Every town all over the world has different classes within the community; some are rich, some are poor, some have a better reputation than others. Whether you’re working in an office building and have the highest education or you’re working at the local McDonalds and earn 5$ an hour, everyone is important making a working community. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee however, the different classes are not treated equally and because it is in the 1930’s, there is also a race issue.
The Cunningham’s have a good reputation although they are really poor the citizens of Maycomb respect them for who they are, as Scout describes The Cunningham’s never took anything they can’t pay back- no church baskets and no scrip stamps. They never took anything off of anybody; they get along on what they have. They don’t have much, but they get along on it” (Lee 20). People mostly leave them alone. Dolphus Raymond is a white man married to an African American woman and everyone just leaves him alone.
Dolphus Raymond explains to the two kids “I try to give’em a reason you see. When I come to town, which is seldom, if I weave a little and drink out of this sack, folks can say Dolphus Raymond’s in the clutches of whiskey – that’s why he won’t change his ways. He simply can’t help himself, that’s why he lives the way he does” (Lee 228). Dolphus Raymond is considered a low part of the community, because he is married and had kids with an African American woman, yet he is a “class” higher than African Americans because he is white.
The Finches, the main characters of the book, is a very well respected white family in the community, and most likely one of the wealthiest too. The Finches also have a long family history in town, back to one of the oldest in Maycomb. They are also looked upon a little different because Mr. Finch, the father to the two children in the book defends Tom Robinson an African American against a white man for raping his daughter. The children also experience some sort of racism at school because their dad does what he does.
Tom Robinson, a well working African American, and works so much to keep food on the table for his family, is well respected throughout the community. He obeys the laws and pays his bills, but his word can not be taken over a white man such as Mr. Ewell; the poorest white man in the ommunity, with little over half a dozen children, living in a dump. In the book, there is a testimony about Tom Robinson raping Mr. Ewell’s daughter, Mayella. Everyone in town knows that Mr. Ewell is lying, and that he made it up, but Tom Robinson is convicted guilty because he is African American and Mr. Ewell is white. It was proven that Tom Robinson did not rape Mayella, and even though Tom Robinson had a better reputation, worked well, and cared well for his family and others, even the poorest white man with the worst reputation, had the word over a black man’s in the 1930’s. Mr. Finch made it clear that the Jury thought about saying he was innocent “That Jury took a few hours.
An evitable verdict, maybe, but usually it takes’em just a few minutes” (Lee, 253) All the characters in the classes have an important role in the book, some more than others. In Maycomb, Alabama, these people are all important to each other and they mostly help each other. Some like to be left alone, while others enjoy being in company. The fact is that the most poor, lying, white man could send an African American that has done nothing and is actually proven so, to jail, because it is a white man saying so, is true acism can be in a little town like Maycomb, where everyone knows each other.
Even today’s day there is racism in communities, not so much because of skin color, but their class, and their reputation. But without different classes, a community wouldn’t exist. They are both important. In To Kill a Mockingbird the people are looked down upon if they are an African American, but if they are poor but have a good reputation, such as the Cunninghams, they will get along fine, but if they have a bad reputation such as the Ewells, they might not receive any help from any neighbors.
