Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird is a famous novel based in Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930’s. There are two different parts in the story, one revolving around Mayella Ewell. Mayella is involved in a trial where Tom Robinson is wrongfully accused of raping her. The other part of the story has to do with Scout Finch, whose father is part of the trial. The question brought up is debating whether or not Mayella is powerful. Power is defined as having control of your life, as well as controlling the others around you. There are several different factors that contribute to having power, such as race, gender, and class. Mayella barely has any control over her life due to the fact that she is very poor, and a female. Although this may be true, race
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Document A: “Get back to your dump” helps to prove this point. The Ewells were from a bad side of town, and lived behind the town garbage dump. Even though the living conditions were bad, Mayella still tries to keep clean and take care of her red geraniums, which bewildered the people of Maycomb. “Mayella looked as if she tried to keep clean, I was reminded of the row of red geraniums in the Ewell yard.” Also noted in document A Bob Ewell, Mayella’s father, thought people would think of him as a hero after the trial, but people still treated him the same. “He thought he’d be a hero, but all he got for his pain was... okay, we’ll convict this Negro but get back to your dump.” You can tell that the Ewells were not high up on the class system by looking at document C: “Ma’am vs. boy.” Mayella thought that Atticus was mocking her when he called her “ma’am” and “Miss Mayella.” Another way you can tell they were not high up is the way they talked. For example, Mayella said things like “love him, whatcha mean?” and “he does tollable, ‘cept when.” You can also tell that Tom was not very educated because of the way he spoke. He said things such as “She reached up an’ kissed me ‘side of th’ face.” and “Like i says before, it weren’t safe.” As said at the beginning of the paragraph, class did not have a lot of effect due to the fact Mayella and Tom were both
Document A: “Get back to your dump” helps to prove this point. The Ewells were from a bad side of town, and lived behind the town garbage dump. Even though the living conditions were bad, Mayella still tries to keep clean and take care of her red geraniums, which bewildered the people of Maycomb. “Mayella looked as if she tried to keep clean, I was reminded of the row of red geraniums in the Ewell yard.” Also noted in document A Bob Ewell, Mayella’s father, thought people would think of him as a hero after the trial, but people still treated him the same. “He thought he’d be a hero, but all he got for his pain was... okay, we’ll convict this Negro but get back to your dump.” You can tell that the Ewells were not high up on the class system by looking at document C: “Ma’am vs. boy.” Mayella thought that Atticus was mocking her when he called her “ma’am” and “Miss Mayella.” Another way you can tell they were not high up is the way they talked. For example, Mayella said things like “love him, whatcha mean?” and “he does tollable, ‘cept when.” You can also tell that Tom was not very educated because of the way he spoke. He said things such as “She reached up an’ kissed me ‘side of th’ face.” and “Like i says before, it weren’t safe.” As said at the beginning of the paragraph, class did not have a lot of effect due to the fact Mayella and Tom were both