His mother was strict about her beliefs and had no tolerance for the use of any drugs or alcohol. When he was six years old his father died. Richard began to act more like a toddler than a 2nd grader at school. He was spoiled by his older sisters but was sown no love from his widowed mother. Soon after his father’s death, his mother remarried.
In her eyes a good man doesn’t have to be a good man as long as she gets her way. The grandmother’s life is centered on herself. She is a very self centered woman and doesn’t care about anyone but herself, including her family. When the Misfits men take them away all she is worried about is herself.
She only went to school for a few years because she had to take care of her family, so Mayella’s opportunity to learn the proper ways of a woman vanished. She never learned moral values like telling the truth, and was never treated with respect. When she was being called “ma’am” in court, she accused Atticus of making fun of her, but if she stayed in school she would have known that is how to properly address others. The flowers in Mayella’s garden symbolize how she needs beauty in her ugly life, and how caring is a positive thing, but sometimes no matter how hard you try hard, the things you care about will still die (like her relationship with Tom Robinson). Mayella grew up with an abusive father, so she never learns how actions can have consequences.
Is Mayella Ewell powerful? That is the question that we are asking in “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee. Mayella is a poor girl who is occasionally abused by her father Bob Ewell. She has not had an easy life, her mother walked out to get away from Bob, and did not take Mayella with her, but she is a smart person, this is a point that is often overlooked until she gets into court with Tom. 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.
Toni Morrison revealed that, motherhood and family life were nothing that could be taken for granted for the slave families were often divided when family members were sold and the female slaves were systematically abused both by other slaves and the white owners. Here, Sethe’s mother was never allowed to be a real mother as her owner did not allow her to stay with her daughter to love and nurse her, and she was hanged when Sethe was just a few years old. Sethe wanted to claim her children as her own although she knew that a female slave did not have any legal rights over her children. Sethe’s motherly love became an overly possessive love towards her children.
To describe Minnie Cooper’s loss of popularity, Faulkner writes, “She was the last to realize that she was losing ground… girls with whom she had grown up as they married and got homes and children, but no man ever called on her
Hester changed her attire to a plain, darkshade, with no designs, which corresponded to her emotions. There was nothing she could accomplish to reduce the pain of the guilt since the truth was known by everyone in her hometown. As time went on, Hester regained some purport in her town. The townspeople demanded Hester for her skills and soon she did not need to wear the scarlet letter anymore, but she thought she deserved it. Whether the sin was committed in secrecy or not, both Hester and Dimmesdale went through similar consequences.
We can see it in the following passage, “"Thou knowest," said Hester,--for, depressed as she was, she could not endure this last quiet stab at the token of her shame,--"thou knowest that I was frank with thee. I felt no love, nor feigned any."” (Hawthorne, 72) Her husband also says: I ask not wherefore, nor how, thou hast fallen into the pit, or say rather, thou hast ascended to the pedestal of infamy, on which I found thee. The reason is not far to seek.
Marji on the other hand wanted to fight and she needed a role model. When her Uncle showed up, she right away created a bond with him. She never knew how much he would mean to her though. He was a secret agent in Russia, was in prison, yet he managed to
Focusing mostly on Insipid. He describes how the teacher never really paid much attention to the young boy and how she never bothered to call on him because all she saw was just a foolish child. For example, “The teacher thought I was stupid… Teachers were never interested in finding out that you couldn’t concentrate” The educator never gave the kid much thought, despite her being the one that would mold the younger generations mind. (2).
Harper Lee does a great job at making me feel sympathetic for Mayella because of her lack of education and the life she has been to. “Long’s he keeps on calling‘ me ma’am an sayin’ Miss Mayella. I don’t hafta take his sass, I ain’t called upon to take it.” She lives in this horrible place where she has never been called ma 'am.
Everybody has two different sides to him or her- one that is seen by others and one that is buried in their personal lives, completely hidden from others. People tend to perceive themselves as how they are seen by other people, but can open up or be exposed when they are put in that position. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, both of Mayella’s sides are evident. On the outside, she can be dismissed as a lying cheat, as she lied while on the witness stand.
In the book "To Kill A Mockingbird" power is based on class, gender, and race. In the story Mayella Ewell is powerful because she planned everything that she wanted to happen and she had control over most of it. She also had some control on how she wanted it to go. If she did not have power, she would've maybe lost the case or people would not believe her. In the book, Mayella is describes as dirt poor.
At some point in an individual's lifetime, they will be faced with the judgement of race, class, and gender. These three classifications will cause people to be looked down upon, or become a praised individual. Also, you can receive unjust treatment in certain cases, such as someone thinking they are somehow better than another person. In “To Kill A Mockingbird”, there is a character by the name of Mayella Ewell, who is a poor, white woman that is abused. Mayella is a un-powerful character in the fact that she is a female, and she is very poor.
I am reading To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, and I am on page 304. The book is about Scout, her brother Jem, and their friend Dill who are growing up learning about segregation, as in Tom Robinson’s court case. In this journal I will be questioning and evaluating. Why would Bob and Mayella lie? The first reason the Ewells lie is to protect themselves.