Walter Cunningham is our first introduction to the hierarchy in Maycomb, in Chapter 2 when Scout has to explain to Miss Caroline about the social classes. This is such an adult theme, yet Scout talks about it as it is part of her everyday life, and nobody gets offended, because they have been brought up to live with labelling.
Practically all of the people in Maycomb county are prejudiced against the black people, but also those who defend them, such as Atticus. In page something, someone calls Atticus a “nigger-lover”. This shows that they are so prejudiced against him for what he is doing in his job, that he is not just somebody who LIKES niggers, but as they say, he LOVES them. This is exaggerating, and it shows that anyone who likes the black people in the slightest is not counted as one of the whites.
Atticus lives in a racist and sexist society, but shares neither prejudice. He respects people of colour; he gives Calpurnia complete discretion in running his house, and defends her when Aunt Alexandra says “something something” (page something). We admire him for this, but as we realise throughout the book, his neighbours outcast him for this, but we admire him even more when he stands up for his own opinion, and appears not to care.
Harper Lee shows us a variety of outcast or “different” people in Maycomb county. The first most obvious one is Boo Radley, the misfit who is misunderstood. This reminds me of other stories with a familiar character: Beauty and the Beast, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Edward Scissorhands or Babe. Boo Radley is seen by other people not as a person, but more as a thing to be feared. The adults’ fears and feelings towards Boo are shown in a more obvious and conspicuous way when Jem, Dill and Scout play games and do things that show they are curious about him. In chapter 1, Scout describes him as a “malevolent phantom” over six feet tall who eats squirrels and cats. The reader probably realizes that there must be more to Boo’s story than these superstitions imply. Scout only understand Atticus’ remark in chapter 3 “…climb into his skin and walk around in it” when she literally stands on the Radley porch. Eventually, Boo will be transformed from a nightmare villain into a human being, and the children’s understanding of him will reflect their own journey toward adulthood.
In the book, Harper Lee also shows the stereotyping of sexes, with Scout and Jem. The stereotype of women is seen as a lot of delicacy, and they seem to be selfish and hypocritical. Scout prefers to be a boy, because she likes to be active. Jem puts some pressure on her to be a boy, such as when he says “something” (page something). The book usually depicts men more favourably, and women are seen to be spiteful in what they say. The reader sympathises with Scout, because like Atticus, she is different, and people (such as Aunt Alexandra, later in the book) dislike her for it. In this way she is an outcast.
In To Kill a Mockingbird, a lot of the labelling and prejudice is on the black people, but Harper Lee endorses the stereotype of “white trash” in the Ewell family. In Maycomb, there is a hierarchy, with the Finches near the top, and the townspeople below them. Then towards the bottom are the Cunninghams, and finally the Ewells. But the black community is below the Ewells, and this is why Bob Ewell makes up for his lack of importance when he persecutes Tom Robinson later on in the book.
Overall, prejudice and labelling is not really as pointed in Part 1 of the book as it is in Part 2, especially during the persecution of Tom Robinson and when the reader is introduced to Mr Dolphus Raymond, we are given more insight into the outcasts of Maycomb. But in Part 1, we are shown how the people in Maycomb were very prejudiced against not only black people, but also outsiders, as they did not conform to what was “normal”, and in the book there are many outsiders in the book whom the reader sympathises with. In Part 1, we learn (especially from Boo Radley) that however strange, mysterious or different a person might be, they always have some good in them, and they are still human, and should be treated equally.
