Walter Cunningham Sr. is a caring and sweet person. He can also be very shy and quiet. His family and him are farmers and don’t repay anything that they can’t afford to give back. In the book, Walter Sr. is a client of Atticus and always gives him goods and different services in order to pay Atticus back since the family can’t afford to pay back in cash. The Cunningham’s are low-class town people because they have to rely on Government welfare and services to keep the farming business going. Walter Sr. wears a straw hat that you would wear working in the sun. He wears suspenders like a farmer normally does and dresses in low-class clothes. He always look as if he is worried about something or just really has no expression. He looks as if the light as left his eyes. …show more content…
He also looks a little pale and white all time.
In the beginning of the book, Mr. Cunningham stops by to give Atticus wood. Scout had asked Atticus why Mr. Cunningham dropped off wood. Atticus said that is the way the Cunningham’s repay back and express their thank you’s. This shows that his personality is an outgoing quiet personality. He also has a very strong personality when on jury duty for Tom Robinson. He hates blacks has shown when he tries to kill Tom by lynching him the night before the trial. This shows the side of Walter never
seen. Walter Cunningham Sr. cares deeply about everyone in the community and always see things differently than anyone else. What makes them so unique is is that when he’s quiet, he sometimes can be the wise owl around town. Even though he may seem to be a prejudice in the Robinson trial case he can still be a great wonderful person.
Throughout the novel, Atticus displays empathy by trying to understand other people’s perspectives and what their conditions are. Mr. Cunningham, father of Walter Cunningham, is a poor farmer who was a client of Atticus. Because of the Cunningham’s financial state he was unable to pay Atticus for his services, “Mr. Finch, I don’t know when I’ll ever be able to pay you” (Lee 22). To which Atticus replied, “Let that be the least of your worries, Walter” (Lee 23). Atticus never
In addition to being a lawyer, Atticus enjoys being a father to Jem and Scout. When Jem and Scout found out that their father would be defending a black person, they knew immediately that there would be much controversy, humiliation from the people of Maycomb and great difficulty keeping Tom alive for the trial. It was not long when Atticus had to leave the house very late to go to jail, where Tom was kept because many white people wanted to kill him. Worrying about their father, Jem and Scout sneak out of the house to find him. A self-appointed lynch mob has gathered on the jail to take justice into their own hands. Scout decides to talk to Walter Cunningham, one of the members of the mob. She talks about how her father Atticus thought that "entailments are bad "(154 ) " and that his boy Walter is a real nice boy and tell him I said hey"(154). Upon hearing this, the mob realized that Atticus cannot be all bad if he has such a nice daughter as Scout. Atticus, with some unexpected help from his children, faces down the mob and cause them to break up the potential lynching of the man behind bars. Having gone to a black church earlier, the children found out that Tom is actually a kind person, church-going and a good husband and father to his children.
Money is one of these prides that Walter holds dear to himself, noting that this is very important to his personal aspirations within outrageous business deals. His development is shown through the text as continuing events and pressure force change within Walter. These characteristics shape the entire theme of Walter’s understanding of money and his purpose towards the family.
Boo Radley and Tom Robinson come from very different backgrounds. Both face similar stories of prejudice and unfair judgments. These men faced some of the same hardships throughout their lives. Boo and Tom are both good men who were put down because they are considered “different” than others in the town. Scout learns important lessons from the way the people in town treat Boo and Tom. The title of the book To Kill A Mockingbird takes on different meanings as the author tells the story of these two men from the south.
The first reason I believe that Walter is the protagonist is because he isn’t a selfish man. What I mean by this is when he is talking about issues he tends to discuss family issues above his own personal things. Though at times in the play when he is drunk and loses his temper he does start speaking selfishly, I believe that his overall attitude in the play is for his family to move up the world. I believe that Walter’s son Travis is the main reason why he acts so unselfishly. He seems to want the best for this son and doesn’t want his son to feel that there isn’t anything he can’t have or do.
Walter wants the best for his family and he thinks the liquor store will provide him the financial security needed to boost them out of poverty. "I'm thirty five years old; I've been married eleven years and I got a boy who sleeps in living room (Hansberry 34). best describes the sympathy and compassion Walter feels for his son. Although his family's financial position has a strain on it, Walter doesn't want his son to see him struggle. Even in today?s world, children are very susceptible. Walter displays a selfless characteristic which becomes overshadowed by unwise decisions later in the play. In one particular scene, his son Travis asked both parents for money. Walter acts out of pride by giving Travis his last pocket change. This symbolizes Walter's willingness to be a moral father. In a different situation, Walter would not display his selfish intentions. This behavior can be attributed to working in a degrading, underpaid position and not seeing results. Metaphorically speaking, Walter can be related to the furniture in the small apartment, ?tired and broken in spirit?.
Cunningham was a poor farmer and part of the mob that seeks to lynch Tom Robinson at the jail. They have their kids go to school, but they don’t have a bunch. His son, Walter Cunningham was a classmate of Scout’s but he has not passed first grade yet because he skips school every spring to help his father on the farm chop wood. Mr. Cunningham was really poor, but he worked firmly to keep his farm which was right outside of Maycomb. Like most farmers during the Great Depression, he owed oodles of money and paid it off by bringing any crops or plants he could spare from his farm and giving it to Atticus. One night the Finches invited Walter to dinner and he devoured it all and he drenched his food in syrup that was on the table. This shows how the Cunningham family is not always able to access their food. The kids will always be wondering where their next meal will be and when they will have it. The kids don’t always have their lunch with them, too. Instead of paying people back by the money they do it by giving materials they
Other than the obvious theme of racism, the movie also touches on the prejudices between social classes and education are seen throughout the movie as well. The behavior and manners of the Cunningham family is what definitely sets them apart from the Ewell family. Although both households are penniless, the Cunningham’s tries to have a neat outward appearance, while the Ewell’s are absolutely untidy. This contrast is noticeable on Scout’s first day of school. Walter Cunningham is wearing a tidy clean shirt and restored overalls; Burris Ewell has dirty neck and face, black fingernails, with bugs in his hair. Both Cunningham’s and Ewell’s are uneducated and they sometime don’t attend school for different reasons.
Firstly, Atticus Finch acts justly, fairly, and always helps others who need it. One of his clients, Mr. Cunningham, pays Atticus in entailment. Scout asks her brother, Jem what the meaning of paying in entailment is, “Jem described it as a condition of having your tail in a crack … one morning Jem and I found a load of stovewood in the back yard … Mr. Cunningham had more than paid him” (Lee 20-21). Atticus believes that no one should get any disadvantages because of one’s lower financial state. He shows justice by allowing Mr. Cunningham to pay him in different sources other than money. Also, Atticus is a very wise man. He talks to his daughter with full empathy and understanding to try and help her. When Scout is complaining about her teacher’s attitude towards her, Atticus gives her great advice that, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view … until you climb into his shoes and walk around it” (30). He is teaching Scout to be just. He tells her to look at things from a different perspective and notice the difference from hers to someone else’s. Similarly, Atticus who is a white lawyer takes on a case of a black man, Tom Robinson. Therefore, Scout is made fun of for having her father d...
Walter has a steady, but low paying job and wishes that he could do more for his family. The money he makes hardly provides enough for his family to survive. He is constantly thinking about get rich quick schemes to insure a better life. He doesn’t want to be a poor back man all of his life and wishes that he could fit in with rich whites. He doesn’t realize that people won’t give him the same opportunities, as they would if he were white (Decker). Walter feels that he needs to provide more for his family and starts to ask around on how to make some money. He gets the idea of opening up a liquor store and has his heart set on it. Because he wants to please everybody he loses his better judgment and acts without thinking of the long-term effects. He is ready for a change and feels the store will bring his family a better life (Hyzak). “Mama, a job? I open and close car doors all day long. I drive a man around in his Limousine and say, Yes, sir; no, sir; very good sir; shall I take the drive, sir? Mama, that ain’t no kind of job ... that ain’t nothing at all” ( Hansberry 1755).
a white man called Bob Ewell was accusing Tom, who is a black man, for
Walter Younger is the biggest dreamer of the family. As the man of the household, he holds the most responsibility since he has to supply for his wife Ruth, son, mother and sister, which is a very demanding task since there are so many people living in such small quarters. His dream is to acquire wealth with his friends in order to support his family, and eventually have enough to give his family a better life and set his son up for a successful life. Throughout the movie, he focuses on quick fixes to any situation that arises. When the neighborhood’s improvement association offers to buy the family out of moving into a white suburb of Chicago, Walter wants to accept the offer because the family needed the money...
At first, Walter starts as a man who does not have many traits and characteristics that a leader in the family should has. He feels frustrated of the fact that his mother can potentially support his sister, Beneatha, in her education career. Walter complains and feels depressed about his current life when he has many aspects that not many African men had during his time. Walter has a happy family, a loving wife, and an acceptable occupation. Unfortunately, Walter wants more in his life, and he feels hopeless and depressed when something does not go in his ways. Walter starts to change when he experiences and learns Willis’s betrayal, his father’s hard work, his son’s dream of becoming a bus driver, and his mother’s explanation about the Africans’ pride. Through many difficulties, Walter becomes the man of the family, and he learns the importance of accepting and living a happy life with his family. Like Walter, many African men had to overcome the challenges and obstacles. They had to face and endure through racism. These two ideas often led to many tragic and depressed incidents such as unequal opportunities, inequality treatments, segregation, and
A big aspect of these two families that tells a lot about there personalities is there overall appearances. Walter Cunningham’s display is tidy and very clean. This fact is shown when Scout notices Walter in her new classroom and how he looks on his first day. “He did have on a clean and neatly mended overalls.”(19). His appearance shows how the Cunningham’s try hard not to look like beggars. Unlike the Cunningham’s, Burris Ewell does not dress like he is proud at all. In fact he does not care if he looked like a smelly, filthy rat. When Scout sees him...
In her first school year, Scout has no respect for anyone different from her. An example of this is her treatment of Walter Cunningham, which is heedless at best and merciless at worst: after an explanation of Walter’s habits lands her in trouble with Miss Caroline, she finds him in the schoolyard later and attacks him. After Jem invites Walter to dinner, Scout shows scorn for Walter’s revived dignity, commenting, “By the time we reached our front steps Walter had forgotten he was a Cunningham.” (Lee, 23) She shows marked disapproval for the way he eats, and she decides to eat in the kitchen rather than join Walter and the others at the dinner table. However, as Scout gains experience and maturity, she begins to put aside her differences from others. She becomes friends with Walter, and she asks Aunt Alexandra if she can play with him. Aunt Alexandra appalls Scout with the same prejudice towards the Cunninghams that Scout held two years before: “Jean Louise will not invite Walter Cunningham to this house…Because--he--is--trash, that’s why you can’t play with him. I’ll not have you around him, picking up his habits an...