The caste system forces the people of Maycomb to stay within their own caste level. No lower level can move to a higher level, and the higher levels try not to drop. Communication between caste levels is frowned upon, the upper class don’t generally talk with the lower classes. This specific taboo was demonstrated when Scout thought about allowing Walter Cunningham to visit them. Aunt Alexandra told her she would do no such thing, and that Walter was a bad influence (even though scout had been friends with him for quite a while). This ties back into the idea that the caste system of Maycomb is strictly enforced, not by laws, but by taboos. The caste system is organized from the Finches and their class (top), to the blacks, who were ex-slaves …show more content…
She was beaten by her father and Tom ended up being killed. This demonstrates how strict the system can be in Maycomb, there are consequences to breaking this taboo. There was also another man who broke the caste system and became an Outcaste, his name is Dolphus Raymond. He was believed to be the town drunk, when in reality it was just easier to pretend to be drunk than to try to explain his point of view. Mr. Raymond had mixed children; half white, half black, in which his black wife and him made. He became an Outcaste for marrying a black woman, breaking the caste system taboo. His white fiancé committed suicide upon finding out about his black lover, which left him to pretend he was drunk to escape shame. His fiancé killing herself showed that the system was so important to most of the town that she could not live with the thought of marrying a man who broke it. The mixed children became Outcastes too, because there was no place for them in the white community (being half black), or in the black community (being half white). Though, unlike most Outcastes, they had no say in the matter, they were born Outcastes, and could not enter any