Poverty is What You Make It Poverty can be a terrible thing. It can shape who you are for better or for worse. Although it may seem awful while you experience it, poverty is never permanent. In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, which takes place in Alabama in the middle of the Great Depression, Walter Cunningham and Burris Ewell are both in a similar economic state. Both of their families have very little money; however, they way they manage handle themselves is very different. In this essay, I will compare Walter Cunningham and Burris Ewell’s physical appearance and hygiene, their views on education, and their manners and personalities. First, although both Burris and Walter are equally poor, the way they dress and maintain their …show more content…
Walter’s family owns a farm, and Walter is obligated to help his father with tasks such as chopping wood. He has been in the first grade for three years in a row because every year he is forced to miss school during the harvest. While having lunch at the Finch’s home, he tells Atticus “Reason I can’t pass the first grade, Mr. Finch, is I’ve had to stay out ever’ spring an’ help Papa with the choppin’ but there’s anothr’n at the house now that’s field size (Pg. 31-32).” Although Walter would like to receive an education, he must help his father to get food on the table and to keep their farm operational. However, now that he has a sibling who is old enough to take his place on the farm, he will finally be able to move on from the first grade. His family values education and wants him to be successful in life. Burris Ewell, however, does not value school at all. Like Walter, Burris has also attended first grade for three years. “Been comin’ to the first day o’ the first grade fer three year now…. Reckon if I’m smart this year they’ll promote me to the second (Pg. 36).” Burris’ father does not value education, because he lets his son attend one day of school per year. Burris also does not care about his education. On the first day of school, a student explains “The truant lady gets ‘em here ‘cause she threatens ‘em with the …show more content…
Walter is extremely polite. When offered a quarter to buy lunch for himself, Scout says she “...saw a muscle jump in his skinny jaw (Pg. 25).” Walter knows he cannot accept the quarter from Miss Caroline. He tries as hard as he can to politely decline her offer without being rude. Later, while describing the Cunninghams, Scout explains “The Cunninghams never took anything they can't pay back-no church baskets and no scrip stamps (Pg. 26).” The Cunninghams refuse to take charity from anyone. Walter knew he could never afford to repay Miss Caroline, so he refused her offer. Even when it would be wise for the Cunninghams to accept the generosity of others, they keep their head held high and manage with what they have. Unlike Walter, Burris has terrible manners. This is evident on the first day of school. After Miss Caroline told Burris to sit down, Little Chuck Little told her “He’s a mean one, a hard down mean one. He’s liable to start somethin’, and there’s some little folks here (Pg. 36).” Burris has a temper. Instead of handling the situation calmly, like Walter had, Burris’ first instinct is violence. Little Chuck Little says that it would not be surprising for him to physically attack the teacher, simply for telling him to sit down. After being told to leave, Walter told Miss Caroline “Report and be damned to ye! Ain’t no snot-nosed slut of a schoolteacher
It is acknowledged by many readers that there are many different social classes in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ written by Harper Lee and published in 1960. One of the most obvious social class distinctions is between skin colors, which can be seen through this novel. Since most readers’ focal point of this novel is on the distinctions between skin colors, they are unlikely to pay attention to the difference in social class within the white community. Lee wants to illustrate a contrast in white society and how characters behave differently through the uses of character foil, characterization, and the theme of society inequality in order to emphasize the differences in social classes.
It can be inferred, even by someone with very limited information of to Kill a Mockingbird, the Walter can’t attend school- someone who owns no shoes, has hookworms, doesn’t have proper hygiene, and works on his family’s farm is very obviously not going to be able to go to school for longer than a few weeks. Robert Peck is told by the town clerk that “You’ll [Peck] have to register and attend school” (line 20 APOTS). Both of them not being able to attend school is clearly from living in poverty- if they were not quite as poor as they are, then they would have had to attend school for more than a few
Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird explores the concept of injustice and her readers are introduced to a society where the social hierarchy dominated acts of humanity. We are often put into situations where we witness member of society be inhumane to one another in order to fit into the community and to act selfishly to save yourself. Within the text, we are also commonly shown the racial discrimination that has become society’s norm. Because of the general acceptance of these behaviours, it is explicitly show to all that the major theme Lee is trying to portray is ‘Man’s inhumanity to man’.
Walter Cunningham a normal young boy despite one thing, he has no money. Though all people during the Great Depression were suffering through hardship, the Cunningham's couldn't bear a quarter. Notwithstanding they had no money, Walter indicates pride, but everyone else still discriminates, his label is poor. To young children who picked up this the richer, older generation, a man with no money is a man with no worth. The discrimination is the wealthy against the needy, the upper-class believe to be superior. Moreover, this concludes that the society Maycomb, County represents is not just racist but additionally bigoted for irrational
“To Kill a Mockingbird” raises a theme of the importance of fitting in, especially with the character Boo Radley or Mr. Raymond. They both are different from society’s norm in their behaviours and are marginalized through a good portion of the book. “Huckleberry Finn,” follows much the same concept, as Huck is a poor, uneducated boy and society treats him like an
“Miss Caroline he’s a Cunningham” (TKAM p. 26). As Scout is a child, she does not really fully understand about social inequalities in Malcomb and is corrupted by the peoples thinking which lead her to think that Cunningham only means poor and weird. Furthermore, in Chapter 3, Scout invites Walter to dinner at her house. During that meal, Walter does poured molasses into his lunch and that lead to think that because he is a Cunningham and they are poor and weird, it is normal and made Scout think that even further. It was then Calpurnia, a colored house maid who is more like a mother to Scout taught her a lesson. “Cal he’s just a
born in Raleigh, North Carolina to a Jacob Johnson and Mary McDonough. Andrew experienced the sting of poverty at an early age of 3, when his father died and his family was plunged into poverty. The youngest of three children Johnson had to teach himself how to read and write “ Unlike the children of he rich, he never had a day of schooling in his life: his mother was too poor to afford it”. From an early age Johnson his mother would work as a seamstress and she barely made any money along with his stepfather who was a local Taylor. As the years went on he started to feel the sting of prejudice from upper class white Americans. In Johnson’s teenage years in Raleigh the son of John Daveraux a ric...
Life in the late eighteen hundreds was very different from the life we know today. Not only was there more inequality, there were also more health concerns and lapses in education. Mark Twain, in his book “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” has given us a special look into the past through the eyes of a young boy. Though this book is one of, if not the most highly criticized books in the American school system, it is also one of the most highly renowned. Through the criticism, Twain has given us a golden reflective opportunity.
In the novel, ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee some characters suffer in the hands of justice and fairness more than others. Many characters in the novel are discriminated against such as Calpurnia, Dolphus Raymond, Helen Robinson, Burris Ewell and more. However I will be focusing on the discrimination against Tom Robinson for his race, Walter Cunningham for his low socioeconomic status and Boo Radley for the rumors and supposed mental instability he holds. I chose those three because they are the most prominent and I will discuss how the discrimination against the characters therefore leads to their injustice or unfairness.
However, their lack of money was a result to Mr. Cunningham not wanting to accept assistance from anyone out of fear of causing them an inconvenience (Lee 20). Walter Cunningham is referred to as having hookworms and not having shoes (Lee 19). He is discussed between Scout and Miss Caroline when she realizes that he did not have a lunch and offers to loan him money (Lee 19,20). Scout explains, “‘The Cunninghams never took anything they can’t pay back-no church baskets no scrip stamps. They never took anything off of anybody, they get along on what they have. They don’t have much, but they get along on it’” (Lee 20). By this encounter, Scout hoped to educate Miss Caroline on the status of Walter’s family and states “‘That’s okay, ma’am, you’ll get to know all the country folks after a while” (Lee 20). Walter Cunningham, is also discussed between Scout and her Aunt Alexandra, later in the novel, after the encounter with him and Miss Caroline (Lee 223,224).Scout had hoped to defend Walter and is pleased with herself for the action she took (Lee 223). She thinks she should invite him to spend the night with them sometime, but quickly realizes that Aunt Alexandra has other views of the Cunninghams (Lee 223). Aunt Alexandra states, “‘But they’re not our kind of folks….you can scrub Walter Cunningham till he shines, you can put him in shoes and a new suit, but he’ll never be like
The Cunninghams are mistreated by part of the society in Maycomb. Aunt Alexandra, who mistreats them the most, is prejudiced toward the Cunninghams, she does not like them. She thinks that her reputation, and social status are going to be stained if Scout plays with Walter Jr.. Scout wants to invite Walter over, but Aunt Alexandra does not like Walter, she says that they are folks from different class. She thinks it is best if they do not see each other. She once talks to Scout about how different they are, "Because - he - is - trash, that's why you can't play with him.
The notion of poverty has a very expanded meaning. Although all three stories use poverty as their theme, each interprets it differently. Consequently, it does not necessarily mean the state of extreme misery that has been described in ?Everyday Use?. As Carver points out, poverty may refer to poverty of one?s mind, which is caused primarily by the lack of education and stereotyped personality. Finally, poverty may reflect the hopelessness of one?s mind. Realizing that no bright future awaits them, Harlem kids find no sense in their lives. Unfortunately, the satisfaction of realizing their full potential does not derive from achieving standards that are unachievable by others. Instead, it arises uniquely from denigrating others, as the only way to be higher than someone is to put this person lower than you.
It wasn’t until the 2nd grade that he realized that he had a speech problem. A kid named Manuel Bonilla was making fun of his speech problem. That’s when the kid got smacked in the face by Walter. He ended up going to the principal’s office. One day, Walter’s mom told him that he was a big boy, and now Walter is able to use the extra key to go to the house. There was a woman that Walter hated that was nicknamed “The Wicked Witch of West Harlem”. She prevented him from reading comic books, and playing with guns. Walter found a way out of not reading comics thanks to a kid named “Roughie”. In 3rd grade, Walter slapped a kid, and then the teacher slapped Walter. The teacher ended up getting trouble for this, and Walter ended up doing badly at school. However, he still got promoted to the 4th
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, Walter Cunningham wants to go to school, but is unable to receive education due to his economic status. “Miss Caroline,