Spring Break Assignment March 20th 10:47pm

Prompt #3: Many plays and novels use contrasting places (for example, two countries, two cities or towns, two houses, or the land and the sea) to represent opposed forces or ideas that are central to the meaning of the work. Choose a novel or play that contrasts two such places. Write an essay explaining how the places differ, what each place represents, and how their contrast contributes to the meaning of the work.

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The Contrast of Two households: Abolish Slavery? Or Embrace it?

In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee compares the Finch’s house and the Ewell’s house to represent opposed ideas that are central to the meaning of the work as a whole. In this case the meaning of the work is racism in the south. These two households could not differ more in anything, especially in morals, values, and ethics. The Finch house represents morality and values. The Ewell house represents white trash with no values or morals. Their contrast contributes to the meaning of the work because it reveals the meaning and hurt, pain, and agony of racism in the south.

The Finch house is filled with love and kindness. Mr. Finch is raising the children, Scout and Jem, alone because his wife died many years back. Mr. Finch does receive some parenting help from Calpurnia. Calpurnia, also known as “Cal” is the house maid and babysitter. The children love Cal because she loves and cares for them just like a mother would. Atticus Finch is known for being a very profound man. He picks his side on issues, then takes a strong stand in the issue and doesn’t change his mind. The most important example of his character in the book is when Mr. Finch defends a negro when the rest of his community tells him not to. Mr. Finch’s children are tormented at school because of their father’s role in the Tom Robinson case. The white community in Macomb town is against any support or interaction with African Americans. Mr. Finch and his family are some of the only people in the whole community that aren’t racist.

The Ewell house is filled with abuse of alcohol, sex, and children. Also, it is where the audience sees racism at its highest max. Mayella Ewell accuses Tom Robinson of rape. Tom Robinson is an innocent black man who was just helping Mayella bust a dresser. Tom Robinson represents the mockingbird who is innocent but yet is being discriminated against. Tom Robinson is wanted dead by almost every white person in town except for Mr. Finch. The Ewell family has no education, no money, no morals, no ethics, and no values. They represent the white trash that contributed to the racism that the reader observes in the book. Although the Ewell family weren’t the only racist folks in town, they were the ones that lead Tom Robinson to his death and brought pain to his family.

The Finch house represents the folks who helped dissolve racism. The Ewell family represents the folks who embraced racism. The Finch house stands for and represents the advocates who want to abolish slavery. The Ewell family represents the advocates for whites to keep complete control over the African Americans.

Looking at the different lives of these families reveals the contrast in views of slavery. The Finch family would like to see slavery abolished, while the Ewell family would like to embrace slavery. Through the observations of these two families, the reader can get a full grasp of the meaning of slavery and the pain and suffering behind it. The reader receives an up close and personal account of slavery through the eyes of a middle class white family and a low class white family. Through these accounts, the reader is able to get an understanding of the meaning of slavery and how it affected our country in the 1850s and even how it affects us today!