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Significance Of Scout's First Day In To Kill A Mockingbird

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Charlotte Nowak Mr. Colombo English 1H 2 February 2023 Scout’s First Day of School In Harper Lee’s historical fictional novel To Kill a Mockingbird, the events of Scout’s first day of school implicitly express a commentary on society’s systems by locating fault and misunderstanding in them. On her first day of school, Scout is perplexed and bewildered at the school system failing to accommodate the differences among its students. Differing goals between the Ewells and the school cause Burris Ewell to no longer attend school because it fails to meet his family’s goals, therefore Burris only attends the first day of school and is absent the remainder of the school year. Scout’s first-grade class describes the Ewells as, “they come first day …show more content…

She reckons she’s carried out the law just getting’ their names on the roll and runnin’ ‘em here the first day” (Lee 30). Failing to accommodate Burris Ewell into the school system puzzles Scout because even though she merely questions why Burris only came to the first day of school, Scout is whipped and sent to the corner of the room. When lunch time comes around, another failed accommodation arises in the first-grade class. Walter Cunningham, an extremely poor student, is also in Scout’s class. Self-aware and embarrassed of his financial stature, Walter shows up without a lunch. Miss Caroline gives Walter a quarter to spend in the town and politely asks him to pay her back in return, yet when he refuses this generous offer, Miss Caroline turns to Scout in hopes of finding a reasonable explanation. Scout’s clarification to Miss Caroline about the Cunningham family is, “they never took anything they can’t pay back – no church baskets, and no scrip stamps. They never took anything off of anybody, they get along with what they have. They don’t have much, but they get along on it” (Lee 22). Miss Caroline failing to understand Walter’s financial needs perplexes Scout because she is

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Burris Ewell came to school with “his neck dark gray, the backs of his hands were rusty, and his fingernails were black deep into the quick” (27). But, Walter Cunningham whore a clean shirt and nicely mended overalls. Another way that they are different is their behavior. The Ewells have no respect for others. When Miss Caroline asked Burris to simply go home and wash his hair, he called her a “snot-nosed slut of a teacher” (28).

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