Mayella Racial Inequality

“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
In that period of time, women were not given the same opportunity as men. An example of this is can be seen from the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird when Scout asked Atticus why women cannot serve in a judicial court system. Most of the people view women as a weak, fragile and incapable of doing anything compared to men. Men and women were not treated equally in the society during that time. Men had better career while women worked and stay at home, raising large families. To conclude, women were ruled by their husbands or another greater men. An example for this is when Mayella confessed to Atticus, “He does tollable, ‘cept when-... he’s drinking” (Document B). It convey that Mayella was controlled by his father. There is a high chance that Mayella received repetitive hit from Bob Ewell. After Bob caught sight of Mayella kissing Tom, Bob brutally beat Mayella and tried covering it up from the whole town of Maycomb by accusing Tom that she raped him. There is not much evidence to prove since there is no medical evidence but Mayella’s right side of the face was blackened. Atticus concluded, “We don’t know, but there is a circumstantial evidence to indicate that Mayella Ewell was beaten savagely by someone who led almost exclusively with his left…” (Document B). This evidence helps explain why gender makes Mayella not powerful because it proves that Mayella does not have any control on her own life. She was locked up in a home full of misery with her lazy father beating and knocking her up. Moreover, a girl like Mayella who was not well-educated, most likely will not be as prosperous like men do if she attempted to leave home and live her life on her