Mayella Ewell Quotes

Mayella Ewell does not exert power through her gender because there is suspicion about Mr. Ewell abusing and beating her. Scout describes the interaction between Mayella and her father during the trial: “Mayella looked at her father, who was sitting with her chair tipped against the railing. He sat up straight and waited

Mayella does not have power involving social class, The Ewells are a poor family, and her father, Bob Ewell, is looked down upon by the town. During Tom Robinson’s trial, Bob Ewell thought of himself as “a hero, but all he got for his pain was… okay we’ll convict this Negro, but get back to your dump” (Lee

She is a very smart individual, she knew exactly what to do to get the town on her side. Mayella turned her situation around, a girl who is so poor with barely an education cannot be this smart right? That is where you are wrong, she was able to come up with a plan where no matter the outcome of the situation, she would still be the one who won no matter what. The town did not like her, no one talked to her, her father abused her, Mayella was all alone, yet she still managed to be one of the smartest characters in this book. Mayella may not even have liked Tom, he was just apart of her plan to escape her everyday life, to escape her home.

Mayella is not powerful in regards to her social status because the Ewells are known to be poor and disruptive. Scout describes Mayella’s home, “Maycomb’s Ewells lived behind the town garbage dump in what was one a Negro cabin,” (Lee Document A). When Scout

In the To Kill a Mockingbird book Mayella was getting abused by Bob Ewell which is her father. Mayella and her father was blame Tom Robinson for rape Mayella. Mayella is not a powerful at all.

Mayella Ewell is scared of her father and is concerned about her well being during the trial. She is a very nice girl but she has to lie about Tom Robinson so that her father would not beat her over it. She also doesn’t like how Atticus is talking to her because she has never been talked to in a formal way before. During the trial she says, “Love him, whatcha mean?” This shows that she has never been loved by her father, and she is the person that Mr. Ewell can take his anger out on (183). She also repeated everything her father said like they had rehearsed it. Finally, when Atticus starts asking her questions her calls her “ma'am” and “ miss”. So she started to cry and says, “Long’s you keep on makin’ fun o’me” this shows that she has not

Why would Mayella lie to everyone about being raped by Tom? In To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Mayella Ewell was the oldest of seven children. She, her siblings, and her father lived right by the county dump. She had a very sad and ugly life with Bob Ewell as her father. Ever since she was born he has controlled her in every way.

In To Kill A Mockingbird, a character named Mayella Ewell is powerful through race, gender, and a little of power in class. Mayella is a poor, white female. She is nineteen years old and gets abused by her father, Bob Ewell. Mayella’s mother died, leaving her taking responsibilities of her younger siblings. She then creates a plan that will help her escape her father. Since her father is really racist, she plans to have Tom Robinson involve because she believe that it is a way for her to gain power. Tom Robinson is an African- American who is a married man and feels sorry for Mayella. In fact, he does not know anything about Mayella’s plan.

Because of her family reputation, Mayella does not fit in with anyone and therefore has no friends. Her only relations are with Tom Robinson, her father, and her siblings, but when Atticus asks “Do you love your father”, Mayella tries hard not to show emotions and stay on the prosecution’s side, but when Atticus mentioned “except when he’s drinking?”, Mayella gently nods, signalling that she has been forced by her father and herself to lie like this and keep her reputation. (245-246) During the cross examination, when Atticus hits the climax, Mayella gets just a tad bit emotional because she feels guilty for lying but knows this is the only way she can preserve the little reputation she has left. Mayella, as proven at this point, has been under constant abusion, but is too afraid to reveal it.

However, her race doesn’t matter because overall she is still powerless. Despite the minimal amount of power she has, she never attempts to change or make something positive happen in her horrible life. She is given multiple opportunities to gain power during the trial, to reveal the truth. Yet Mayella ignores these opportunities and lets her father’s presence at the trial control her testimony. She is asked if her father is good to her, because there is suspicions of abuse. The message her father’s body language was sending was clear to her when “Mayella looked at her father, who was sitting with his chair tipped against the railing. He sat up straight and waited for her to answer,” (Lee 19). Her father doesn’t need to say anything, he just needs to look at her for her to know that if she tells the truth, he is going to punish her. Mayella’s chance of gaining power is demolished when she lies and says “‘Except when nothin‘,’” (Lee 19). Mr. Ewell is relieved that he isn’t caught (even though everyone knows he abuses Mayella), and Mayella is relieved she won’t abused (as bad as she would have

II    The accepting of Mayella Ewell and choosing not to blame her demonstrates Atticus’ ability to be influenced by his understanding of the world and allowing his compassion to develop overtime. During the trial Atticus thought to himself, “...Mayella Ewell must have been the loneliest person in the world” (Lee 218). Atticus is thinking how sad it would be to take Mayella Ewell’s role in life as she

Secondly, Mayella is the daughter of a violent man, Bob Ewell, who does not treat her with the respect that a father would treat his daughter with. He abuses her and hits her and this has created a big fear inside Mayella. This is illustrated when Tom is describing the scene when Bob Ewell comes into the room when Mayella is against Tom and he hears him threaten Mayella saying “you god-damn whore, I’ll kill ya”. In the court it is also proved that Bob Ewell is the one who hit Mayella Ewell, not Tom Robinson. This is the main reason that Mayella puts the blame on Tom as she is terrified of the thought of being beaten by her father once again. Bob Ewell also sexually abuses Mayella which was found out during Tom Robinson’s trial. When Tom gives his testimony, he states that Mayella says “she never kissed a grown man before...she says what her papa do to her don’t count”. Based on this statement, it is suggested that Mayella has been sexually abused by her father. This must have had a great impact on Mayella, and caused her to be mentally as well as physically scarred. Therefore, Mayella Ewell is a victim of abuse from her father and deserves our sympathy for all the horrid things she has gone through.

People feel sympathy towards those that are believed to be unlikely to lie, and Mayella took advantage of this. During the trial, Scout realizes that “Tom Robinson was a dead man the moment [Mayella] opened her mouth to scream” (Lee 323), which is mainly because she was given sympathy. When she tells her story about the events that happened between her and Tom Robinson, the audience pities her, and she is described as “[. . .] fragile looking, but when she sat facing us in the witness chair, she became what she was, a thick-bodied girl accustomed to strenuous labor” (Lee 239). They describe her as someone who looks strong and controlled, but also as frail and fragile. Even though her life is not on the line, the people in the courtroom believe her to need more protection because of her fragile appearance. After Mayella’s father, Bob Ewell spit in his face, Atticus responds to his children by saying “if spitting in my face and threatening me saved Mayella Ewell one extra beating, that’s something I’ll gladly take” (Lee 293). Even the lawyer that shows the town that she was guilty pities her, even after she denies her lies and lets a young man die. In this situation, race is a contributing role towards this sudden acceptance, because in the society that these characters live, individuals with white skin are often viewed as less likely to commit sin

When Atticus asks Mayella ‘who are your friends?’ (p.245) she is perplexed by the question demonstrating to us how she must be ‘the loneliest person in the world’ (p. 256). Furthermore, Lee clearly explains to us she is accustomed to being treated poorly as when Atticus refers to her as ‘ma’am’ and speaks to her politely she believes initially that he is ‘mockin’ me’ (p.243). Reflecting on how Mayella is trapped in her improvised, friendless state with nobody who respects her, we realise it would not have been difficult for her to become fixated on and fantasise about Tom Robinson, as he ‘was probably the only person who was ever decent to her’ (p.257). We are also able to understand why she lies about Tom raping her during the trial when we take into consideration that Mayella is living in fear of what her drunk and abusive father, Bob Ewell, would do to her if she was truthful. As she has already been ‘beaten savagely’ (p.272) and possibly raped by her father, after she ‘kissed a black man’ (p.272), her trepidation is unsurprising. By climbing into Mayella’s skin and walking around in it we see Lee is helping us to learn the importance of considering people’s circumstances before judging their actions.

Whatever respect or sympathy the reader might have had for Bob Ewell is dispelled by his behaviour in the courtroom and the evidence that Atticus produces that he was the cause of Mayella's beating. Not only is he a self-righteous bully but he is prepared to sacrifice Tom Robinson's life for his own selfish ends. The reader is more likely to feel sympathy for Mayella as the trial progresses. Her loneliness and need for simple human contact are made painfully evident as Scout comes to understand that she is 'the loneliest