Maycomb's Ewell

By; Mike Zhang

There have been few books in modern American literature that have had such a moving and
powerful message as Pulitzer Prize winner To kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The author writes in
the perspective of a older girl named Scout reflecting back on her life in a small town in which Harper
chooses the Ewells as the typical family in the town regarded as dregs of society. To portray the family
and their social status as white trash, the author describes their animal-like behavior using euphemism
and connotative words, and the parallel between the family and their home with analogies.
Harper emphasizes the Ewell family as common occurrence in small town and that no economic
event would change their poverty; Her use of euphemism is apparent as she describes that info
indirectly stating that the Ewells would be guests of the county even either prosperity or depression.
The phrase guests of the county is a notable and innocuous example as guests would usually be
considered welcome, well-respected, and respectful of others. Instead she refers them as living off of
others and welfare and goes in depths by describing their actions of having many children, avoiding
getting an education, and living in poor health and disease-ridden. She uses scientific and implied
words of congenital defects and indigenous to describe the health and problems the children had.
Her descriptions of the family being outcasts and having never-ending children and birth defects are
noted with the fact that the mother of the family is dead is an insightful and indirect way for Harper to
hint that incest is occurring within the Ewells.
In addition to the use of euphemism, Harper incorporates the connotations of words to portray
the actions and status of the Ewells. Her frequent use of the word no followed by something that tries
to help such as truant officers and public health officer gives the impression of apathy towards the
help of others; this shows the lack of attempts by the family to escape their moral poverty despite
multiple attempts by officers. Her use of distinct words to describe the Ewells, specifically offspring,
congenital defects, worms, and indigenous, was deliberate due to the nature of referring the
words to humans. The animal-like connotation to the words signified that society saw them as nothing
more than animals. By using the polar opposite of the typical connotation of home suggesting family
and comfort, Harper emphasizes the contrast between the Ewells and a normal family.
With regards the description of Ewell's home, Harper uses metaphors to describe the place in
society the family are in and their family's structure. The location of their home being not only near the
town garbage dump but behind it states that they are hidden from society; and the home was once a
Negro cabin indicates the Ewells are considered lower in health status compared to the lowest ranked
people in their society. The house's repairs involving crumpled iron and tin cans hammered flat is
metaphor for the pathetic attempts by the family to fix their situation. The deformed shape of the house
and it being rested uneasily upon four irregular lumps reflects off the current situation of the Ewells
in which the children have to live uncomfortably and poorly without having a mother to build the
foundation for the family. Additionally, the description of the windows being merely open spaces in
the walls and the knowledge that the children are uneducated is metaphor for the empty mind of the
children.
The unchangeable desperate and disgusting life of the Ewells evoked by Harper gives a clear
picture on the situation of the lowest-ranked members of society in a small town are. By incorporating
euphemism to describe the family in subtle way and connoting words to suggest an animal-like
behavior, the reader learns that the Ewells are considered scum of the town. The family's house is a
symbol of the family itself with the poor structure signifying the family's lifestyle. Harper creates a
clean picture and distinct insight into who the Ewells are.