Tom Robinson Lessons In To Kill A Mockingbird

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

Mayella Ewell had the chance to put the real rapist to prison, but instead she backed him up and now she has to live with him and with that decision the rest of her life. Tom was at the witness stand when Atticus asked him about Mr. Ewell said: “Tom Robinson shut his eyes tight. “ He says you goddamn whore, I’ll kill ya””(Document B). Mr. Ewell has complete power over his Mayella and this exhibits how he has power over her.

She most likely ss criticizing Atticus for having money because she grew up with little money. Since the trial had begun many people have threatened Atticus this includes Mayella's Dad Bob Ewell. Not only did Bob Ewell threaten Atticus but he also threatened his family. When people threaten your family in some cases you may lose your anger and get in a fight with that person. Since Atticus is responsible and has respect for others he just stood there as Bob threatened, and spit in his face. He was trying not to make the situation worse or let it get out of hand by just standing there. Atticus could have threatened him back or he could have said something rude. Since he was respectful and has responsibilities he acted as if he did not care what Bob said to him and walked away. "I got somethin' to say an' then I ain't gonna say no more. That nigger yonder took advantage of me an' if you fine fancy gentlemen don't wanta do nothin' about it then you're all yellow stinkin' cowards, stinkin' cowards, the lot of

Addressing the lack of evidence of any harm done to Mayella Ewell, Atticus declares, “‘The state has

At the beginning of Tom’s trial, Scout describes Mayella’s home. For example, “Maycomb’s Ewells lived behind the town garbage dump in what was once a Negro cabin” (Lee Document A). The Ewells are not accepted by the whites because of where they live, and are not accepted with the blacks because they are white, which means that Mayella along with her family, do not have power in their social class. While Atticus is questioning Mayella during the trial, she is offended by him and thinks he’s mocking her: “Long’s he keep callin’ me ma’am and sayin’ Miss Mayella. I don’t hafta take his sass, I ain’t called upon to take it” (Lee Document C). Mayella’s behavior in court and reaction to Atticus’s courtesy shows that she is not treated very well at home or by anyone at all. Mayella does not hold power in her social class because no one takes her family seriously because of their home and their

Mayella Ewell is often mentally, physically, and sexually abused by her father Bob Ewell. Even though Mayella takes care of her siblings each day, she is lonely most of the time, considering nobody wants to be around her. Her father abuses her and beats her often, and Mayella wants the abuse to come to an end. Mayella comes up with and fulfills a plan to end the abuse coming from her father. Her plan involved a Negro man named Tom Robinson. Mayella accuses Tom of beating and raping her, and brings Tom to court, and goes up against him in a trial. Her plan was successful and came out in her favor because she was manipulative, and she knew what it took to win the trial. Mayella Ewell, a poor, white woman, who lives on a dump, is seen as

She also shows her ignorance to how the world works when she gets mad at Atticus when he addressed her as Miss Mayella, ect. As demonstrated here. “What are you scared of? "... "Him," she Mayella sobbed”, pointing at Atticus. (Lee

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.

When the Ewell’s propose the accusation that Tom raped Mayella, the Ewell’s are told, “okay, we’ll convict this Negro, but get back to your dump.” (Document A). That statement demonstrates that when Mayella accused Tom, the town held a trial against him because of her race but after the trial was over they wanted nothing to do with her because she was low class. Mayella’s power of race was not enough to defeat her lack of power within her class. Women in Mayella’s time period were not respected the way they are now and, “the young miss of to-day is certainly more thrilled with life and its possibilities than her sister of two to three decades ago ever was.”

Mayella Ewell is a tragic character in To Kill a Mockingbird. She is faced with many struggles involving her family and the people around her. Although Mayella is a poor white woman with an abusive father, no mother, and six siblings to take care of she does have power. Mayella Ewell is powerful as a character and continues to gain power in Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird when it comes to race, class and gender. Despite Mayella being very poor and in a lower class of the society in Maycomb Alabama she uses her status as a white female to manipulate others into deciding in her favor when dealing with her court case against Tom Robinson regarding him being wrongfully accused of

Her race, gender, and class power throughout the trial are almost unbreakable. In the book, To Kill A Mockingbird, throughout the story many types of power are uncovered. These power elements are used to their full advantage. In a traumatic time in Mayella Ewell’s young life she is forced to use all of her race, gender, and class power to take down Tom Robinson. Her race power is prevailing against Tom and is the strongest advantage she has over him. Mayella also uses her lack class power as a manipulative way to control the entire situation by convincing the rest of the town she is the victim. Lastly, she uses her gender power to conceal her strength, guiding the jury and town to the conclusion that Tom’s physical power overwhelmed this delicate women therefore he must be guilty. A person's ability to manipulate one's situation is possibly the most powerful of them all. It not only controlled the events in the present but her future as well. In the end this story shows us the greatest power we hold is over ourself. The choices and actions we often take have profound effects over ourselves and others. In the end the jury and town allowed Mayella Ewell manipulation to be their downfall. We must each use the power we have to make justice be just. Had the people looked beyond race, class and gender to the true power equality provides then the trial's outcome may have been drastically

Her father was abusive, and she had no one to talk to. Every day, she would do all the work around the house, and take care of the children, with no help. Tom was most likely the only person to ever show her kindness and politeness, the only one to ever stop to help her and talk to her. The black people wouldn’t have anything to do with the Ewells because they were white, and the white people wouldn’t have anything to do with them because they lived like pigs, among the blacks. The prejudices other people held towards them was what caused them to act the way they did in the first place. We see that although what Mayella was doing was horrible, she had reasons to do it. She is a victim of social pressures, of prejudice, and the effects these things have on her family.

Mayella may come off as an idiot because she “sat silently” when asked what happened (179). She also thinks Atticus is “mockin’ (her)” when he calls her “ma’am” and “miss” (181). But truly, Mayella is just a product of being alone, trapped, and forced to be independent. Without needed care and love she was forced to try to find it herself. Throwing herself onto Tom was an act of desperate need for attention. I think with proper care she could be like everyone else. There is also another side of her, one that does well with what she has. Mayella “tried to keep clean” (179). She also takes care of her flowers. Harper Lee created a character that is slightly relatable but truly understandable. The problems Mayella faces are more severe than needed to be relatable. But what you can understand is her situation. I feel like I understand her need for affection but I would not go to the extremes of throwing myself onto someone. The seemingly logical ways in which Mayella acts at times, make the readers feel sympathy for her. Even though we know she is lying and that the case was racist and unfair, it’s hard to blame her. The lying and

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.

The first reason why you should not feel bad for Mayella Is because she is destroying an innocent man’s life. Mayella’s motivation for accusing tom of raping her was for her own selfish reasons. She told Tom Robinson how she felt by kissing him and he did not return those feelings. Because she is so selfish and lonely she tries to get the man killed for accusing him of rape which is a serious accusation. Plus, if she is lonely she doesn’t have to take it out on him it’s not his fault she has a terrible life. It is obvious that Tom Robinson is innocent, “His left arm was fully 12 inches shorter.” (lee 248). Furthermore, they said she was punched on the right and really beat up too. It would be hard to beat her up that much with just one arm. It is not probable that he did it finally people are starting to realize he is innocent.