Examples Of Caste System In To Kill A Mockingbird

The Maycomb Caste System

In the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee continually presents a theme of social classification. In the community of Maycomb, one's family heritage and skin color are the primary determinates of his social standing. Regardless of his accomplishments or attributes, a longtime white resident automatically joins the ranks of the upper class. This "superior" citizen detests those of no supposed background and despises those with black skin. Hand in hand with racism, this elitism segregates the people of Maycomb into groups of varying social status. Members of the lower class are divided into groups such as the Cunninghams, the Ewells, and the blacks.

The Cunninghams and other hard-working farmers like them comprise one such lower class. People belonging to this class have no noble family heritage and barely manage to survive. Though honest and industrious, citizens like the Cunninghams gain little respect from the upper class individuals. The supposedly elite people of Maycomb see them as backwoods and ignorant. Even Scout shares part of the common distaste for the people of this lower class when she complains, "He ain't company, Cal, he's just a Cunningham" (33). Although the Cunninghams …show more content…
Other residents of Maycomb are abhorred by this family. They live next to the town dump in a dilapidated dwelling. Scouring the piles of trash for anything of use, the Ewells live in a third-world country of their own. The sole parent, Bob, holds no job and spends his relief checks on whiskey instead of food for his family. Even Atticus Finch, a seemingly gracious gentleman, has a strong opinion concerning the them: "Atticus said the Ewells had been the disgrace of Maycomb for three generations. None of them had done an honest day's work in his recollection" (40). Without a doubt, the Ewells lack the respect of their fellow

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Examples Of Caste System In To Kill A Mockingbird