Mayella Ewell Quotes

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In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, readers see inside a small town called Maycomb in Alabama that most characters call home. Harper Lee describes Maycomb as a penniless town infused with traditional Southern values. Among the unique residents of Maycomb stands a helpless and weak Mayella Ewell, daughter to Bob Ewell. The Ewells are known for their reputation in Maycomb as trash. And when Mayella Ewell brings Tom Robinson, an honest black man, to trial for her alleged rape, the entire town shows up at the courtroom. Mayella Ewell is an ordinary teenager born into a family with an abusive father. She also serves as the mother figure of her eight siblings. At first glance, the character Mayella Ewell, in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, is a simple country girl living in poverty. However, if one takes a closer look at this character, it is clear that Harper Lee depicts Mayella Ewell as a villain.
Mayella Ewell is a criminal guilty of perjury, an inexcusable offense to the law. Perjury is the offense of lying under an oath and it is considered a crime against justice. Mayella Ewell sat in the witness stand and told a lie: “ ‘[. . .] So he come in the yard an’ I went in the house to get him the nickel and I turned around and ‘fore I knew it he was on me. [. . .] I fought’n’hollered, but he had me round the neck. He
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However, if one takes a closer look at this character, it is clear that Harper Lee depicts Mayella Ewell as a villain. She committed perjury, an unpardonable crime against justice. Because she committed perjury, Mayella Ewell sent Tom Robinson to jail and indirectly killed him. She also sexually assaulted him, a crime Mayella accuse Tom for doing. For her own personal reasons, Mayella sent an innocent man to jail. This is entirely unjustifiable. To put it simply, she broke the law and because of that, Mayella Ewell is a