An Analysis of Mayella Ewell in Harper Lees Novel To Kill A Mockingbird

Mayella Ewell is very much like a mockingbird. In Harper Lees novel To Kill A Mockingbird, Atticus and Miss Maudie are two of the main adult characters. Both of them explain to Jem and Scout that Mocking birds do no harm, only sing and that its a sin to even shoot them, let alone to kill one. When evaluating the characters in To Kill A Mockingbird, I see that many hold certain aspects of this description. Boo was shy and kept out of peoples way because he did not want to cause harm. Tom Robinson really did nothing wrong. But Mayella Ewell is the only one who really depicts all of the characteristics of a mockingbird.

Mayella didnt mean to hurt Tom. She supposedly said, according to Tom, that she had never kissed a man before. She didnt know the emotional responsibilities that should accompany kissing. She just knew he was there already, she wouldnt have to search someone out. She saw it as a great opportunity. He came nearly everyday to do jobs for no pay. He must not have minded her company. Right? So what if he was a Negro? He was a man.

Mayella didnt know what extent of legal trouble her actions might offer for Tom, not to mention problems with her father. She didnt know hed run and therefore seem to seal the fact that he provoked it.

Order custom essay An Analysis of Mayella Ewell in Harper Lees Novel To Kill A Mockingbird with free plagiarism report

450+ experts on 30 subjects Starting from 3 hours delivery

Get Essay Help

Mayella took care of everything around her. In this way she sang her heart out. Mayella took charge of her siblings. She was like their mother. They might not have had much class, but they were relatively healthy and able thanks to her. She kept a good house (with the help of Tom Robinson it seems). The most touching point is that with all her responsibilities and at the age she was, Mayella still took the time to tend to a patch of red geraniums in the yard. Perhaps just as they helped to brighten the yard, they also helped to brighten her attitude.

Her father scared, or shot, Mayella a great deal. He must have, as he persuaded her to lie in court that Tom Robinson was the one who beat her instead of him. He wouldnt have just suggested the lies, or come out and asked her to do so. He was a more forceful man than that. Mayella was also scared of Atticus. She sat in court muttering about being called Miss and being made out to be left handed like her father. Atticus was just being polite, by calling her Miss and Maam, which proves that Mayella was easily shaken and not used to warmth.

Mayellas father in addition to scaring her, also sexually assaulted her and beat her. Although these accusations were never actually stated, they were extremely present in the undercurrent of the trial. Here father also left her educationally deprived which is inexcusable. She was made too busy caring for her fathers other children to get the education everyone deserves, boy or girl, rich or poor.

Mr. Ewell deserved whatever was to come his way for hurting Mayella mentally and physically as he did. How ironic that he seemed to get his glory (at least in his mind) easily in the trial and then when he tried to gain more he ended up dead on the street.

Mayella is a true mockingbird. Just as true heroes and true-blue friends both are made of good, sensitive attributes, so is a mockingbird. Mockingbirds do no harm and sing for the world. And from the right, maybe offbeat however, perspective, Mayella Ewell does just that.

Don't let plagiarism ruin your grade

Run a free check or have your essay done for you

Check my essay Hire Writer