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In the widely known novel To Kill A Mockingbird there are two families that
are very diverse and are text book examples of complete opposites on the moral
ladder of success. The Cunninghams and the Ewells have two very distinct and
opposite reputations. The Cunninghams which are very respected while the
Ewells very much despised. The Ewells are given the privilege to hunt out of
season, so that the residents of the small town of Maycomb would not have to
tolerate their continuous begging twenty-four hours a day for seven days a
week. These two families show the respectability of hard workers or, in the
Ewells case, can fill their peers with sorrow. The Cunninghams have pride, as
for the Ewells, they have a natural like anarchist nature that will eventually
haunt them and hurt others because of their lurid like attitude.
The Cunningham's are very respected by the citizen's of Maycomb county. The
Cunninghams took nothing, unless they could pay it back. Walter the youngest
in the Cunningham clan was in the same class at school as Scout Finch the
daughter of Atticus Finch. While in school, a fresh young new school teacher
known as Miss Caroline did not know the reputations of the predecessors of
these two children. In what looked like a good day for the rookie teacher
quickly turned into complete disarray and a total adversity trip for the
teacher. Walter Cunningham being raised in a very hard working environment was
taught not to take what he could not pay back. The teacher obviously did not
know about his background in the most minute way and embarrassed him
extensively by almost demanding him to take some lunch money. Knowing that he
could not pay Miss Caroline back in the way that she had in mind he knew that
he could take the money which he wanted to take so bad. Walter eventually
ended up eating with the Finch's. While eating at the Finch's he did not know
what to do with all of the food that they have offered to him. For example he
drowned his waffles in a lake of syrup. Bob Ewell's son, Burris was also faced
in the same way but in an total opposite direction and purpose. The same day
as the Walter Cunningham incident there was another incident concerning the
Ewells. Burris had "cooties." A "cootie" came frantically flying out of the
assumed Afro of Burris's hair, and scared the overseer of the class, Miss
Caroline. Miss Caroline quickly demanded that Burris go home and wash and
scrub his hair with Kerosine. Burris coming from what seemed like a broken
home and he had no pride so, he told the teacher off, made her cry, threatened
her, and then left. The Cunninghams are given special privileges. Cunninghams
paid Atticus for some legal work that Atticus did with their farm, they paid
him with food, and other services. The population of Maycomb county excepted
this because they know that the family is very loyal, truthful and extremely
hard working. The Cunningham's would never take anything that they couldn't
payback equally or greater of value. Then their are your slacking, lying,
cootie infested, mooching Ewells. Bob Ewell is a total drunk, he takes what
money he may have earned or stole and drinks it away. Mr. Ewell very rarely or
if ever has bought or cooked his family a hot and total nutritious meal in his
life. The kids would basically shrivel up in the little shack that they live
in and starve, if they did not have the privilege to hunt and eat the food
that they kill.
The Cunninghams were a family of truthfulness, loyalty and able to carry on
great responsibilities. They did not want to hurt anyone, they were grateful
for the people that had helped them on their journey of life. When the
Cunninghams were wrong they admitted it, when they were right they didn't show
it. They had great respect for anyone who walked on the face of the earth. But
as usual the Ewells were just the opposite, they did not tell the truth on a
consistent basis, and it wasted a human life. After the trial of Tom Robinson
versus Mayella Ewell, the Ewells were ashamed because Mayella may have like a
black negro, Bob Ewell caught them in the bedroom kissing and suspected the
worse. He claimed that Tom raped his daughter and then beat her. All of the
bruises were on the right side of Mayella's body, Tom had no left arm. It was
Obvious that Tom did not do it. But the Ewells which were ashamed to admit it,
costing Tom Robinson his life. He was very upset and was disgusted how long it
took for the jury to deliberate. He fought retribution against Atticus's kids
and hurt them coming back from a Halloween party. Bob Ewell could not stand
that his word was barely good enough to overcome a black African American.
The Cunninghams were very much respected by others because they kept their
word, they would do anything to pay you back, they would help you, and never
worry about what was in it for them. The Cunninghams renewed their resources
by doing this, people were glad to help them. As for the Ewells used up their
resources, they scrounged around taking, taking, and taking from others and
used up their resources. People were disgusted when they helped the Ewells.
Both Cunninghams and Ewells had special privileges Cunninghams were able to
pay people back with other things than just the American currency, while the
Ewells were given privileges because people were ashamed of them. Cunninghams
also never had to worry about getting themselves into trouble they never lied
and were very hard workers, the Ewells were liars, and were too ashamed to
stop the slandering of Tom Robinson before it came uncontrollable, costing Tom
his life. This story shows that Hard work is difficult and tough to maintain,
but it will pay off, it maybe easier to beg and mooch like the Ewells but
sooner or later the beggars and moochers have no where to turn, so they lie
and cheat and quickly their life become corrupt, much like the Ewell's.
English Essays
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