The Ewells are looked down upon by just about every segment of Maycomb's population. As the previous post points out, even Tom Robinson felt bad for Mayella, given the situation she was in. Her own father is, at first, not willing to claim her and makes a joke out of his paternity when asked if he is in fact her father. He responds to Mr. Gilmore's question saying "if I ain't, I cain't do nothing...
The Ewells are looked down upon by just about every segment of Maycomb's population. As the previous post points out, even Tom Robinson felt bad for Mayella, given the situation she was in. Her own father is, at first, not willing to claim her and makes a joke out of his paternity when asked if he is in fact her father. He responds to Mr. Gilmore's question saying "if I ain't, I cain't do nothing about it now, her ma's dead." Though this is spoken half in jest, it indicates again how no one cares much for Mayella, even her own father.
Later on when asked what happened, Bob Ewell recalls that he heard Mayella "screamin' like a stuck hog," equating her with a pig. Again he displays the utter contempt he had for her, despite the fact that she was caring for all her brothers and sisters and keeping a roof over his own head.
When Atticus begins to question Mayella on the stand, she objects loudly to being called "ma'am," and insists that Atticus is mocking her in doing so. She has existed so far outside the bounds of polite society that she feels that a normal term of respect, something most other women in Maycomb would expect in such a formal setting, is an insult.
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