Be honest, have you ever felt like you’re better than everyone else? How much do you desire power? What is power? Someone who’s controls everything and everyone or someone who’s poor who wants the power for themselves? In my perspective, everyone wants power. People who’s lost and has no power wants to get it, and people with a lot of power wants to keep it for themselves. Power, or having control over someone or other people’s lives, plays an extraordinary role in Harper Lee’s book called “To Kill a Mockingbird”. This novel takes place in a fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930s. The climax of this story is a rape trial that involves a Negro, Tom Robinson, and a white woman, Mayella Ewell. In the court’s eyes’ her power is clear, but is she that powerful? Because of her vulnerability as a woman and a very low-class status, she’s powerless, but her privilege as a white person in a racist society is very powerful. Mayella is powerless because of her gender. In the trial, it’s revealed that Mayella is physically, verbally, and sexually abused by her father. Because Mayella can often be intimidated by her father, as a result of her gender, she wasn’t able to stand up to him, and his abusive characteristics towards her. …show more content…
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
Mayella, a poor white girl, accused Tom Robinson, a black male, of raping her. Does Mayella have the ability to do something or be strong in her class, gender, and race? Mayella doesn’t have much power in her class and gender but she does have power in her race. First of all, Mayella isn’t powerful in her class.
She also was sexually abused because Tom Robinson said that “She says she has never kissed a grown man before… She says what her papa do to her don’t count. ”(Doc B) So Mayella’s gender makes her less powerful because she is a
Another reason how Mayella is powerful is by her gender. It states that he “... tried to help her…”. This is saying since Mayella is a girl that a guy will do anything to help a girl that needs help. It states “yes, suh I felt sorry for her…”. According to this statement, it
In the town of Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930’s, a young woman by the name of Mayella Ewell sets the town in commotion by accusing an African American man with rape. Mayella will be powerful like a hurricane when she is in court in front of the judge, the jury, and the community. The novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee will show Mayella’s power by using class, race, and gender. Mayella’s class is not efficient, but she can still be powerful. In Document A it said “The Ewells live behind the town’s dump, in what used to be an old Negro cabin...
Although Mayella was powerful, due to her race, she was still a poor and young teenager. “Why were you so anxious to do that woman’s chores? Tried to help her, ‘you’re a mighty good fellow, ‘yes, suh, I felt sorry for her….’ ‘you felt sorry for her, you felt sorry for her. (“DBQ Is Mayella Powerful? 21”).
Throughout the history of the United States of America, a struggle to reach racial equality has been evident. The case Plessy v Ferguson made separation by race, in other word segregation, legal. But, in order for this separation to occur, an equal position or place must be present, creating the phrase “separate but equal.” Even though equal accommodations must have been present for segregation to be legal, inferiority was still strongly implied due to the separation. Due to this court case, it caused the struggle to reach racial equality much more difficult due to the legalization of segregation.
Power can influence many changes in the world whether it’s money or politics. Power is what most people want. The book ”To Kill a mockingBird” is written by Harper Lee in Southern Alabama during segregation in the nineteen-thirties. The Ewells are poor whites who live beside a dump. Bob Ewell is Mayella’s father who beats and rapes her,but makes Mayella accuse Tom Robinson.
Mayella is a poor person, but her status gives her power because she is seen as someone who has values above materialism. Furthermore,
In Maycomb county, Alabama in the mid 1930’s. Tom Robinson an African American is accused of rape by Mayella Ewell, a poor white woman. Mayella Ewell is a young, poor white woman who lives with her father in what was once a Negro cabin, Mayella’s father Bob Ewell is a racist white man. Mayella has power, but very little of it. She uses race and gender to her advantage, but can not use class to her advantage because she has little money.
Harper Lee’s classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird was set in the southern states of America during the interwar period, a place and period of time where racism and sexism were predominant. This story highlights the plight of those that acted out against the dominant ideology. Some brave people began to speak and act upon what they believed in no matter what society said. A few women began to speak up which was very uncommon. Miss Maudie Atkinson, Calpurnia, and Scout Finch showed very strong characteristics.
Because she is a woman with a low social status, she has very little ability to change parts of her own life. Mayella is not powerful in regards to her class and gender. Because of her gender, Mayella is not powerful. In Lillia Eichler’s first book
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
One would say she is not powerful because she is enclosed from the world, beaten by her father, and not very respected. For example, as Atticus asked Mayella to see if her father is good and tolerable to her, but she says “He does tollable, ‘cept when-”, ‘Except when he’s drinking?’ asked Atticus so gently that Mayella nodded. ”(Lee, Chapter 18) This would prove that Mayella has less power than usual when her father is drunk because, his gender as a male has the power over her and gets violent when drunk.
Mayella Ewell is a white woman in “To Kill A Mockingbird” that lives behind a dumpster. One reason she does not have power is her gender. Mayella is a woman, and being a woman in that time period was
Her desires were stronger than the code she was breaking. When she tried to put the evidence of her offense away, instead of being honest, she had put a man’s life in danger. However, Mayella is not a criminal. She is simply a woman who carries a heavy burden with no one to support or respect her. Mayella is a victim of abuse and