How Does Mayella Ewell Gain The Amount Of Power In To Kill A Mockingbird

In the story To Kill a Mockingbird, many events take place in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama during The Great Depression. A young woman named Mayella Ewell has an everyday battle with others views against her race, class, and gender. The argument is made to decide whether or not she is powerful, despite the fact that Mayella won the case in court. The amount of control she has over her own life, and others is what truly measures the amount of power she is believed to have. Mayella has very little control over her life throughout the story. Even though Mayella does has some control over her actions, she has to change herself to fit a role of who society believes she should be .Others look down upon her because she is poor but overall, she has to fit into society by changing herself. Mayella is treated a certain way by others, and acts a certain way because of how people in her community think she should be treated according to her class, race and gender. Her wants and desires are cast aside to save herself from the constant judging of society. The Ewell’s are very poor, they are known by most others to be that way. In the story the word poor is used a lot in many different ways, others acquire knowledge of what they truly believe poor is. A poor person is known as dirty, stupid, trashy, and powerless. Although some of …show more content…
She had control over her actions and could’ve easily told the truth, but the fact remains that judgement of society controls what she says and does. People's views is what influenced her decision to cover up her actions and lie to the court. Her gender, race, and class is what causes an everyday battle of acceptance. Her actions are expected to fit others expectations, her power was very limited because of the expectations she had to amount