How To Have Power In To Kill A Mockingbird
Three ways people can have power is by what gender they are, what race they are, and what class they live in. Some people can have more power than others, it all depends on your perception of it. In a lot of books, movies, and even in real life, your power matters to where you stand on a social status. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, social power leaves a big impression in this novel. The character, Mayella, is a trashy white girl who lives with her dad and seven siblings. In this novel, Mayella does not have power.
Mayella is a women in the south. White men will have power over her no matter what. Atticus is trying to be polite to the young female Mayella by calling her proper names but she says, “he keeps on callin’ me …show more content…
Mayella gets so little respect from everyone, that she thinks she is being made fun of when Atticus is only trying to be polite. Mayella is asked if her father, Bob, is easy to get along with, and her response is, “He does tollable, ‘cept when—”(Lee, B). She is saying he is fine except when her dad drinks. Mayella is not treated very well by her father because she is a woman, and that shows her as being powerless.
White women in the south have power over black people in the south. Tom had to “‘feel sorry’ for a white woman has had to put his word against two white people’s”(Lee, D). Mayella IS powerful in this position just because the person she is against is black. If the person was a white male she would not be powerful. Some think “that ‘white womanhood’ was endangered by the loss of states' rights …show more content…
Everyday Mayella has to take care of her seven siblings, and she does not get treated very well. The people in the town of Maycomb think of The Ewell’s so poor that they “gave them Christmas baskets, welfare money, and the back of its hand”(Lee, E). Although the town is helping them by giving them welfare money, that gives a sense of being pitied, and if one are pitied that shows that they are in a powerless state. The Ewell’s do not have a lot of money so they “lived behind the town garbage dump in what was once a Negro cabin... Its windows were merely open spaces in the walls... What passed for a fence was bits of tree-limbs, broomsticks and tool shafts... Enclosed by this barricade was a dirty yard”(Lee, A). Her family lives in a very small, trashy home. Mayella’s mom died and her father is abusive, she basically has the worst home life in Maycomb. Mayella lives in the lower class with her abusive father; so, of course she does not have class power.
Mayella does not have power. She is a poor white woman in the South, she is only about eighteen, and has to take care of her seven siblings. She has less power over men because she is a woman and she also has less power because she is in the lower class. Although she might have some power over black people, that little power is not enough to make her a powerful person. Whether you have power or not, someone will always be taking pity of you. The
Mayella is a women in the south. White men will have power over her no matter what. Atticus is trying to be polite to the young female Mayella by calling her proper names but she says, “he keeps on callin’ me …show more content…
Mayella gets so little respect from everyone, that she thinks she is being made fun of when Atticus is only trying to be polite. Mayella is asked if her father, Bob, is easy to get along with, and her response is, “He does tollable, ‘cept when—”(Lee, B). She is saying he is fine except when her dad drinks. Mayella is not treated very well by her father because she is a woman, and that shows her as being powerless.
White women in the south have power over black people in the south. Tom had to “‘feel sorry’ for a white woman has had to put his word against two white people’s”(Lee, D). Mayella IS powerful in this position just because the person she is against is black. If the person was a white male she would not be powerful. Some think “that ‘white womanhood’ was endangered by the loss of states' rights …show more content…
Everyday Mayella has to take care of her seven siblings, and she does not get treated very well. The people in the town of Maycomb think of The Ewell’s so poor that they “gave them Christmas baskets, welfare money, and the back of its hand”(Lee, E). Although the town is helping them by giving them welfare money, that gives a sense of being pitied, and if one are pitied that shows that they are in a powerless state. The Ewell’s do not have a lot of money so they “lived behind the town garbage dump in what was once a Negro cabin... Its windows were merely open spaces in the walls... What passed for a fence was bits of tree-limbs, broomsticks and tool shafts... Enclosed by this barricade was a dirty yard”(Lee, A). Her family lives in a very small, trashy home. Mayella’s mom died and her father is abusive, she basically has the worst home life in Maycomb. Mayella lives in the lower class with her abusive father; so, of course she does not have class power.
Mayella does not have power. She is a poor white woman in the South, she is only about eighteen, and has to take care of her seven siblings. She has less power over men because she is a woman and she also has less power because she is in the lower class. Although she might have some power over black people, that little power is not enough to make her a powerful person. Whether you have power or not, someone will always be taking pity of you. The