Saturday, December 27, 2014

In To Kill A Mockingbird, does Mayella Ewell know the consequences of kissing Tom Robinson?

Harper Lee never explicitly tells us that Mayella Ewell knows the consequences of kissing Tom Robinson, but we can assume that she is, in fact, fully aware of the repercussions of her actions. Indeed, she claims that Tom Robinson raped her because she knows that, if the truth comes out, she'll face not only the hatred of the Maycomb community, but abusive treatment at the hands of her father.


Mayella Ewell's life is pretty grim. Living in abject poverty and isolation, Mayella has almost no positive human contact. Her father is abusive in more ways than one and she has no friends, and so the only positive connection she has is Tom Robinson, which explains why she tries to kiss him. A white woman having intimate relations with a black man would have been extremely taboo in the South at the time the novel takes place, and anyone involved in such a relationship would have faced harsh treatment at the hands of her community. Moreover, Bob Ewell is already prone to abuse, and so the vileness of his behavior would only increase exponentially if the truth about Mayella's actions came to light. We know that Mayella is aware of these consequences because she claims that Tom tried to rape her, and so it's clear that her fear of the consequences of her actions is more important to her than protecting an innocent man. 

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