Similarities Between Walter Cunningham And Burris Ewell

In To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, Scout attends a school and meets Burris Ewell and Walter Cunningham, two very different people. Walter Cunningham is from a poor farming family, Burris Ewell is also from a poor family. Walter Cunningham wears clean and neat clothes when he attends school and meals. “He did have on a clean shirt and neatly mended overalls”(19).Walter has hookworms. “Walter Cunningham’s face told everybody in the first grade he had hookworms”(19).

He has put himself, and his family at the top, and black people at the bottom. Throughout the book, Harper Lee there introduces the Cunninghams, who are more poor than Finch’s, and then the Ewells, who are the poorest, living behind the dump. On the other hand, Miss Caroline, an outsider from northern Alabama, does not understand the social ranks in Maycomb. Scout tries to explain to her, ‘“That’s okay, ma’am, you'll get to know all the county folks after a while”’ (Lee 22).

Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, is a realistic story that deeply discusses issues involved with the 1930’s that still resonate today. The struggles of life are evident within the believable characters of Maycomb County which is a microcosm, reflective of universal issues. Along with the authentic characters, setting and style also helps to convey Lee’s controversial notions of racial and gender prejudice, and persecution of the innocent, discussing many other ideas within.

The Ewells and Cunninghams are two families that are quite different. The most obvious difference is their personalities. Burris Ewell is a boy who is rebellious and doesn’t listen to the teacher. Burris even says, “You ain’t sendin’ me home missus. I was on the verge of leavin’ -I done done my time for this year” (27). While on the other hand Walter Cunningham is polite, and tries very hard to be a gentleman. When Miss Caroline tries to give Walter a quarter for lunch her replied in a polite manner, “Nome thank you ma’am” (19). These two families are also different by their appearance/hygiene. Burris Ewell came to school filthy. This is proved when it states “his neck was dark grey, the backs of his hands were rusty, and his fingernails were

As children grow up, they open their eyes to the harsh truths in the world around them that they once did not understand or question. This is experienced by the main characters of Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird. The story is of a girl called Scout and her older brother, Jem, who go through the trials of growing up in the fictional small Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930s. Racism is rampant in the mindset of the townspeople, shown when the children’s lawyer father, Atticus, takes the case of an obviously innocent African-American man and they convict him in their hearts before the trial even starts. Through this all, we can see the theme of loss of innocence in the children. Lee uses characterization to portray

Being at the top of the social hierarchy has been a must for every American of past generations, but can lead to fatal damages for some trying to obtain that goal and a cause to ruin people’s lives. In a remarkably triumphant story on compassion, Harper Lee explored the horrors of racial prejudice in the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Set in the 1930’s, the poor town of Maycomb, Alabama has been hit by the depression hard, which created a vast, complex social pyramid, with distinct families and lifestyles. At the Finch household, composed of a little nine year old girl, Scout, a twelve year old boy Jem, and their father Atticus, proceed through a whirlwind of events throughout the next few years. Atticus, a lawyer who is a hardworking, honest man at the top of the social hierarchy of Maycomb, has to defend a colored man by the name of Tom Robinson. This happened to be very unusual for the time period, as the family has to transcend through the struggles in a racial prejudice town and learn the raw nature of the worst in humans, thus trying to overcome these events through compassion. The author utilizes metaphor, characterization, and mood to describe the situation of Maycomb, it soon then becomes very clear that the dangers of ruining innocence can lead to a vast road of horrors and evils.

Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is about two children, Jem and Scout, and their relationships with their father, Atticus. The children raise themselves growing up, many people would say they were irresponsible, but they are both appear to be intelligent individuals. The novel, To Kill a Mockingbird the novel demonstrates a rigid class structure and social stratification in the County of Maycomb. People should not be judged by their social class, they should be judged on their personality.

In Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, prejudice and racism are embedded in the regional psyche of Maycomb, a miniscule town in Alabama. The narrator interpolates injustice and racism in Alabama during the 1930s, largely through the eyes of Scout, who was a child during this time, however, the adult Scout occasionally interjects with some adult observations. Furthermore, the citizens of Maycomb are stereotyped pervasively throughout the book. In Harper Lee’s To Kill Mockingbird, examples of racism, sexism, and social class are used to demonstrate how prejudice can corrupt a community.

In part one of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, the reader is introduced to Scout, the narrator of the book, her family and other members of the community in which she lives. Scout and her older brother Jem are the children of Atticus Finch, a lawyer in Maycomb County, Alabama during the Great Depression. Scout and Jem meet Dill, a boy spending the summer with his Aunt Rachel. He is between Scout and Jem’s age and becomes a great friend and playmate. He, like Scout and Jem are enjoying the freedom of no school, using their imagination inventing, and playing games throughout the summer. Next door to Scout and Jem, lives a very curious individual whom they have never seen but heard rumors about. This individual has been kept isolated by his father because of some innocent pranks he was involved in over fifteen years ago. Arthur “Boo” Radley is a young man rumored to be root of all evil in the small town of Maycomb. Curiosity is a theme repeated throughout part one as the Scout, Jem, and Dill desire to know or learn more about life and Boo Radley.

Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird shows us how one small, peaceful, southern town during the Great Depression can be engulfed in hatred, racism, and prejudice unseen by the outside world. In this seemingly quiet town in the middle of Alabama, people are forced to live by racist ideals that their families have carried on for generations. Although the citizens of Maycomb believe they are right and just, their prejudices overtake their human conscious when the time comes for them ‘to do the right thing.’ They truly believe that they are a kind community of Christians who live by the words of the Bible. While Maycomb includes all folks who think the same way as they do, they ban those who think differently or are from an ‘inferior’ race. Therefore, Boo Radley, Dolphus Raymond, and Mayella Ewell stand outside the structure of respectable Maycomb society, in some cases as the result of their own doing and in some, as the result of being forced out by others.

First of all, Lee’s critical tone of prejudice is demonstrated by Scout’s innocent curiosity and perception of her surrounding society. Specifically, Lee’s critical tone is illustrated by Scout’s curiosity and the numerous questions she asks her family members throughout the duration of the novel. For example, when Scout raises questions to her Aunt Alexandra concerning her prejudice towards the Cunningham family, her innocence is exhibited by her desire to understand the world, but also to question it. A specific example of Scout’s curiosity is when Aunt Alexandra informs Scout not to invite Walter over for dinner, which leads Scout to ask “Why not, Aunty? They’re good folks” (223). Aunt Alexandra responds with: “The thing is, you can scrub Walter Cunningham till he shines, you can put him in shoes and a new suit, but he’ll never be like Jem” (224). Aunt Alexandra’s response exemplifies her prejudice towards the structure of the social classes in Maycomb County. However, Scout’s innocent nature enables her to remain uncorrupted by prejudice and to question the unquestionable. Lee’s use of a child as a narrator allows her to ask the tough questions regarding Maycomb County’s way of life and question why it is prejudiced towards a certain individual or group of individuals. Moreover, Harper Lee’s choice of narration

To Kill A Mockingbird In To Kill A Mockingbird, the author, Harper Lee, writes about the main character, Scout, and her brother, Jem, learning almost everything they need to know about life. From events like, Tom Robinson’s trial (a black man accused of raping a white woman), and their father, Atticus, shooting a mad dog, the kids begin to understand love and discrimination. Growing up in the 1930’s, the kids experience multiple occasions of discrimination and hate, and there are three main characters who support them through this time. Calpurnia (the house maid), Boo Radley (an isolated man in the neighborhood), and Mr. Dolphus Raymond (a man who the society does not accept); these three characters teach the kids about inequality and how people should react to it.

Harper Lee shows a disregard of social status when compared to the traits of all men. The recognition of efforts made by the Finches towards the African American community makes leaps and bounds of progress repairing the rift between the two races. The change in Heck Tate’s character, influenced by a loss of bias toward Arthur Radley’s disabilities, gives way to redeemable character traits slowly becoming visible in him. Harper Lee shines a light on the narrow-mindedness of Maycomb County and some of its inhabitants but she also highlights the beacon of hope and acceptance that can and should be for all

Harper Lee's ‘To kill a Mockingbird’ explores the prejudicial issues which plague over the town Maycomb. Harper Lee uses the trial of Tom Robinson a black man accused of rape on a young white girl, Mayella as a central theme to portray the prominence of racial discrimination in Maycomb. The racial prejudice is also widely shown through the characterisation of Atticus. Having Scout as the narrator allows Harper Lee to highlight the gender inequity through a youthful unbiased perspective. The chauvinistic attitudes and prejudiced views of most of the town’s folk leaves Maycombs social hierarchy in an unfair order, victimising many of the town’s people due to their socially non-conforming habits some ‘socially unaccepted people’ including Boo

The novel To Kill a Mockingbird introduces us to a number of people and families. Two of the most distinct families are the Cunninghams and the Ewells, both of whom play major roles in the novel thematically. Harper Lee’s portrayal of these two families share very interchangeable characteristics but are also different in their own ways.