An Analysis Of Burris Ewells In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

Jem and Scout, throughout “To Kill A Mockingbird,” learn to consider things from other people’s perspectives. Atticus, Jem and Scout’s father, says “you never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view – until you climb into his skin and walk around in” (Lee 39). They learn this through experiences with their neighbor Boo Radley as they mature beyond their years. At the beginning of the novel, Jem and Scout make fun of Boo and assume that all of the rumors going around about him are true. However, later on in the story the children grow an admiration for Boo and learn to understand him. As they matured, Jem and Scout naturally learned many life lessons of appreciation, respect, and courage

1. (56-59) Scout admires Ms. Maudie because she’s honest and kind to them, even though they are just children. On page 59, Harper Lee writes, “She had never told on us, had never played cat-and-mouse with us, she was not at all interested in out private lives. She was our friend.”

They are, and have been, the rudest and most disrespectful family in Maycomb for three generations. An example of this would be Burris Ewell. When attending class on the first day, he frightens the teacher with his state of uncleanliness. Scout even states that he, “was the filthiest human I had ever seen…His neck was dark gray… his fingernails were black” (Lee 29). When the teacher tries to send him home to clean up, Burris meanly tells her that this is the one and only day that he is ever going to come to school, leaving her distraught and in tears. In addition to talking back, Burris and his family resist going to school. They only go on the first day because the truant lady threatens to report them to the police. The whole family seems to follow their own set of rules instead of society. Their dad, Bob Ewell, hunts in the winter, which is against the law, and gets away with it because his kids would starve otherwise. In addition, the Ewell family doesn’t have a mother to set them right, which is mostly why Burris and all of his siblings only show up for the first day of school, the rest of the year is spent “Living like animals” (Lee 33). I must say that I agree with Atticus when he says, “the Ewells had been the disgrace of Maycomb for three generations” (Lee 33). The family has been judged poorly by society for reasons such as disrespectfulness, and discourtesy to

I selected this book because its the best book I have ever read. I read To Kill A Mockingbird last year and my class wrote an essay about this book, since I already know so much about this book I thought it would be a nice and quick read. I thought it would be a great enjoyment to refresh my memory of this epic book. I watched the movie soon after I read the whole book and it was very fun to pick out the not-placed and wrong-worded parts of the movie. To Kill A Mockingbird is about a sister, brother, and their friend Dill finding items in their neighbors tree, soon after this their father was the lawyer of a case on an african american.

“But remember, it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." (119) The mockingbird represents the symbol of pure innocence and beauty in the book, while the bluejay represents the vicious and the ruthless of society. "People generally see what they look for, and hear what they listen for..."(232) This quote represents how people view mockingbirds and blue jays. Although there are many shameless ‘mockingbirds’ the two that stand out the most are, of course, Tom Robinson and Boo Radley. Unlike the several ‘mockingbird’ characters, there is one clear blue jay, which is Bob Ewell. Representing the symbol of the mockingbird, Tom Robinson and Boo Radley are significantly impacted by Bob Ewell, the symbolic bluejay.

Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird shows us how one small, peaceful, southern town during the Great Depression can be engulfed in hatred, racism, and prejudice unseen by the outside world. In this seemingly quiet town in the middle of Alabama, people are forced to live by racist ideals that their families have carried on for generations. Although the citizens of Maycomb believe they are right and just, their prejudices overtake their human conscious when the time comes for them ‘to do the right thing.’ They truly believe that they are a kind community of Christians who live by the words of the Bible. While Maycomb includes all folks who think the same way as they do, they ban those who think differently or are from an ‘inferior’ race. Therefore, Boo Radley, Dolphus Raymond, and Mayella Ewell stand outside the structure of respectable Maycomb society, in some cases as the result of their own doing and in some, as the result of being forced out by others.

People like the Finch’s are part of the highest social class because Atticus is a respected lawyer and they are white. Then there are people like the Ewells and Cunninghams. Even though they are white, they aren’t treated as well as people like Scout because they are poor and considered “trash” by some. Jem states that there are “four kinds of folks in this world. There’s ordinary kind like us and the neighbors, there’s the kind like the Cunninghams out in the woods, the kind like the Ewells down at the dump, and the negroes” (302). Jem, who is young and immature, sees the clear demarcations of people in his society. It is unjust and ignorant to judge someone based upon how much money they make or what social order they fall under. Some do deserve to be disliked as such as the Ewells, who have committed wrong acts, but even they are victims of the class system. Specifically Mayella, whose family is considered as the disgrace of Maycomb even though she had nothing to do with that assessment and was isolated from the rest of the world. Because of this, she tries to find comfort with Tom and this caused the whole trial situation to be created by deeply rooted ignorance in Maycomb. The people are ignorant towards the qualities of people like the Ewells because they fall under a certain social class which creates more problems and

I am reading “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee and I am currently on page 35. This classic novel is about Jean Louise Finch, a 6-year-old little girl that is usually addressed by her nickname Scout, and her adventures with her family and friends in the miniature city of Honeycomb, Alabama. The story takes place during the times of the Great Depression. A 10 year period in the history of the United States in which the country was in a state of economic instability after the Great Crash of 1929. In the novel Scout has several family members excluding her dead mother that include Jem Finch, her 10-year-old brother in the fifth grade and Atticus Finch, her father which has an occupation of being a lawyer. In addition, Calpurnia is the Finch’s

In the Story there are many different "social classes" according to the characters. One evening Scout petitions Atticus to not make her go to school the next day. Atticus explained to Scout that she must go because it is the law. Scout complains that Burris Ewell does not have to go to school. This is when Atticus explains that Scout and Burris Ewell are not in the same social class. "You, Miss Scout Finch, are of the common folk. You must obey the law. He said that the Ewells were members of an exclusive society made up of Ewell 's."

Based on his actions everyone in Maycomb shows prejudice. They show incorrect attitude towards him based on his social group. Since he doesn't like hanging out with white people, he hangs out with African American which only makes him more of a target. This shows social prejudice, because not only his he being discriminated, but also his children. When Jem and Scout were talking they said,”They don’t belong anywhere. Colored folks won't have ‘em because they're half white;white folks won't have ‘em ‘cause they're colored, so they're just inbetweens, don't belong anywhere”(215). The town of Maycomb judges him and shows incorrect attitude because of the class that he hangs out with which is African American and shows social prejudice in the novel. Furthermore, another considerable example that displays social prejudice is the character Miss. Caroline Fisher. Miss. Caroline is Scout's first grade teacher and is new to the fictional town of Maycomb. Miss Caroline's youth, good looks, make-up, fancy clothes, and new educational ideas sets her apart from everyone else in the town. Some readers call her an outsider, since she is originally from Northern Alabama. Since she is an outsider, she does not know anything

To begin with, conformity, as it is present in the southern United States due to a poor system of education, has resulted in the makings of a more racist environment. In the south, there was previously and is currently an education deficiency. In Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird”, the narrator Jean Louise “Scout” Finch begins to realize the uprising of a more racist society beginning in the late 1930s and early 1940s. As the contagion spreads, Scout reaches the age at which she must attend school to receive an education herself. On the first day of Scout’s academic career, a young boy named Burris Ewell leaves class for the rest of the year. He claims, “Been comin’ to the first day o’ the first grade for three year now” (Lee, 36). However, according to one of Scout’s classmates, “The truant lady gets ‘em ‘cause she threatens ‘em with the sheriff, but she’s give up tryin’ to hold ‘em. She reckons she’s carried out the law just gettin’ their names on the role and runnin’ ‘em here the first day. You’re supposed to mark ‘em absent for the rest of the year” (Lee, 36). The setting of “To Kill a Mockingbird”, although it is a fictional place, is

Class and family history is an important part of tradition to many of the people in Maycomb. When Aunt Alexandra comes to visit, she feels it her duty to impress upon Scout the importance of her roots. Aunt Alexandra forces Atticus to explain to Scout that she is "not from run-of-the-mill people, [but] the product of several generations' gentle breeding"(p.133). Aunt Alexandra feels that people are born into a certain class, and should, therefore, behave accordingly. If you are born into a high class, you will always be considered high class, and if you are born into a low class, there is no use to strive for anything higher. The result is that families are repeated in each generation with similar attitudes and character shadings. The objective is obviously to refine the classes and keep them pure. Aunt Alexandra and many other men and women in Maycomb praise the distinction of class. To them, having high blood is seen as sacred and there

The Ewells’s are a family who do not have parents. Burris Ewell was in Scout’s class and he scraed the teahcer to death. He is very , very dirty. He smells because he does not shower and deos not want too. The teachers also thought that he was an animal. He also looks gross. His neck was gray all they way up to his hair, which was infested with lice bugs. He and siblings were also very poor. They do not have parents so they do not have a house and he lives with his siblings wherever they can find to sleep.And he and siblings only go to the first day of school because thats all they can do. They are also poor because they live in Maycomb. Maycomb does nat have very many jobs to offer, and especially to a dirty Ewell. And if you are lucky enough

Social class in Maycomb County is mostly based on someone’s economic status. People tend to be very disrespectful towards the lower class. For example, Jem invites a kid, belonging to a poor family, the Cunninghams, after Scout beats him up at school. Later at lunch, Scout makes fun of the way he eats. Calpurnia, the family’s maid, calls her.”"There's some folks who don't eat like us," she whispered fiercely, "but you ain't called on to contradict 'em at the table when they don't. That boy's yo' comp'ny and if he wants to eat up the tablecloth you let him, you hear?" "He ain't company, Cal, he's just a Cunningham"” (lee 33).What Scout was stating in this quote, is that he is a Cunningham and he is a part of the “lower-class” society. He is inferior to them, the Finches.

Harper Lee is best known for writing the Pulitzer Prize-winning bestseller To Kill a Mockingbird. The novel takes place during the depression in Alabama with the main character, Scout, viewing her lawyer father, Atticus, defending a wrongly accused black man of rape. The reader gets to understand Scout’s childhood view of this controversial situation. Scout’s character in to Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is really the author’s own life playing out in the novel, which is most likely why this novel is thought to be one of the best American Novels of the 20th century.