Is Mayella Ewell Powerful

Mayella Violet Ewell, a 19 ½-year-old girl, made one of the most widely known accusations in Maycomb. She accused a black man, Tom Robinson, of raping her. Mayella first appears in chapter 17 of Harper Lee’s book, “To Kill a Mockingbird,” when Tom Robinson’s trial occurs. She pours out a sob story to the court about Tom following her into the house, jumping on her, and raping her innocent self. Throughout her questioning in chapter 18, Mayella is depicted as a deceptive, fragile, and somewhat cheeky young lady by the answers she gives and her behavior in the courtroom.

An is Mayella powerful essay primary goal is to discuss whether her traits somehow hindered the judgment of Tom Robinson.

The first occasion where readers can infer a personality trait of Mayella Ewell is when she first confers with Atticus, and she could easily be perceived as a disrespectful girl in view of her attitude. There were multiple occurrences when he asked Mayella a question she had previously answered from another authority, and instead of answering for a second time, she became aggravated and was hesitant to answer again because she considered it an unnecessary situation. (please, insert the exact quote you want to refer to) (243).

One more instance of Mayella being cheeky is the time Atticus refers to her as “ma’am” or her name, “Mayella,” she accuses him of making fun of her. Atticus would assure her he did not mean to be disrespectful, but she insisted he was. “Won’t answer a word you say long as you keep on mockin’ me,” she replied to Atticus after calling her Miss Mayella (243). He responded with, “Ma’am?” out of confusion, then which she replied, “Long’s you keep on makin’ fun o’ me.” (243) 

Some might accuse Mayella of stalling to get off track when she doesn’t answer the question if asked for a second time or when she accuses Atticus of disrespecting her when calling her by “Ma’am” or her name. Or, by thinking of ways to prolong the questioning so she wouldn’t have time to go into full detail, Mayella could be distinguished as deceptive. But Atticus’ tactic to repeat questions favored him. Mayella would often forget an answer she had previously replied with, resulting in different answers given by her for the same question. For example, when questioned about being aggressed by the defendant: “No, I don’t recollect if he hit me. I mean yes I do, he hit me.”(248) Another misleading act of Mayella was when she remained silent after being inquired(251). This indicated that she couldn’t come up with a truthful-sounding answer or that the questions were too sensitive to answer. This leads to another trait she holds: she can be fragile.

As a questioning technique, Atticus started off by asking Mayella broad, easy-to-answer questions, mostly facts about her personal life. Not to be rude in any manner, he asked her about her social life and her friends, a topic to which she immediately became sensitive and replied with “What friends?” (245). Sometimes, Atticus asks her a question, and she bursts into tears on the spot. “Mayella sniffed wrathfully and looked at Atticus.” (248). 

In Mayella Ewell’s testimony, she portrays herself to be cheeky to authority, deceptive to Atticus and the jury, and fragile when it comes to a sensitive subject. All her character dimensions lead back again to an intriguing question: is Mayella powerful? Although confusing, her personality manipulation e fooled the jury well enough to send Tom to jail and to get her dad out of trouble (for the time being). Her adjustability to different publics defined the trial destination for a good period. Somehow, an essay on Mayella Ewell’s powerful can be more complex than it seems since Mayella herself is a complex personality. By the time she is someone who’s capable of maneuvering others’ perspectives of facts through her lies and fragile appearance, she also presents herself as someone sensitive that might hide the truth underneath her fiction.

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