Mayella ewell essays

Mayella Ewell, a fictional character from Harper Lees, To Kill a Mockingbird, was a prime example of how that is, in fact, the case. She was a white woman in the 1930’s, with the lowest class in her community (other than black people), and her family was despised in their community.

She is a static character who undergoes no inner change throughout the story, although is one of the most influential characters. This character demonstrates imprudent and inequitable actions, such as accusing an already maltreated, innocent black man of raping and assaulting her.

As well as when Tom told the jury that Mr. Ewell, had told Mayella “…you goddamn whore, I’ll kill ya.” (Lee 260), further proving that being a female in those times, and fraternizing with a man (a black man at that) would consider that woman no longer pure, and that she was living in an abusive home.

Mayella’s unawareness of her compulsiveness, fraudulence, and cowardliness causes one to feel almost sympathetic for her. Mayella Ewell is pressured by society to display herself as a compulsive prejudice white woman.