Had prejudice not been an issue, the trial may have never even come about. The reason Mayella was beaten and the reason why she lied about Tom raping her is because she "tempted a Negro," Something totally against the beliefs and way of things in the South at this time. As Atticus says, " had to put it away from her ."…
Mayella Ewell lives with her father and seven siblings in a old Negro cabin behind a dump. Mayella acts like a surrogate mother to her siblings after their mother died when Mayella was young. Which means that Mayella is occupied with watching kids all day and is too busy to go to school. This makes her less powerful because although Mayella is pretty smart in the sense that she was able to use Tom Robinson, she is not smart enough to do much of everything else. “In To Kill A Mockingbird” Atticus says, “Okay, we’ll convict this Negro but get back to your dump.” (DPQ Mayella Chapter 27) This puts Mayella and her father at a disadvantage because other white people refer her as poor white trash who lives in a dump. Mayella Ewell will always be viewed as superior to African Americans but she would not be very much in white…
Even though Mayella is the poorest of her class, her living behind the dump and being considered “white trash” still ranks her higher than any and all African Americans, but only because she is white does this give her an advantage. (Class, Gender, and Race in To Kill A Mockingbird: Is Mayella Powerful? Page 7, DBQ)…
Mayella, a female living during this time, didn’t have too much words were heard as much as males unless the males were African-American. She is being controlled by her father, but has enough to control what she can do by herself. She is very smart out of all of them in the story except for Atticus. Mayella’s gender is not the only thing that brings her power down, her class as well.…
Mayella's a Ewell, and everyone knows what the Ewells are like: ugly, shiftless, and trashy—they even live by a dump. But when she takes the stand, she represents something else entirely: a flower of "Southern womanhood," an idea that itself is, according to Atticus, a "polite fiction" (15.39). But to justify sending an innocent man to death, the jury has to believe in her as a representative of "fragile" white women everyone:…
Class, Gender, and Race in To Kill A Mockingbird: Is Mayella Powerful? Power can be defined by many things, but usually power means the amount of control a person has over his or her life as well as the life of others. Mayella in the book “To Kill A Mockingbird” is considered to be powerful and powerless at the same time. She is considered to be powerful because of her race, and powerless because of her gender and class.…
In “To Kill a Mockingbird”, Mayella Ewell has power when defined by race, class, and gender. Mayella uses her power against Tom Robinson an African American man, who has been accused of raping her. As a white woman in the south, the men are very protective. Therefore having relations with African Americans is prevented and frowned upon.Her class is low, as she is a poor white woman; however it is higher than an African American. Even though Mayella is considered white trash, she still has more power over negros.…
Given Mayella’s race, you could say that she is a powerful person. As stated before, in that time period, white people had more power blacks. Black people were treated unfairly. For example, Reverend Sykes tells Jem that he “ain’t ever seen any jury decide in favor of a colored man over a white man.”. Even though Tom Robinson was innocent, he was convicted mainly because he was an african american. Race gave Mayella an advantage as she tried to accuse Tom Robinson of raping her.…
A women in Hegemony and Traditional masculinity would be marginalized and need the aid of a man’s power. Elsie, Flora and Sara are example needing the power of a man to direct them and even save them. But Cookie has her own power. For example eighteen minutes and one second in to episode one Cookie Demand respect from Hakeem and when he refused she beat him with a broom. The act of violence is not power just a mechanism to establish or maintain power. For example when Elsie was confronted Gus she punched him and ran away. Elsie’s violence is not equal to Cookie’s violence because Elsie was afraid and Cookie was establishing respect. The Jamal is another prime example of person deed by Hegemony and traditional masculinity undesiring power. Jamal was deed as liking to inherent the company after Lucious but in the end Jamal is awarded…
“Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future and renders the present inaccessible”, Maya Angelou once said. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a historical non-fiction novel that deals with racial inequality. Tom Robinson, an African American man, was one of the characters in the story who was accused of raping a white girl named Mayella Ewell, who lived behind the Maycomb dump. After losing the case, he was shot severely after trying to escape from the prison. Obviously, Mayella won the case against Tom. But, is a white poor woman powerful? Class refers to a person’s level of income and education and often boils down to how much money one is able to earn. Gender goes beyond physical differences between males and…
Being a powerful person is having the ability to influence the way other people behave or act. To determine whether or not a person is powerful several factors have to be considered. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird the character of Mayella can be an example of a person who can or cannot have power depending on what kind of power is being taken into account. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee displays Mayella Ewell as a lonely white woman who lives in a miserable place and is abused by her father. In the novel Mayella has power according to race, however she does not possess enough power to be considered a powerful person.…
Racial power is a way that Mayella shows control over Tom Robinson. From the balcony of the courthouse, Reverend Sykes says; “I ain’t ever seen any jury decide in favor of a colored man over a white man”(Document D). Mayella lives in a time of white supremacy, and while she lies on the witness stand, no jury would ever decide in favor of a African American man over a white woman. Racial power can also be seen while in the courtroom when Tom Robinson is referred to as “boy” or by saying it is okay to act poorly towards him because “ he’s just a Negro”(Document C). During a time of white supremacy, the white community feels that they are superior to those of other races, especially those who are African American. Since Tom Robinson is African American, the white people feel as if he is beneath them, so no matter how many times Mayella lies…
In fact mayella gains power from her race, White people were superior in the south at this time.(DocC)”after all he is just a negro”,This shows that people had no respect for black people during this time and mayella is not black.(DocD)”that all negroes lie, that all negroes are basically immoral beings, That all negro men are not to be trusted around our women”,White people did not want anything negroes and they were very judgemental.(DocE)”it came to me that mayella ewell must have been the loneliest person in the world”,They treat tom like he’s not a human being and he feels sorry for mayella because how her dad treats her very badly and people treat tom even worse.Mayella gains power from her race but her lack of power in other areas such as her gender and social…
There are many empowering themes in Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, one of the most evident is racial inequality and its effects. In the novel, the author suggests that racial inequality can bring out the worst in some and the best in others through characters like Mayella Ewell, Atticus Finch and the Black community.…
Race shows the measurement of mayella’s power. Mayella is powerful in race because she’s white and the men she’s accusing for raping her is black, back then you weren’t use to .seeing whites with blacks together. In the (document C) in “Ma’am…