The Essence of Human Compassion in To Kill a Mockingbird

Note: this was written for a school assignment (yes, it was restricted to two paragraphs; yes, I was quite disappointed when I heard this as well).

Compassion- a necessary, human part of the world’s bustling, everyday lives; however, it is up to any one interpretation that a specific individual is worthy of receiving such emotion. If there is any one novel that exemplifies this more than the infamous 1930s-set Harper Lee novel To Kill a Mockingbird- in both its characters and the audience that observes it-, the world would come to a grinding halt. In terms of specifics, though, this “observation” that is occurring is happening in none other than a literal, in-story trial, featuring the alleged rape victim Mayella Ewell, a girl who belongs none other than to the Ewell family, a town outcast whose children barely attend school, much less act any sort of civil, of whom falsely convicted a black man of rape to cover up her past relationship associated with said man. In spite of her lies that serve only to protect herself, Mayella- a person who can be described as none other than a jackrabbit in a den of wolves- proves that not only is she herself suitable of receiving compassion, but that judging a person of being so requires a bit more than a passing glance.

To decide on whether or not this character deserves this label, though, there is no place to look further than the fateful testimonies themselves, with one being hers and the other being that of her accused assaulter, the African-American man Tom Robinson. During Mayella’s testimony, she gives the standard, expected fare, with lines such as, “My paw’s never touched a hair o’my head in my life,” which would otherwise be perfectly fine, if it were not for the blatant contradictions that this draws from her previous statements regarding her father’s drinking state (Lee 246). How this exactly relates to her character, though, is laid in how much of a hint it gives toward her family life, if anyone could call it that at all: not only does she live with vile, rude, and overwhelmingly taxing people, she is also subject to beatings- and potential sexual assaults- from her own father as well. Now, as for Tom Robinson himself, he seemed to tell a more personal- and also more truthful- tale, although one specific quote brings the shocking truth down with the force of a single gavel thud: “No suh, she- she hugged me. She hugged me round the waist,” a truth that solidifies Mayella’s character in one swift motion as a character in which was not raped, but, instead, tried to love and be loved by a black man, which is considered a horrible broken code in the time frame (Lee 259). Although some stances could say that falsely accusing a man of rape, a man who genuinely helped her, no less, immediately disfavors any sympathy towards her character, why she did it and what the original motive was significantly help her case here: all she wanted was to love and be loved by somebody, anybody, for once in her life; once someone found out, she had to cover her tracks to save herself from even more scrutiny than what she was facing before. With these pieces of evidence in mind, there is only one conclusion that can be drawn: Mayella Ewell, despite her actions, is completely and utterly worthy of receiving compassion, a feeling she wanted right from the beginning, only to have something mildly close to it tragically ripped away from her as soon as it had appeared.