Who Is Burris Ewell In To Kill A Mockingbird

Superior Essays
In the book To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee the place in focus is a town called Maycomb. The narrative of the book is divided between the world of oblivious children who are new to the world and its injustices and the adults who know of the world and its harshness. Important characters in the book are the children and their parents. For example Scout Finch daughter of Atticus Finch, Burris Ewell, son of Bob Ewell, and Walter Cunningham Jr, son of Walter Cunningham. Atticus is an intelligent lawyer who is kind to all people, calm, and represents a black man in a court case . Scout is friendly, smart and new to the world. Bob and Burris Ewell are both rude, uneducated, and can be represented as antagonists. The Cunninghams are poor farmers …show more content…
Evidence of this is when his teacher Ms.Caroline, talks to Burris“The boy stood up. He was the filthiest human I had ever seen.”(p35). This shows that he is filthy and does not clean himself often or at all, like his father, as the Scout describes when observing a court case: “In Maycomb County, it was easy to tell when someone bathed regularly, as opposed to yearly lavations: Mr. Ewell had a scalded look; as if an overnight soaking had deprived him of protective layers of dirt”(p239). The quote shows that he is usually very unclean and usually covered in layers of dirt, and only takes “yearly lavations” (meaning that he bathes yearly as opposed to often). And this is also a trait that Burris has as well, as Scout described him as “the filthiest human” she had ever seen. That is similar to his father Bob Ewell who is typically very unclean. Further evidence that Burris Ewell has gained traits from his father Bob Ewell, is Scout depicting Burris: “The boy laughed rudely”(p35). This quote is when a boy called Burris Ewell laughed at his teacher Ms. Caroline for telling him to bathe the next day. In short Burris is rude and does rude things like his father. Evidence that his father does rude things is when Bob confronted Atticus after Atticus’s court case, “Mr. Bob Ewell stopped Atticus on the post office corner, spat in his face, and told him he’d get him if it took the rest of his …show more content…
Evidence of this is that Scout doesn't think that black people are despicable people, like Atticus. A quote from the book that shows this is where Scout is talking to Calpurnia “ ‘Cal, can I come to see you sometimes?’ She looked down at me. ‘See me, honey? You see me every day.’ ‘Out to your house’, I said. ‘Sometimes after work?’ ”(167). This shows that Scout likes Calpurnia and that she doesn't think that black people are despicable. This is because she wants to see her when she is at her home. And at Calpurnia’s house there is going to be other black people and if she thought black people were bad than she wouldn't go over to Calpurnia’s house she would just ask her to stay at her house to talk. A quote that shows that Atticus shares this trait as well is when Scout questions Atticus about his choices “ ‘Do you defend niggers, Atticus?’ I asked him that evening. ‘Of course I do. Don’t say nigger, Scout. That’s common.’ ”(p99-100) This shows that Atticus cares for black people and dislikes people who degrade them. This is because if he didn’t respect black people then he would let Scout use derogatory terms for, but instead he told her to be more respectful as saying nigger is for the lower class, people who are typically “unsavory” and not someone you would want to be. Which shows that he thinks that black people are not bad people because he wants

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