Recently, in my English class, we read the novel To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee. This story is about how a young girl comes to realize a few things about her community. One of the things she learns involves the social classes in her small town. She also learns that because these classes exist some people are treated differently than others. As the young girl, Scout, continues to see this behavior the reader also comes to realize how this segregation influences individuals to discriminate against the lower class. This behavior makes the community single out people like the Ewells and the Cunninghams. We also see how Maycomb’s society influences highly respected people like Alexandra Finch to speak and act impudent. Walter Cunningham Jr. is treated unfairly because of his social class. An example of Walter being treated unfairly would be, “He ain’t company, Cal he’s just a Cunningham” (Lee, 33). In this quote Calpurnia, the Finch’s substitute mother, …show more content…
During the trial scene Mayella Ewell is being questioned, “you must have friends. Who are your friends?’ The witness frowned as if puzzled. ‘Friends?”(Lee, 245). In this scene Atticus asks Mayella for her friends’ names, Mayella replies with confusion. This could be because the Ewells are considered the lowest amongst the whites and because Mayella was born an Ewell she was considered “white trash”. As a result, no one looked to be friends with an Ewell, making Mayella lonely. An example of an Ewell being influenced to discriminate would be when Bob Ewell was testifying, “I seen that black nigger yonder ruttin’ on my Mayella!”(Lee, 231). Bob Ewell was testifying against Tom Robinson in this quote and was able to de-humanized Tom in the few seconds that this statement lasted. Bob failed to use proper pronouns for human and the Term “ruttin’” is usually used to describe animal movement. The Ewells are both victims and the ones performing the