Class, Gender, and Race in ​To Kill a Mockingbird​: Is Mayella powerful

In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, many themes are present in both the
plot and subplot. Of all charecter’s present, the hardest to pin definitive charecteristics to is
Mayella Ewell. Taking place in Maycomb county, Alabama in the 1930’s, To Kill a Mockingbird
focuses heavily on the seperation between the White and African- American people. In chapter
14, things in Maycomb begin to ramp up, as the Tom Robinson Vs. Mayella Ewell rape trial
draws near. Tom Robinson is an African American man being wrongfully accused of rape by a
poor, outcast white woman, Mayella Ewell. With her odd charecteristics and social status, the
question rises; Despite the lack of her economic prosperity and class rank, can Mayella still be
considered powerful due to her gender and race?

In document A, titled ‘Get back to your dump’ , the first excerpt describes the way in
which Mayella’s family lived. It states, “Maycomb’s Ewells lived behind the town garbage dump
in what was once a negro cabin”. This quote shows the Ewells’ lower class ranking, which leads
us to believe that Mayella- along with her family- are powerless in this respect. Also in document
A, the third excerpt states that Bob Ewell expected to become seen as a heroine for his action,
howver he was displeased to find that his pain was met with no advancement, as can be seen
by the quote, “Get back to your dump.” In conclusion, document A shows that Mayella Ewell is
powerless in regaurds of her social class.

In document B, titled “Except When he’s drinking”, Atticus Finch questions Mayella about
her father. When prompted with the question of wheter or not her father is good to her, Mayella
responds with, “ ‘he does tollable, ‘cept when-’” and pauses her sentence. This pause seems to
be caused by intimidation tactics from her father Bob. Atticus asks her to finish her statement, to
which Mayella refuses. Following this, Atticus says, “Except when he’s drinking?” , to which
Mayella nods to in agreement. This first excerpt shows that Mayella is intimidated by her father,
meaning she has even less power because she is a woman, instead of vise versa. In additon
the this, the last excerpt of document B ensinuates that Mayella was “savagely beaten”, by
someone who uses their left hand, which points to her father. This further proves that Mayella’s
gender gives her even less power, not more.

In document C, titled “ ‘Ma’am” vs. Boy’ “ , Mayella seems to cause an issue out of a
miniscule detail when Atticus refers to her as “ma’am” during her cross-examination. She brings
up that she doesn’t appreciate being talked to in this way, even though Atticus is not using this
term in a malicous manner or with intent of being derrogitave. However, when Tom Robinson, a
black grown man, is questioned, he gets referred to simply as ‘boy’. Despite this, Tom doesn’t
cause a scene like Mayella. Because of the tone Mr. gilmer gives Tom, Dill gets upset and has
to leave the courtroom. Dill points out that Mr. Gilmer referring to Tom as ‘boy’ is rude, to which
Jem replies with “Well, Dill, after all, he’s just a negro”. This quote shows that Tom being African
American means he gains less respect, giving Mayella more power. In this reguard, it can be
concluded that Mayella has power because of her race.
 Finally, in document D, “The ‘evil assumption’ , the idea that Mayella gains power
because of her race is consistent. In the first excpert, as Mr. Gilmer questions Tom, Tom
says that he wasn’t scared of having to pay for what he did, but he was more afraid of
having to face consequences for something he didn’t do. This shows that Tom is aware
of the automatic system of thought the public has on this case, and he is aware that
because he is a black man, people will assume the worst of him anyway. Yet again,
being African American puts Tom at a disadvantage, and in turn, being white puts
Mayella at an advantage. In the last excerpt included in this document, Atticus ties the
case together with his closing argument. He states, “ ‘ [The Ewells]... have presented
themselves to you gentleman, to this court… 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…” In saying this, Atticus is saying that the Ewells
have come to the court with little to no evidence, almost soley riding on assumption,
bias, racism, and false pretences. He is also implying that the court is going along with
this assumption, as it is what is known to be true for those living in Maycomb during this
time. Once again, Tom Robinson’s race puts him at a disadvantage to Mayella, as he is
a black man and she is a white woman.

In conclusion, Mayella Ewell is powerless in regaurds to her gender, wealth, and

social status, however, she derives what power she does have from the fact she is white.
Documents A and B support that Mayella is contrarily stripped of power because she is a
women, and because of her socio-economic status, however documents C and D
support the latter. Both “Ma’am vs. Boy” and “The ‘evil assumption’ “ support the idea
that Mayella Ewell derives what power she does have- which in this case is over Tom
Robinson’s life- from the fact that she is white.