The caste system in Maycomb, Alabama is your stereotypical caste. Each family in Maycomb has their own environment in which they live, and are educated. Though living conditions are an important value, the most important thing about each family in the caste is the education in which they receive. The first family, on the top of the caste, are the Finches. The Finches, for a time of economic depression and poverty, are doing fairly well for themselves. Their father, Atticus, sustains a paying job, their kids, Scout and Jeremy, can afford decent clothes, and they are able to send their children to school with the proper materials they need. At this level of the caste, you will find children with clean clothes, nicely groomed, nice manners, a strong vocabulary and grammar usage, and a higher intelligence level due to the education they receive. The second family include the Cunninghams. The Cunninghams consist of Walter Senior, the father, and Walter Junior, the son and Scout’s friend. As …show more content…
The Ewell family consists of Bob, the father, Burris, the son, and Mayella, the daughter. The Ewells are your prime example of a poor, desperate, almost redneck family. In the book, Burris Ewell comes to school with cooties (lice) in his hair, dirt under his nails, dirt on his face, clothes dirty, and generally an absolute mess. This shows that how low they are on the system affects not only affects their hygiene, but their education. It is well known that the Ewells only go to school on the first day, never to return after that. Due to this, Burris shows a strong usage of offensive language and a wide variety of improper grammar due to his lack of education. They are said to live like savages or animals, as they would hunt and eat animals like squirrels when they ran out of food. The Ewell family shows that the lower you go on the caste system, the lower your quality of living becomes and the less amount of education you