Mayella Ewing Quotes

White people wouldn’t have anything to do with her because she lived among pigs; Negroes wouldn’t have anything to do with her because she was white. She couldn’t live like Mr. Dolphus Raymond, who preferred the company of Negroes, because she didn’t own a riverbank and she wasn’t from a fine old family. Nobody said, “That’s just their way,” about the Ewells. Maycomb gave them Christmas baskets, welfare money, and the back of its hand.

– Harper Lee

To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 19. Scout is talking about Mayella Ewell and the kind of lonely and abandoned life she had as a young woman who was poor and lived with an abusive father.

Mr. Gilmer smiled grimly at the jury. “You’re a mighty good fellow, it seems – did all this for not one penny?”
“Yes, suh. I felt right sorry for her, she seemed to try more’n the rest of ’em – ”
“You felt sorry for her, you felt sorry for her?” Mr. Gilmer seemed ready to rise to the ceiling.
The witness realized his mistake and shifted uncomfortably in the chair. But the damage was done. Below us, nobody liked Tom Robinson’s answer. Mr. Gilmer paused a long time to let it sink in.

– Harper Lee

To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 19. Poor black field worker Tom Robinson’s compassion for white woman Mayella Ewing is used against him at his trial in the prejudiced and racially-divided society of Maycomb.

“The state has not produced one iota of medical evidence that the crime Tom Robinson is charged with ever took place. It has relied instead upon the testimony of two witnesses whose evidence has not only been called into serious question on cross-examination, but has been flatly contradicted by the defendant. The defendant is not guilty, but somebody in this courtroom is.”

– Harper Lee

To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 20. Atticus in his masterful closing argument demonstrates what a first-class lawyer he is. He believes Tom Robinson is innocent, but somebody in the courtroom is guilty – pointing fingers at Mayella and Bob Ewing who allow an innocent black man to stand trial for a crime they know he did not commit.
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