To Kill A Mockingbird Dbq

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Power is shown through someone's gender, class, and race. These three components together can give someone power over themselves and the others around them. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, she uses race, gender, and class to express who has power versus who does not. In the novel, Mayella Ewell is an 18 year old girl who comes from a very poor white family. She lives with her brothers and father, where she has little to no help around the house. Tom Robinson, a local black man in the neighborhood, would help her outside in the yard when she asked for it. After a long time getting Tom’s help, Mayella tried to kiss him but her father caught her through the window. This led to her accusing Tom of raping her and sending him to court. Although she did win the case in court with a jury, Mayella Ewell is powerless compared to …show more content…
Showing that the Ewells have no class power in the community, Atticus says that “[h]e thought he’d be a hero, but all he got for his pain was . . . okay, we’ll convict this Negro, but get back to your dump” (Document A). Mayella has less class power than Tom because she knew being white would make the jury convict him, but it does not change the fact that the community does not care for her or her family. Eleanor Roosevelt expresses in her syndicated newspaper column “My Day” that “we cannot prepare for a peaceful world unless we give proof of self-restraint, of open mindedness, of courage to do right at home” (Document III). The Ewells have shown through their lies and way of living at home that Tom has more class than them. He refused Mayella and her advances towards him, and also held his own through the situation showing his class over hers. The community’s reaction towards the Ewells after the trial shows how they do not have class power over Tom or anyone else, as well as the self control Tom showed throughout the process of being sent to

To Kill A Mockingbird Dbq

Power can take control over any human’s life. “To Kill a Mockingbird” is a novel that took place in Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930’s. The story revolved around a black man named Tom Robinson and a white woman, Mayella Ewell. Mayella accused the black man of rape and wins the case because of the color of her skin. Mayella is powerless due to class and gender, but her race gives her an advantage. Class portrays a big role to Mayella’s weakness. Mayella was furious when Atticus called her miss or ma’am…

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To Kill A Mockingbird Dbq Analysis

Power is to have control over another person to push the to do something they do not really care to do.In the book ”To Kill a Mockingbird,”Tom gets shot for being accused of rape which he did not do. Mayelle is the girl that claims he raped her, she is powerless throughout the story because of her class and gender, but her race gives her all the power she need’s. First off, she is judged by her class because she is not wealthy like all the other whites and she lives near a black neighborhood…

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To Kill A Mockingbird: Is Mayella Ewell Powerful?

In “To Kill a Mockingbird” is Mayella Ewell Powerful? Mayella Ewell is a character in “To Kill a Mockingbird”. She lives in the town of Maycomb, Alabama where the inhabitants are very sexist and judgmental. Mayela grows up in poverty with a deadbeat, drunken dad, who was physically and sexually abusive to her. She does not have any friends, and she lived that way for a long time. She might have stayed lonely if it had not been for Tom Robinson. Tom is an African American man who made acquaintances…

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What Is The Argument In To Kill A Mockingbird

The novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” is a dramatic story that may play with your emotions, it is very cheerful and exciting at times but still can be unpredictable and saddening. The story is about the changes that the main characters go through over the span of three years in a secluded southern town known as Maycomb, Alabama during the Great Depression in the 1930’s. The argument that is going to be discussed in this essay is about Mayella Ewell, who is a “victim” of rape by an African American male…

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Mayella Ewell Research Paper

As class, gender, and race in To Kill A Mockingbird, Mayella Ewell is powerful, not by her class or gender, but by race. Mayella Ewell is a white, poor female, she lives in a shack by a dump among pigs and took place of her mother when her mother had passed away. She took care of her siblings, she cooks for the family and always takes a hit from her father, Bob Ewell, when he is drunk. Mayella is strong enough to fight that she is a woman and takes care of every one of her siblings even if they are…

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