Mayella Ewell is one of the key characters in ‘To kill a Mockingbird’ as she provides a look into life in the lower classes of rural America during the great depression

Mayella Ewell is one of the key characters in ‘To kill a Mockingbird’ as she provides a look into life in the lower classes of rural America during the great depression.
Mayella is a vessel for the theme of hope. This is because she hopes for a better life. This can be seen in her being the only flower in the Ewell household. With a father who spends all their money on alcohol and no mother, Mayella holds a hope in her heart that is displayed through the only colour in the Ewell house, her red geraniums that she cares for. Furthermore, her commitment to acting as a mother to her younger siblings is commendable. However, Mayella is trapped in her family. She has become less of a daughter to Bob Ewell and more as an unwilling replacement wife, where she is both sexually and physically abused as is hinted at during the trail when she has welts around the right of her face and strangle marks that Tom Robinson, who had not function in his left arm would have found incredibly difficult to do. Bob Ewell however is left handed, which is evidenced where he writes with his left hand.
Mayella Ewell also Embodies the theme of Cruelty, this is shown in her accusations of Tom Robinson during the trial, a man who had felt pity for her and so helped her with physical labour tasks around the household. Tom helped Mayella for no payment but instead out of kindness, which she repaid by accusing him of rape. Furthermore, she is also very selfish as one of the reasons she brings Tom Robinson to Trial was that he refused to kiss her. This act shows how self-centred she is and how she does not care about the feelings of Tom Robinson or what he wants to do. This could be attributed to racial prejudiced as the Ewells are one of the more racist families in Maycomb, Bob Ewell frequently uses racist slurs to describe the black community of Macomb, such as calling their houses a ‘nigger-nest’ and that they are ‘devaluin’ my property’ we can clearly see that Bob Ewell does not think of Tom Robinson’s community as people, but instead as animals and below him, despite the fact that he lives in a pigsty.
Mayella also displays the theme of prejudice in the lower classes, seen in how she attempts to kiss Tom Robinson without his permission or willingness, showing she does not view the opinions and feelings of him. Instead she envies his love for his family and kindness and wishes to selfishly take that from Tom in the hopes that she will receive it instead.