...From centuries ago to now, numerous conflicts have occurred involving race, class, and gender. People from all ages have fought and argued over the issue of equality. A person’s class, gender, or race can affect whether they are powerful or powerless. Harper Lee, the author To Kill a Mockingbird, discusses the idea of power primarily through the character Mayella Ewell. Mayella, a white woman, accuses a black man of raping her. While Mayella is white, she is not powerful because she is a low class female who must live with an abusive father. Mayella is not powerful in regards to her gender as a female because as a female she cannot control or make decisions about her life. Furthermore, she is often disrespected by males. Males most of the...
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... Power, something difficult to attain and a tool to weakness to others. With the power Mayella has, she uses it to her advantage to convict an innocent man because of her wrongdoings. Because of Mayella’s class, and gender, Mayella lacks power, but her race makes her powerful. Again, Mayella Ewell lacks power because of her social class. “Maycomb’s Ewells lived behind the town garbage dump in what was once a negro cabin” (Doc A) shows and tells us that the Ewells class falls very low, limiting Mayella’s power socially. Mayella’s limited social power is also shown in the quote “Mayella must have been the most lonely person in the world… white people had nothing to do with her because she lived among pigs, and the negroes wouldn’t have anything to do with her because she is white” (Doc E) because Mayella was not socially accepted by anyone. It is lastly shown in the quote “‘Won’t answer a word long as you keep mocking me”’ because this shows Mayella has never seen the power to be called “ma’am” or “Miss”, so she takes great offense to it when Atticus speaks (Doc C). Besides the lack of power socially due to her social class, Mayella also lacks power because of her gender. In addition to her social class arrangements, Mayella Ewell also lacks power because of being a female. The first of three major reasons that show how Mayella lacks power because of her gender is when she admits her father beats her senseless when he is intoxicated (Doc B). The second of three reasons is when...
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...Power is the control over someone or something. “To Kill a Mockingbird” is about a little girl who witness the unfairness of the court system in the 1930’s while along the way almost getting killed. Because of Mayella's class and gender, Mayella is weak or powerless, but because of her race, she is strong and powerful Down south in Alabama during the 1930’s living in around or near blacks it was considered to be wrong. In chapter 17 it says “Ewells lived behind the town garbage dump in what was once a Negro cabin (Doc A)” this is important because it shows that they live in the poor side of town near the black people. In chapter 19 it says “Yes, suh. I felt sorry for her (doc E)” this means that the Blacks feel sorry for them because they are poor. In chapter 18 it says “won’t answer a word you say as long as you keep mocking me; she said. Ma’am said Atticus (doc C)” this means because of her class and where she lives she’s not used to hearing ma’am said to her.All of the quotes in document A, E, and C show that...
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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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