The Ewells- Socioeconomic Comparison
Harper Lee invests a large portion of her novel in the exploration of social inequality. The hierarchal structure in the south in the 1930s was not only rigid and complex, but it was, in some ways, imprisoning- much like a birdcage. It was nearly impossible to break free of one hierarchal level and achieve upward mobility. An important fact to consider was the recent stock market crash that would have caused changes social positions in hierarchy structures in a town even as small as Maycomb.
There are five socio-economic levels in Lee’s novel:
Upper level- this stratum is made up of “good” families. Atticus’s education and their employment of Calpurnia are just two traits that demonstrate that it is to this level that the Finchs belong.
Middle level- this strata contains the townspeople who are well off but are not in a position to have hired help. Their status as a “good” family is arguable.
Low level- country farmers are situated below the townspeople. These farmers are typically struggling to get by and often go without necessities but they have a strong sense of pride. Their sense of responsibility is tempered by their bigotry.
Below low- near the very bottom of the hierarchy are the “white trash” whites. The Ewells fit squarely into this stratum. Lee characterizes the Ewells as ignorant, bigoted, drunken and lawless.
Basement level- despite the obvious admirable characteristics of the black community. The lowest strata in the hierarchy is reserved for them. The injustice that Tom Robinson is dealt at the instigation of Bob and Mayella Ewell is a clearest examples of social injustice in the book.
Reflect on how the Ewells, who represent the "below low" level Southern poor in To Kill A Mockingbird, are treated by Harper Lee. Here are some questions to consider:
There are five socio-economic levels in Lee’s novel:
Upper level- this stratum is made up of “good” families. Atticus’s education and their employment of Calpurnia are just two traits that demonstrate that it is to this level that the Finchs belong.
Middle level- this strata contains the townspeople who are well off but are not in a position to have hired help. Their status as a “good” family is arguable.
Low level- country farmers are situated below the townspeople. These farmers are typically struggling to get by and often go without necessities but they have a strong sense of pride. Their sense of responsibility is tempered by their bigotry.
Below low- near the very bottom of the hierarchy are the “white trash” whites. The Ewells fit squarely into this stratum. Lee characterizes the Ewells as ignorant, bigoted, drunken and lawless.
Basement level- despite the obvious admirable characteristics of the black community. The lowest strata in the hierarchy is reserved for them. The injustice that Tom Robinson is dealt at the instigation of Bob and Mayella Ewell is a clearest examples of social injustice in the book.
Reflect on how the Ewells, who represent the "below low" level Southern poor in To Kill A Mockingbird, are treated by Harper Lee. Here are some questions to consider:
- Despite their status level how does the Ewell family act in terms of respectability?
- Does Bob Ewell act the way that he does because of his social status, or is his social status a result of his actions?
- In light of this complex social hierarchy, what are your thoughts on the motivation for Bob Are Bob and Mayella Ewell victims? If so, in what way?
Your assignment will be to create a comparison of social inequality in To Kill A Mockingbird. Here are the requirements for this assignment:
Address all of the following points:
For perspective, please read the following two other samples of writing about low socio-economic groups: God's Little Acre by Erskine Caldwell and Wash by William Faulkner. Note that both of these stories were written around the time that To Kill A Mockingbird is set, not when it was written (1960).
Address all of the following points:
- Select three characters, compare their socio-economic status in Maycomb, and give specific textual examples that situate each character in their socio-economic group
- How does each of the three characters that you selected participate in the local economy? Make sure to compare the following:
- What is their primary source of income?
- How marketable are their services?
- Can you suggest any ways that your character could elevate their economic status?
- In terms of fairness how does Lee treat the Ewells, the Robinsons, and the Finchs?
- Can you note any word choice that seems to indicate Lee's dislike or appreciation for any particular social stratum?
For perspective, please read the following two other samples of writing about low socio-economic groups: God's Little Acre by Erskine Caldwell and Wash by William Faulkner. Note that both of these stories were written around the time that To Kill A Mockingbird is set, not when it was written (1960).
God’s Little Acre
By Erskine Caldwell
(New York: Grossett and Dunlap, 1932)
The Lesters stood around in the yard and on the front porch waiting to see what Lov was going to do next: There had been very little in the house again that day to eat; some salty soup that Ada had made by boiling several fatback rinds in a pan of water, and corn bread, was all there was when they had sat down to eat.
The three-room house sat precariously on stacks of thin lime-rock chips…The centre of the buliding sagged between the sills; the front porch had sagged loose from the house, and was now a foot lower that it originally was…Most of the shingles had rotted, and after every windstorm pieces of them were scattered in all directions about the yard. When the roof leaked, the lesters moved from one corner of the room to another.
By Erskine Caldwell
(New York: Grossett and Dunlap, 1932)
The Lesters stood around in the yard and on the front porch waiting to see what Lov was going to do next: There had been very little in the house again that day to eat; some salty soup that Ada had made by boiling several fatback rinds in a pan of water, and corn bread, was all there was when they had sat down to eat.
The three-room house sat precariously on stacks of thin lime-rock chips…The centre of the buliding sagged between the sills; the front porch had sagged loose from the house, and was now a foot lower that it originally was…Most of the shingles had rotted, and after every windstorm pieces of them were scattered in all directions about the yard. When the roof leaked, the lesters moved from one corner of the room to another.
Wash
William Faulkner
(New York: Viking Press, 1946)
[Wash’s] sole connection with Sutpen plantation lay in the fact that for years no the Colner Sutpen had allowed him to squat in a crazy shack on a slough in the river bottom on the Sutpen place, which Sutpen had built for a fishing lodge in his bachelor days and which had since fallen in dilapidation from disuse, so that now it looked like an aged or sick wild beast crawled terrifically there to drink in the act of dying.
[Wash’s claim to one and all that he can’t fight in the Civil war because he has to stay behind to look after the plantation owner’s affairs causes even the slaves to deride him, because everyone looks down on Wash.]
The Sutpen slaves themselves heard of his statement. They laughed. It was not the first time they had laughed at him, calling him white trash behind his back. They began to ask him themselves in groups, meeting him in the faint road which led up from the slough and the old fish camp, “Why ain’t you at de war, white man?”
[The slaves, who are allowed in the Colonel’s house, stop Wash when he tries to enter it in the Colonel’s absence.] This time it was a house servant, one of the few Negroes who remained; this time the Negress had to retreat up the kitchen steps, where she turned. “Stop right dar, white man. Stop right whar you is. You ain’t never crossed dese steps whilst Cunnel is here and you aint ghy’ do hit now.”
[After the old Colonel returns, he get’s Wash’s fifteen-year-old grand-daughter pregnant, giving Wash to understand that he will “do right” by her. Instead, the Colonel says to Wash’s granddaughter after the birth of his son that if she was a mare she could have a decent stall in the stable. Wash, realizing the Colonel’s callousness and betrayal, kills him. And as he waits for the Colonel’s friends to come and get him, he contemplates his revelation about this man whom he had always idolized.]
What need has a fellow like Wash Jones to question or doubt the man that General lee himself says in a handwrote ticket that he was brave? “Brave,” he thought. “Better if nara one of them had never rid back home in ‘65”; thinking Better if his kind and mine too had never drawn the breath of life on this earth. Better that all who remain of us to be blasted from the face of earth than that another Wash jones should see his whole life shredded from him and shrivel away like a dried shuck thrown onto the fire.
William Faulkner
(New York: Viking Press, 1946)
[Wash’s] sole connection with Sutpen plantation lay in the fact that for years no the Colner Sutpen had allowed him to squat in a crazy shack on a slough in the river bottom on the Sutpen place, which Sutpen had built for a fishing lodge in his bachelor days and which had since fallen in dilapidation from disuse, so that now it looked like an aged or sick wild beast crawled terrifically there to drink in the act of dying.
[Wash’s claim to one and all that he can’t fight in the Civil war because he has to stay behind to look after the plantation owner’s affairs causes even the slaves to deride him, because everyone looks down on Wash.]
The Sutpen slaves themselves heard of his statement. They laughed. It was not the first time they had laughed at him, calling him white trash behind his back. They began to ask him themselves in groups, meeting him in the faint road which led up from the slough and the old fish camp, “Why ain’t you at de war, white man?”
[The slaves, who are allowed in the Colonel’s house, stop Wash when he tries to enter it in the Colonel’s absence.] This time it was a house servant, one of the few Negroes who remained; this time the Negress had to retreat up the kitchen steps, where she turned. “Stop right dar, white man. Stop right whar you is. You ain’t never crossed dese steps whilst Cunnel is here and you aint ghy’ do hit now.”
[After the old Colonel returns, he get’s Wash’s fifteen-year-old grand-daughter pregnant, giving Wash to understand that he will “do right” by her. Instead, the Colonel says to Wash’s granddaughter after the birth of his son that if she was a mare she could have a decent stall in the stable. Wash, realizing the Colonel’s callousness and betrayal, kills him. And as he waits for the Colonel’s friends to come and get him, he contemplates his revelation about this man whom he had always idolized.]
What need has a fellow like Wash Jones to question or doubt the man that General lee himself says in a handwrote ticket that he was brave? “Brave,” he thought. “Better if nara one of them had never rid back home in ‘65”; thinking Better if his kind and mine too had never drawn the breath of life on this earth. Better that all who remain of us to be blasted from the face of earth than that another Wash jones should see his whole life shredded from him and shrivel away like a dried shuck thrown onto the fire.