What Is Mayella Ewell's Power In To Kill A Mockingbird

The Ewells have the least amount of power in the white class, but against a black man in court, they might as well have all the power in the world. Mayella Ewell is the oldest child and is known for keeping as clean as she can in her family’s financial situation. When she is in court, trying to wrongly convict a black man of rape, her power is shown through race, class and gender. In the book, To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee shows just how difficult it is to be different in the south. The Ewells are cared about least in the town. No one really payed attention to them, and no one would really care if they were not there. Lee also goes into detail about how it was easy for a white woman to wrongly convict a black man, no matter who the person …show more content…
As Lee writes, “[The Ewells are] confident that you gentlemen would go along with them on the assumption—the evil assumption—that all Negroes lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral beings, that all Negro men are not to be trusted around our women, an assumption one associates with minds of their caliber” (Lee D). Mayella could say anything about Tom and make the jury believe it’s true, because of the fact that Tom is black and Mayella is white. Because of this, Tom is falsely convicted of something he didn’t do, with evidence that proves what Mayella testified wasn’t true. Lee creates foreshadowing when she writes: “Now don’t you be so confident, Mr. Jem, I ain’t ever seen any jury decide in favor of a colored man over a white man…” (Lee D). Foreshadowing this also creates power in race because no black man has ever won against a white person. This also supports that Mayella could have said anything to make Tom guilty. The jury was completely made up of white people, and the judge was also white. Tom was found “guilty” because of white supremacy. Many people have heard of Emmett Till’s story. He was in a store with his family and he said something to a white girl, and she told her husband and brother that Emmett Till whistled at her. The husband and brother when to the house where Emmett was staying and kidnapped him. Also, the husband and brother torchered Emmett Till. Later when the case was taken to court, “Memphis Commercial Appeal said: "’Evidence necessary for convicting on a murder charge was lacking’’’(Huie). Meaning no one went to jail for the murder or kidnapping of Emmett Till. This is a similar case to Tom Robinson’s because Mayella said something that wasn’t true and got Tom killed. There was evidence that clearly showed that Tom was being falsely convicted and that the husband and brother were guilty, but the lack of diversity and