus faced her with this truth and respects her needs of having a better life for herself in the trial scene, she thought he is making fun of her and refused to answer his question, this scene unveil Mayella’s anger, actually by saying that anger has two types positive anger and negative anger, this one can be considered as a negative one. The Ewells know that they were the poorest in the novel, the only thing that gives them value is they are white; they use this to discriminate themselves. 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.
In Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, Lee took the minor character of Mayella Ewell and made her into a sympathetic role to her readers in a latent way. Mayella's life at home is told through the story's background and foreshadowing references. This is how Lee made Mayella memorable enough to the reader to know who she is and her family situation without needing her point of view of her side of the story. Once Mayella enters the storyline, her actions will become understandable to the reader and generate sympathy. One way Lee makes Mayella a sympathetic character is how before entering her into the story, one of Mayella's younger siblings was introduced.
The whites don’t accept the Ewells because they live like pigs. The blacks don’t accept the Ewells because they are white. Scout stated, “... Mayella Ewell must have been the loneliest person in the world… When Atticus asked had she any friends, she seemed not to know what he meant, then she thought he was making fun of her… Tom Robinson was probably the only person who was ever decent to her.