Essay On Power In To Kill A Mockingbird

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Power is the ability to influence the behavior or actions of others. It has been interpreted that throughout time race, gender, and class interlock to create power. That being said, these three categories put together simultaneously shape the experience of all people. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, class, gender, and race are the defining factors that show if a character has power or not. Many characters prove themselves to have power like Atticus and the Sheriff. On the other hand, some characters lack the requirements needed to be seen as powerful. For example, Mayella Ewell. Mayella Ewell is the white daughter of Bob Ewell, who is known for his short temper and drinking problem. In spite of her race, Mayella is powerless because of her gender and class.
Although Mayella may appear to be powerful due to winning the case, in reality, she proves herself to be powerless because of her gender. In this time period, women were looked at as the ‘inferior’ gender. In addition to already being looked at as an inferior to men, she is taken advantage …show more content…
Unfortunately in Mayella’s case, “Maycomb’s Ewells lived behind the town garbage dump in what was once a Negro cabin. . . .”(Lee, A). Since they have no money and basically live in a garbage dump, the town looks down on them. As scout once expressed, “She was as sad, I thought, as what Jem called a mixed child: white people wouldn’t have anything to do with her because she lived among pigs” (Lee, E). Mayella is compared to a mixed person, which in the 1930’s is the lowest of the low in scout’s society. This is because whites would not want to be around a mixed person because they are not white, and African Americans do not want to be around one because their half white. No one wants anything to do with Mayella. Mayella is not powerful because of her ‘placement’ in her

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