How Does Tom Robinson Use Gender In To Kill A Mockingbird

In Harper Lee’s, To Kill a Mockingbird, a young white woman from Maycomb, Alabama, named Mayella Ewell is charging Tom Robinson a black man of rape. Mayella Ewell is not powerful in the sense that she is classified within class, race, and gender.

Mayella is powerless because of her class. From a Document: At the beginning of Tom Robinson’s trial, Scout describes Mayella’s home, "Against the fence, in a line, were six…jars holding brilliant red geraniums, cared for… tenderly…. People said they were Mayella Ewell’s.” (Document A). According to the quote, she wants people to see that she is not like her father. The public does not care about her family and they

How Mayella lacks power because of her class.The quote i’m using to show how Mayella lacks power because of her class is “Maycomb’s Ewells lived behind the town dump what was once a negro cabin.” (Doc A) the quote shows that MAyella lives where blacks used to live and shows that she is very poor. Another quote is “white people wouldn’t have anything to do with her because she lives among pigs; Negros wouldn’t have anything to do with her because she is white.” (Doc E) this quote shows Mayella lacks power because of class because she lives

As a result of the Ewell’s living behind the Maycomb county dump, Mayella is looked down on. “We’ll convict this Negro but get back to your dump (Doc A).” This quote shows that though Mayella had won the case against Tom Robinson, the Ewells were still thought of as nothing. “White people wouldn’t have anything to do with her because she lived among pigs; Negroes [the Ewell’s nearest neighbors] wouldn’t have anything to do with her because she was white (Doc E).” Powerful white people looked down on Mayella because she lived in filth; black people would not either because she was white. “Long as he keeps callin’ me Ma’am and sayin’ Miss Mayella, I don’t hafta take his sass (Doc C).” Mayella is not used to being respected as she is poor and is not treated fairly. This shows how Mayella’s class ties with her power.

Since Mayella was a female, she has some power when it came to gender. It was a lot easier for her to make a big deal out of being raped, but since it was a African American they had to make a much larger deal

Mayella Ewell is a tragic character in To Kill a Mockingbird. She is faced with many struggles involving her family and the people around her. Although Mayella is a poor white woman with an abusive father, no mother, and six siblings to take care of she does have power. Mayella Ewell is powerful as a character and continues to gain power in Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird when it comes to race, class and gender. Despite Mayella being very poor and in a lower class of the society in Maycomb Alabama she uses her status as a white female to manipulate others into deciding in her favor when dealing with her court case against Tom Robinson regarding him being wrongfully accused of

Do you know what it feels like to be powerless? A white nineteen year old woman named Mayella Ewell falsely accuses a black man of raping her in Maycomb, Alabama, in the 1930’s, and rendering her powerless comes from being recessive in her social class, race, and gender. She accuses Tom Robinson of rape in hopes of escaping her abusive father, and a chance to have a better life. Although Mayella is white, African Americans and other white people shun her throughout To Kill a Mockingbird. Mayella is a very young woman that does not own anything nice, nor clean, besides geranium flowers. During the 1930’s, men were the dominant sex, as a female, Mayella has to obey her father, Bob Ewell. As a result, Mayella is mistreated and abused.

In the courtroom, Mayella is being asked questions in regards to her father. Based on Scout’s perspective, “Mayella looked at her father who was sitting with his chair tipped against the railing he sat up straight and waited for her to answer,”(Document B). Mayella is a victim of violence; as a result, she fears her father because she has no control or dominance over him. Because of society and stereotypical people, females are generally conceived as dependent and fragile human beings. Her father expects her to be obedient and another stereotype in Maycomb. Mayella is left with no choice but to show submission and vulnerability. By doing so, she is acting like a puppet following the orders of her puppeteer. Her father is a constant reminder of her weakness. She is allowing society’s stereotypes to poison and take over her. Mayella conforms to being nothing but weak and invisible. Soon enough these ideals will invade her entirely causing her to feel powerless. All in all, it is evident that Mayella’s gender is another reason she could be classified as

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Mayella is powerful based on class, gender, and race. The book shows us how she does have power, and gives supporting evidence. In this time period, in a small racist Southern community during the 1930’s, all of the categories listed are very important and contributes a lot to a person. Each category has its own reasoning why Mayella is powerful. Mayella has much more power than the other person in their situation, because of all of the listed evidence. Mayella is in a trial up against a black male, Tom Robinson, who she accused of trying to rape her. They were also caught by Mr. Ewell, Mayella's father. Therefore, Tom Robinson has little to no chance of winning the case based off class, gender, and race especially during this time period.

Mayella Ewell is often mentally, physically, and sexually abused by her father Bob Ewell. Even though Mayella takes care of her siblings each day, she is lonely most of the time, considering nobody wants to be around her. Her father abuses her and beats her often, and Mayella wants the abuse to come to an end. Mayella comes up with and fulfills a plan to end the abuse coming from her father. Her plan involved a Negro man named Tom Robinson. Mayella accuses Tom of beating and raping her, and brings Tom to court, and goes up against him in a trial. Her plan was successful and came out in her favor because she was manipulative, and she knew what it took to win the trial. Mayella Ewell, a poor, white woman, who lives on a dump, is seen as

One of the subjects is gender, at that time women was not too powerful. Women are expected to stay at home clean, cook, and take care of the children. In that case she is not strong at all and she used that against Tom Robinson. Mayella then use that she is a female, it to say that Tom was “Rapeing” Mayella, and she then used that to get away from her father Bob Ewell. Bob is the one that was the one that abused Mayella especially

To Kill a Mockingbird was a very influential book in the eyes of a growing young woman in America in the 1930’s from the eyes of Jean Louise as a child and Jean reminiscing or reflecting as an adult about the past. Mayella Ewell was a white woman who was looked down upon by her own race and the African Americans were too scared to talk to her. Mayella was looked at to be powerless over her own life and others. If she is, then why does she win the case against Tom Robinson? In the town of Maycomb race, class, and gender played larger roles than some may think let's determine how.

In Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” a local controversy occurs when white girl accuses a innocent black man named Tom Robinson of abuse. Mayella Ewell is a white trash girl that lives behind a junkyard dump with no mother and a abusive father. Bob Ewell physically, mentally, and sexually abuses Mayella to the point of serious injuries. Mayella’s controversial uproar is caused when the town of maycomb has to decide whether to convict a innocent black man for a white man's sins or to convict a abusive father in favor of a negro. Sadly Tom is killed for his “crimes”. In this chaos, the question “Does this mean that Mayella Ewell has power?” comes to mind. There are three main things that show loss and gain of power throughout the novel,

The white people of Maycomb look down on them about as much as they look down on black people. The black people of Maycomb avoid the Ewells because they are white and Bob Ewell is extremely racist. It could easily be proved that Mayella’s power is diminished by her class, but there is evidence to prove that her class helps her power as well. Although Mayella’s family is not powerful in general, she stands out among the Ewells. She lives in an abandoned Negro shack in the woods, and she wants out. “One corner of the yard, though, bewildered Maycomb. Against the fence, in a line, were six… jars holding brilliant red geraniums, cared for… tenderly…. People said they were Mayella Ewell’s.”(Lee, Chapter 17) These geraniums represent Mayella, standing out and shining brightly in terrible circumstances. She bathed thoroughly before the trial and was happy about it, while her father seemed to resent having to clean himself. Scout calls her the “...loneliest person in the world…”(Lee, Chapter 19), and this is an accurate statement, but she stands out in a terrible family which gives her power over

This paper is about Mayella and her power, her race is white, her class, she is poor and her gender is a female, this paper is to find if Mayella is powerful or not. Mayella is a lonely person, and she really get along with anyone. Mayella accused some people that she was hurt or threatened by them, Mayella tells a lot of lies and makes up a story of “happened.” Mayella was a lonely person but she never changed anything about it so now she is in court accusing someone of threatening her. This is about Mayella and how she has power in Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird Mayella is a character in the book, she is a poor white female with no friends, and she is the one accused Tom Robinson of rape. Mayella is not powerful