Mayella Ewell Character Analysis

Bob Ewell’s 19-year-old daughter. She’s described as thick and used to hard labor and cultivates bright red geraniums in the family’s yard. and Scout can tell that though Mayella tries to keep clean, she’s regularly unsuccessful. The oldest child in her family, it falls to her to care for the younger children. She accuses Tom Robinson of beating and raping her, though Atticus, through his questioning of her and of Robinson, shows that Mayella was unloved, abused, starved for attention. It’s clear that she was actually beaten by her father when he caught her forcibly touching Robinson, and was not raped at all—though it’s heavily implied that Mr. Ewell has, in fact, sexually abused Mayella in the past. Though Mayella comes close to admitting that Mr. Ewell beats her when he drinks, she refuses to change her testimony and admit that she accused Robinson of rape, so that she can escape the fact that she broke an important social code as a white woman tempting a black man.