To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee: Is Mayella Powerful

Mayella had a great amount of power in the courtroom during the trial of Tom Robinson. This completely classless manipulative woman used the disadvantages she was dealt in life to her benefit. She made advances toward this black man, when he did not reciprocate those feelings she accused him of rape. He is convicted and sent to prison because of her. Through this, she also gains power that removes her from her father’s sexual abuse. He does not want her because of the relations with a

How powerful is Mayella in certain situations? Mayela is white but she is poor and equal to the other race, but at trial, she is white, with a white jury, and in a building filled with mostly white people. Mayella is poor, lives behind the dump, at a pig farm, and in an abandoned slave cabin. Mayella is a woman, and when she is crying or being assaulted we feel sorry for her and she uses the sympathy as her advantage during the trial. How powerful is Mayella in class, race, and gender?

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Mayella is powerful based on class, gender, and race. The book shows us how she does have power, and gives supporting evidence. In this time period, in a small racist Southern community during the 1930’s, all of the categories listed are very important and contributes a lot to a person. Each category has its own reasoning why Mayella is powerful. Mayella has much more power than the other person in their situation, because of all of the listed evidence. Mayella is in a trial up against a black male, Tom Robinson, who she accused of trying to rape her. They were also caught by Mr. Ewell, Mayella's father. Therefore, Tom Robinson has little to no chance of winning the case based off class, gender, and race especially during this time period.

Since Mayella was a female, she has some power when it came to gender. It was a lot easier for her to make a big deal out of being raped, but since it was a African American they had to make a much larger deal

Mayella does not have power because she is a white female, being the lowest class. Mayella is a white female living in Maycomb, Alabama. Mayella has some power being white, but not in her class and gender prevents her from having any power. Mayella is an eighteen year old taking care of her younger siblings. She does not have any power.

Mayella Ewell’s race significantly contributes to the reason why she has power. Mayella is white, which in Maycomb makes her better than Tom Robinson since he is black. Mayella accused Tom of raping her, even though Tom testified that Mayella tried to make a move on him, but since Mayella was a white woman it made Tom look guilty, and he knew that. During the trial when Mr. Gilmer who is the prosecutor, is interrogating Tom Robinson, he asks Tom why he had fled the house so fast Tom answered that he was scared to be in a “fix” like that. Mr. Gilmer keeps insisting that Tom was afraid because he was guilty, “No,suh, scared I’d have to face up to what I did not do.”(DBQ The”evil assumption”19), Tom knew that just by being in the wrong place at the wrong time he was going to be blamed for something he didn’t do. The

Is Mayella ewell powerful?That is the question that is asked and must be answered.Throughout the story” To kill a mockingbird” Mayella shows some glimpses of power but not enough to say she is powerful.For example in the beginning she shows that she can not even control her home life so how can she be powerful.Also she shows that she is just too poor for her to have power.Now in the next three paragraphs I will explain my thinking on why I believe Mayella is not powerful.

Race, gender, and class are all possessions people have that can make them powerful, but at the same time they can make themselves a powerless person too. Mayella Ewell is a white female who comes from a poor family living in Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930s. In the story To Kill a Mockingbird, an African American man by the name of Tom robinson is accused of raping Mayella Ewell. Mayella Ewell won the case and the trial which sent Mr. Robinson to jail where he eventually got killed. Mayella Ewell’s race was powerful enough to kill a man that was accused of a crime he never did; however, her gender and class power make her to a point where she is not a powerful person at all.

Class, gender,and race. Starting with class, Mayella is the lowest of the low. She’s very poor and is not looked upon the same way as the rest of the white people because of it. For example, in (Doc A) it states “Mayella lived in the town garbage

So she wanted to get help by someone. It wasn’t just Mayella that doesn’t have a gender power, it was all female that live in same period as Mayella. “child is like a flower. If the flower is not permitted to struggle upwards toward the sun, and to gather in the tiny dewdrops, it will wither and die.” (Eichler, Document IV) every children was really important because if you don’t teach them well then children will go to the bad ways. When they are adult, you don’t know what’s gonna happen because if children parents teach them well or teach them properly then some children will go to the good college and help the world to grow. But some kids won’t. But the race is really important too because in 1900 year only white people can go to the school and study. Black people can’t even go to the school because the color race. Only white people can learn and stuff so they’ll have good

Mayella is not very powerful in the book To Kill a Mockingbird. She is the lowest of the low in her class. She is a female that doesn't get any respect from anyone in her community, including her father. Only in one way is Mayella powerful, she is white going against an African -American in her court case. Mayella has a very small amount of power in the book, only in the fact that she is a white person against an African -American in her court case against Tom Robinson.

Just like gender, Mayella has power when it comes to her social class. Throughout the trial, Mayella was always called Ma’am. “I will not answer a word you say, as long as you keep mocking me.” (“DBQ: Is Mayella Powerful?” 17) Mayella was not used to being called Ma’am, which is why she thought that she was being mocked by Atticus. This shows that Mayella is usually not respected by anyone, including her father. In addition with Mayella being called Ma’am, the judge calls Tom Robinson by a certain name, which shows that he is from a lower class. “That old Mr. Gilmer doing him thataway, talking so hateful to him, the way that man called him “boy” all the time and sneered at him.” (“DBQ: Is Mayella Powerful?” 17) When considering the social class factor, Mayella is very powerful. Mayella’s social class gives her power because with her class, she is well respected by others, and especially by Negros. People respect her more than they do Tom Robinson, which gives her an advantage in the trial. At another point in the trial, Tom was asked why he

Besides from Mayella’s power there are things that make her powerless, such as class and gender. “Mayella looked as if she tried to keep clean, and i was reminded of the row of red geraniums in the Ewell’s yard (Doc. A).” is an example of her class making her powerless. Another example might be “Long’s he keep callin’ me ma'am an sayin’ Miss. Mayella (Doc. C.) shows that her class is so low and the white people don’t respect her enough to call her those simple things. “Okay we’ll convict this Negro but get back to your dump (Doc A).” is another example of how low her class is.

How Mayella has power because of her race. A quote is “Are you being impudent to me, boy.” this show that Mayella can treat blacks anyway she want. A quote that shows this is “All Negroes are basically immoral beings, that all Negro men are not supposed to be trusted around our women.”(Doc D) this shows Mayella has power because of race is they think Negro men are all animals that rape and abuse people. A quote to show this is “White people would have nothing to do with her because she lived among pigs.” (Doc E) this shows Mayella’s power because of race is controls everyone around her. THis is why I think MAyella has power because of her race.

Mayella has no power or the upper hand on neither social class, and gender; although, she does have power in her race this is the only reason as to why she wins the trial against Tom Robinson. Mayella is stuck in an abusive household as a result of her inability as a woman to leave and begin a new life this leads to a big downfall for Mayella Ewell. She even struggles with meeting new people and communicating, due to her lack of social interactions. Mayella Ewell’s lack of social interactions is a direct result of her low class and the others looking down on her family. The only way Mayella is able to win anything in her life would only be because she is white. While race does not have the ability to determine power, a person must hold advantages in other components like social class, or gender to be considered “powerful”. Thus, because of Mayella’s disadvantages, she can never really be considered