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

Throughout the book, “To Kill a Mockingbird”, Mayella Ewell can be considered many

things, including powerful. Mayella Ewell was a poor, white women that lived in Maycomb who

was caught by her father ‘hugging and kissing’ up on an African American, Tom Robinson,

which was highly unaccepted at this time in the South. During this time, Jim Crow Laws had a

significant effect on the way people in the South reacted to different situations, therefore to

cover herself up, Mayella decided to press criminal charges against Tom, saying that he forced

himself upon her and basically raped her. This all led to a long trial process that ultimately

ended with Tom being convicted of rape, then ended up being shot and killed because he tried

to escape prison. Power is a strong word when it comes it rape and victims of it, but in this case,

Mayella could have done a lot of different things to prevent Tom from being around her in the

first place or letting this whole situation blow up in their faces. Such as, her class, gender, and

race are all ways that Mayella already had power over Tom since, at this time, African

Americans were looked down on. So, even if Mayella was poor, she would have had more

support than an, otherwise innocent, African American man.

One way that Mayella Ewell would have a tremendous amount of power over Tom

Robinson, an African American, would be her race. According to Document D, “Now don’t be so

confident, Mr. Jem, I ain’t never seen any jury decide in favor of a colored man over a white

man.” This means that, throughout this time, no one would ever take the word of an African

American over the word of a white person, no matter the amount of evidence that said

otherwise, it was all based on the color of their skin. Also, according to Document D, “the evil

assumption-that all negroes lie, that all negroes are basically immoral beings, and that all negro

men are not to be trusted around our women.” This means that everyone already had their mind

set on the way they were going to think of African Americans, even before the trial started.
 Another way that Mayella Ewell would have a tremendous amount of power over Tom

Robinson, an African American, would be her social class. According to Document E, “White

people wouldn’t have anything to do with her because she lives among pigs; Negroes wouldn’t

have anything to do with her because she was white.” This shows that, while she never really

had anyone around her, she still continued to be supported by the majority of Maycomb

throughout her trial since she was white and was higher up than African Americans when it

came to social class. Also, according to Document C, “I don’t hafta take his sass, I ain’t called

upon to take it.” This shows that if Tom Robinson would have ever said anything like this in

court, it would have been a big deal since he is apart of a lower social class, but whenever

Mayella says it, it looks like she us gaining power by standing up for herself by making it clear

that she will not be dealing with anyone’s disrespect.

One last way that Mayella Ewell would have had tremendous amount of power over Tom

Robinson, an African American, would be her gender. According to Document C, “The way that

man called him ‘boy’ all the time an’ sneered at him.” This means that Mr. Gilmer decided it

would be a good idea to call Tom ‘boy’ since he ‘didn’t deserve’ to be called anything more than

that, yet they continued to call Mayella ma’am and Miss Mayella, even though she didn’t even

like it. Also, according to the Background Essay, “Tom says Mayella asked him to help her with

some chores, and was trying to hug and kiss him whenever her father appeared at the window.”

This means that if it wasn’t for Mayella being a white women, none of this would have ever

happened because not only did she end up having a huge advantage over Tom in court since

everyone took her side, but also she was looked on as more fragile and caused Tom to look bad

from the very beginning of the whole thing.

In conclusion, Mayella being pretty powerful by the end of her trial because not only was

Tom convicted, but also she was still continued to be seen as fragile since she has claimed to
be ‘raped’. This all ended up happening because of her class, gender, and race, which are

things that no one could have changed, no matter how powerful. Although, many people will say

that she had no power throughout this whole situation since she was the victim of something so

horrible and that she deserved the amount of sympathy she got, they are wrong because, while

no, no one deserves to be treated that way, things could have been handled a lot differently and

Tom could have ended up staying the same innocent man that was just trying to help Mayella

with her chores.