English

Task 3

To Kill a Mockingbird Essay

Question 3: While at the trial, Scout States “it came to that Mayella Ewell must have been

the loneliest person in the world”. Is Mayella Ewell a character worthy of compassion?

Answer this question using specific evidence from the novel and providing thoughtful

commentary.

Harper Lee’s Pulitzer prize novel To Kill a Mockingbird, showcases the southern

town of Maycomb, an old town where your family name determines who you are and who

you can be. Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird (TKAM) discusses the issues of

prejudice, honour, change, courage and compassion as seen in a typical southern town of the

United States of America during the 1930s. Characters such as Mayella Ewell represent what

ignorance and prejudice can do to an individual and characters such as Atticus are used to

portray the meaning of compassion, they also display throughout the novel that no matter

how bad a human may act, they are still deserving of compassion as you do not know what

goes on in their life and those willing to give it to them are the strongest of them all.

Mayella Ewell was no exception to the actions of Bob Ewell, her father abused his

children for majority of their lives after their mother’s death. This showcases the little regard

he has towards his family. As a result of this she has a low sense of self-worth and is

considered one of the loneliest people throughout the novel. This also applies to the rest of

her family as they were all seen as a way for Bob Ewell to release his anger. The world of the

Finches is also very different to that of her own, throughout the novel, Mayella cannot

recognise Atticus’ politeness and instead interprets it as if he is mocking her. However,

during the trial, Atticus makes a point which allows the reader to feel compassion towards her

character, "She did something every child has done—she tried to put the evidence of her

offense away from her. … What was the evidence of her offense? Tom Robinson, a human
being." The use of a simile, which compared Mayella to a child, allowed the reader to see

how naïve and innocent she is as she never had proper human interaction due to society

excluding her because of her family name. After the trial she goes back to her family home

and repeats the same cycle as she is never heard from again in the novel, this symbolises how

she lives under her father and what society tells her which shows the reader that she never

really grew up. Lee portrays Mayella as a victim of her father throughout the novel as she

deserves to be emphasised with considering the prejudice and ignorance that occurred

throughout her life.

Despite Mayella’s horrible actions against Tom Robinson, she still deserves

compassion due to what she experienced as a “white trash” female in the 1930s. She has

never been treated with proper respect and compassion throughout all 19 years of her life.

Therefore, during the trial, when Atticus asks her a question, she cannot recognise the

politeness nor the compassion coming from Atticus. “Suddenly Mayella became articulate. "I

got somethin' to say," she said. Atticus raised his head. "Do you want to tell us what

happened?" But she did not hear the compassion in his invitation.” The use of the vernacular

of Mayella’s slang contrasted to Atticus’ formal speech explores how different Mayella’s

world is from Atticus’. Due to having limited human interaction and being illiterate, Mayella

learnt whatever she knows from her father. He never showed her compassion nor was ever

polite to her which makes actions and words like Atticus’ foreign and she does not know how

to deal with them. She is also considered “white trash” which means that people do not think

she deserves compassion nor politeness and treat her like physical trash. Therefore, people in

her community showing her compassion and being polite towards her is not something she is

used to; therefore, she interprets what he is saying in a completely different manner and

thinks everything said towards her is negative, this explains her actions afterwards and shows

she is worthy of compassion as her life was not one of the easiest. For this reason, Lee reveals

the reasons why individuals in all forms of society must show compassion to everyone, no

matter their social class as you never know what they have been through or are going

through.
 The character of Atticus represents reason and morality. Lee uses him to portray what

compassion means within the novel. When talking to Scout, Atticus teaches both his daughter

and the reader an important trick in order to help understand other people and create

compassion, first of all," he said, "if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you'll get along a lot

better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things

from his point of view […] until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." Lee’s use of a

metaphor allows the reader to get an insight in what compassion is all about, it is based on

sympathy and being able to put yourself in another person’s shoes and understand why they

acted that way even though you may not necessarily agree with it. Lee uses Atticus to get this

message across to the reader to ensure they understand events that occur later within the

novel, especially those regarding Mayella Ewell. The initial idea is portrayed with Atticus

because of what he represents, hearing this from Atticus, who represents reason and morality,

allows the words to have a deeper meaning than if they were to come from another character.

This creates valid use for the metaphor. Atticus reveals how Harper Lee feels about the idea

of compassion and the fact that everyone deserves it no matter who they are and what they’ve

done.

Through Mayella and Atticus, Harper Lee portrays the importance of having

compassion for everyone, despite what they may do, and those being able to empathize with

individuals even though they may have wronged them are the strongest of them all. Whether

you may be considered “white trash” and be at the bottom of the social hierarchy, like the

Ewells or a respected member of society at the top of the social hierarchy, like the Finches,

you must empathize with all individuals as you never know what they have been through, a

lesson taught within To Kill a Mockingbird.