...The literary classic To Kill a Mockingbird is the well known story of Jean Louise Finch as she grows up in the town of Maycomb, Alabama. Through a journey of self discovery and racism, the book follows the trial of Tom Robinson, an African American male, accused of rape by a woman named Mayella Ewell. Mayella Ewell is a young, poverty-stricken woman who is mainly controlled by her father. In a town divided by race, class and gender, Mayella does not have a large amount of power over her own life. It could be implied that because Mayella is white, she has terminal power, but that may not be the case. Though she is white, she is shunned by the white community along with the African American community. “White people wouldn’t have anything to do with her because she lived among pigs; Negroes (the Ewells’ nearest neighbors) wouldn’t have anything to do with her because she was white.” (Lee 1960 Chapter nineteen.) Mayella was rejected by whites due to the fact that she lived in poverty and had no money. She was also rejected by African Americans simply because she was white. Being white did not give her much of an advantage....
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...To Kill a Mockingbird and Macbeth In 1623 William Shakespeare wrote his play Macbeth, 337 years later Harper Lee wrote her novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Although the texts were written in entirely different eras and settings, both texts are similar in the theme of guilt. Guilt is a self-critical emotion that humans feel that compromises their sense of moral integrity. Guilt allows whoever is feeling this emotion to know that they have wronged another person or themselves and gone against their sense of responsibility or moral standards. In both Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the lead villains follow parallel paths with regard to their guilt, undertaking ill advised courses of actions which result not only in the undoing of the women in their lives, but also ultimately their own demise. Early on in William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth the lead character Macbeth is at war with himself over what the correct course of action is, burdened by the Weird Sisters’ stating “All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!” (I.iii.51), which leaves Shakespeare with the choice of taking Macbeth down the path of letting life play it’s course or taking matters into his own hands. Macbeth ultimately chooses to take matters into his own hands and kills King Duncan. This allows the play to follow the action plan of Macbeth instantly becoming king of Scotland, causing him to spend the rest of the play covering up his tracks. Similarly, in Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird...
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...In “To Kill A Mockingbird” Mayella Ewell disrupted the town of Maycomb, Alabama using her power based from her class, race, and gender. Even though Mayella was lower class she was still considered a higher class than Tom Robinson, an African-American man. Since Mayella was a white female, and Tom was a black man, Mayella held power over Tom. Though males usually had the advantage, Mayella held the power now because she is white. As a result of being a white woman in the segregated 1930’s, Mayella had power over other races. In particular black males and females, because Mayella is white. People would gladly take a young, white woman’s word over a black man’s word. This helped her rise to power in the court case. In the statement that Reverend Sykes (a black male) makes (DBQ Document D), Reverend says “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”. This shows just how much more power Mayella had over Tom because Mayella is white....
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...Power is a strong word that people use to control someone's life or their own. It can be used to create strength, weakness, or sheer terror. People have used power as strength over people to make them weak. In Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, she shows how power can be used in different ways of controlling people. Mayella Ewell is able to show power against Tom Robinson through gender, class and race. Mayella is able to use her gender to help defend her against Tom using the power of Macomb County. The whites were in more power when the, “Southerners continued to use racism as a tool for re-election, scaring their constituents by claiming that ‘white womanhood’ was endangered by the loss of states' rights to control the blacks of the South”(Tafari 6). Southerners were using “white womanhood” as power against the blacks. Tom gave Mayella power when he says, “‘Yes, suh. I felt right sorry for her, she seemed to try more’n the rest of ‘em—’”(Lee E). Tom Robinson said that he was sorry for her. His apology gave Mayella more power because a man should never be sorry for her. Tom being sorry gave the entire jury power against him in favor of Mayella. The power of Maycomb County favored Mayella Ewell during the trial because of...
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...difference between one thing and another. The treatment of a person or particular group of people differently, in a way that is worse than the way people are usually treated. In the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the characters that were discriminated was Tom Robinson, Boo Radley, Scout, Jem, The Ewells, Mr. Dolphus Raymond, and The Black Community in the south. Harper Lee shows discrimination of religion and age of the character named Boo Radley by when Miss Maudie said, “ You know old Mr. Radley was a foot-washing Baptist...” (Lee Page...
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...Mayella Ewell is a controversial character in To Kill A Mockingbird when it comes to identifying if she has power or not. Power can be defined as “the ability to control one’s own life or the lives of others.” The definition of power can make this scenario able to be argued from both sides. Mayella Ewell has areas of power and areas of disempowerment but eventually, she fails to have the power she needs. In the 1930’s a powerful person could be defined as a white male, who is adequately wealthy. At this time, women were considered gentle, not respected, and not equal to men. Women were expected to, “know how to be charming” and, “well mannered,and polite” (Document IV). However, because she did not display the correct fundamentals, any possibility of Mayella having gender power was eliminated. Since she did not meet society's interpretation of what a woman with power should be presented as, Mayella was later taken advantage of by her father during the trial. In the trial Mayella’s father shows his level of domination when he suggest to Mayella to watch what she is about to say as shown in the book, “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”...
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...Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it. In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop; grass grew on the sidewalks, the courthouse sagged in the square. Somehow it was hotter then: a black dog suffered on a summers day; bony mules hitched to Hoover carts flicked flies in the sweltering shade of the live oaks on the square. Men's stiff collars wilted by nine in the morning. Ladies bathed before noon, after their three-o'clock naps, and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum." Page 5 Analysis The descriptive detail paints a vivid picture of the town of Maycomb, which provides some insight on Scout's feelings about Maycomb. In addition, the narrator provides the setting for the story and sets the mood for a quiet and somewhat dull town, which sets the stage for the conflict of Tom's trial. Chapter 2 Quotation "'Your father does not know how to teach. You can have a seat now.' I mumbled that I was sorry and retired meditating upon my crime." Page 17 Analysis Scout's first grade teacher makes her feel bad about being able to read, when she should feel proud that she can read and write at such a young age. Scout even apologizes and referred to her ability as a crime. This exchange demonstrates how many people in Maycomb are very small minded in their views. Chapter 3 Quotation "'First of all,' he said, 'If you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you'll get along a lot better with...
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...through the eyes of young Scout Finch in To Kill A Mockingbird. Scout, supported by her older brother Jem and father, Atticus, matured from a bigmouthed, boisterous little girl to a compassionate and caring person. Along the way, she pushed the limits of her curiosity with Boo Radley and learned...
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...To Kill a Mockingbird; Racism Then and Now Here in the 21st Century, some may think that maltreatment towards certain minorities are uncommon or not nonexistant compared to the 20th Century. However, this is not the case for either the present or the past. Harper Lee’s book To Kill a Mocking Bird argues against in-court racism set back in the 1930s, which is still found today. Lee’s usage of Scout as narrator helps readers see the social injustice of racism happening inside Maycomb. In the book, Scout was a very naive child and often asked a lot of questions about what took place around her. When Cecil Jacobs told Scout her father defended Negroes (in a negative connotation), Scout was confused why that was bad. She asks Atticus, “Do all...
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...In the south, people were raised with strong beliefs without their choice. If another person thought otherwise and stood against what the community believed they would be rejected because that's how the southerners were raised. But it was time for a change, injustice because of discrimination could not continue. The beliefs the south had were unfair because they were based off of racism. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” (Martin Luther King Jr.). People need to stand up for others because without an adversary, change will not occur. It is the power of one to realize the fault and start a new breed that believe what they think is right and are raised with respect to everyone. In To Kill a Mockingbird a distinguished novel by Harper Lee; the color of skin and beliefs that a person obtain determines how they are treated and valued as a member of the community in Maycomb, Alabama during The Great Depression. In this case, the color of a person's skin determines their level in society and how they are looked upon by the more powerful class. Calpurnia, the Finch's cook, is caring for the children and...
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...Lee, Harper—To Kill a Mockingbird 1960 TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee DEDICATION for Mr. Lee and Alice in consideration of Love & Affection Lawyers, I suppose, were children once. Charles Lamb PART ONE 1 When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow. When it healed, and Jem’s fears of never being able to play football were assuaged, he was seldom self-conscious about his injury. His left arm was somewhat shorter than his right; when he stood or walked, the back of his hand was at right angles to his body, his thumb parallel to his thigh. He couldn’t have cared less, so long as he could pass and punt. When enough years had gone by to enable us to look back on them, we sometimes discussed the events leading to his accident. I maintain that the Ewells started it all, but Jem, who was four years my senior, said it started long before that. He said it began the summer Dill came to us, when Dill first gave us the idea of making Boo Radley come out. I said if he wanted to take a broad view of the thing, it really began with Andrew Jackson. If General Jackson hadn’t run the Creeks up the creek, Simon Finch would never have paddled up the Alabama, and where would we be if he hadn’t? We were far too old to settle an argument with a fist-fight, so we consulted Atticus. Our father said we were both right. Being Southerners, it was a source of shame to some members of the family that we had no recorded ancestors on either side of the Battle of Hastings...
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