Juxtaposing Burris Ewell and Walter Cunningham

Burris Ewell and Walter Cunningham are similar in many aspects but different in more. Both boys are from poor families who do not live inside the town of Maycomb but outside of the town. Although they are in the same boat when it comes to social class and race, they have different values, attitudes towards other people in their society and ways of handling their financial situations as demonstrated throughout the novel.

One of the first noticeable similarities between the two boys is that both of the boys come from poor white families. We, as the readers, realize that the Ewell’s are a poor family when Atticus Finch speaks of “relief cheques” which refers to cheques that are given to you by the state to reduce your tax burden and provide you with extra funds. We are informed of the Cunningham’s financial status when Scout Finch says: “They don’t have much, but they get along on it.” Both of them struggle in school because they are absent for the majority of the school year and both have repeated the first grade several times due to their truancy. Therefore both Burris and Walter have a lacking education. Burris and Walter dress similarly and are administered to the same ailments, such as ringworm from not wearing shoes due to the lack of funds to buy shoes. Walter’s appearance described as being as neat as possible: “He did have on a clean shirt and neatly wended overalls.” but we are also told that he has an absence of shoes. His appearance is still a step up from Burris’s as Burris is described as Dirty: “He was the filthiest human I had ever seen.”.

One of the first prominent differences between the two boys is their reasons for truancy. In the book, it states that Burris only comes to school on the first day of each school year which is obviously why he is absent so much as well as why his education is lacking: “Been comin’ to the first day o’ first grade fer three years now…”. This quote also tells us that he has yet to pass the first grade due to his absence and it clearly expresses his attitude towards school which is that he doesn’t see it as a serious topic and