To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, narrates the life of Scout Finch, a six-year-old girl who lives in Maycomb, Alabama during the 1930s. Over her summer, she and her older brother Jem make friends with Dill, and the party takes an interest in Boo (Arthur) Radley, a man rumored to be locked up in the Radley house by his older brother. They play games about him but are soon confronted by Scout and Jem's father, Atticus, to respect him as they do others. Later, the Finch family is mocked because Atticus, a lawyer, was defending a black man, Tom Robinson, in law. Even though he loses because of the prejudiced views of people in Maycomb, Atticus has hopes that they will overcome their prejudice because a jury member, one of the Cunninghams, hesitates for a good while before declaring Tom guilty. Later, Scout and Jem realize that just like Boo Radley, Tom can also be seen as an innocent mockingbird, who did nothing but good yet get rejected by society.
While a big portion of the community might be too poor to afford basic needs, especially during times of hardship, the Cunninghams pay for their needs in other ways. The Cunninghams use basic items and materials people use in everyday lives in order to pay their debts, as they are too poor to pay with money. For instance, in the novel, the Cunninghams are at their lowest when there is an entailment and they have limited power over their property. In most cases when there’s an entailment, people solve the problem by relying on lawyers and such, in this example, Atticus. “My special knowledge of the Cunningham tribe—one branch, that is—was gained from events of last winter. Walter’s father was one of Atticus’s clients.” (Lee 2). As Scout remembers it, Mr. Cunningham had paid her father Atticus to help them with their entailment, but they were too poor to pay with money. On the other hand, Mr. Cunningham and his family pay back the Finch family by secretly leaving them goods and basic items on their doorsteps. “One morning, Jem and I found a load of stovewood in the backyard. Later, a sack of hickory nuts appeared on the back steps. With Christmas came a crate of smilax and holly. That spring when we found a crokersack full of turnip greens, Atticus said Mr. Cunningham had more than paid him.” (Lee 2). Atticus is also shown to be extremely grateful that the Cunninghams paid him back in different ways, and tells Scout and Jem that they had paid him more than they should have. The Cunninghams were extremely loyal to people in their community and paid their debts in different ways if money was scarce.
While solving the entailment was extremely important for the whole Cunningham family, the Cunninghams avoided being in debt in smaller situations. At the beginning of To Kill a Mockingbird, when Scout starts her first day in school, she meets the new teacher, Miss Caroline, who is new to the town and has yet to be familiar with the many people and families who live in the area. During school, she offers Walter Cunningham, the son of Mr. Cunningham, a quarter to buy lunch, as he forgot to bring his own. However, unlike all the other students who are familiar with the people in their area, Miss Caroline is perplexed when Walter refuses her offer and when Scout tells her that he is a Cunningham. “Walter Cunningham was sitting there lying his head off. He didn’t forget his lunch, he didn’t have any. He had none today nor would he have any tomorrow or the next day. He had probably never seen three-quarters together at the same time in his life.” (Lee 2). Walter didn’t have his lunch because he forgot it, but because he didn’t have any. When Jem invited him to eat dinner with them, he poured syrup over all the foods because he didn’t have access to syrup at his own house. Moreover, since he was a Cunningham, he would never take anything that he couldn’t pay back. “The Cunninghams 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.” (Lee 2). While the Cunninghams manage to pay back closer people such as Atticus in ways other than money, they often try to avoid taking anything from other people if they can’t return it using money.
The Cunninghams also show their loyalty to Atticus and their understanding of moral, rightful values during the trial held against Tom Robinson. Unlike a lot of the people in Maycomb, the Cunninghams weren’t prejudiced against any race. Because he was African American, Tom Robinson was prejudiced by the judge and jury during the trial; while Atticus, Tom’s lawyer, gave evidence that he was innocent, most of the jury immediately declared Tom guilty without listening to Atticus’ findings. However, while trials like these with an “inevitable verdict” would often last several minutes, that trial lasted a few hours, just because one member of the jury, a relative of the Cunninghams, disagreed with the rest of the people in Maycomb. “That jury took a few hours. An inevitable verdict, maybe, but usually it takes ‘em just a few minutes. You might like to know that there was one fellow who took considerable wearing down. … He was one of your Old Sarum friends…” (Lee 23). While in the end, Tom is still declared guilty and sentenced, Atticus tells Scout that there is hope that the people of Maycomb will get over their prejudices because of the situation with the Cunninghams. Atticus says that the Cunninghams are loyal once you earn their loyalty, and says that if there were two Cunninghams in the jury, Tom might have a chance: “Then too, he said, it took a thunderbolt plus another Cunningham to make one of them change his mind. “If we’d had two of that crowd, we’d’ve had a hung jury.” (Lee 23). The Cunninghams are not only loyal to Atticus but also show a form of loyalty to basic morals and virtues.
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, centers on the life of Scout Finch and the many happenings in Maycomb. In the novel, the Cunninghams show their loyalty in many aspects, including in community, morality, and faithfulness in friends and neighbors. While the Cunninghams often try to avoid taking anything they can’t pay back in money, when the need for something is major, the Cunninghams use basic items and materials people use in everyday lives in order to pay their debts. When Atticus helped the Cunninghams with their entailment, they paid back the Finch family by secretly leaving them goods and basic items on their doorsteps. Most times, however, the Cunninghams will reject an offer if they aren’t able to return it; when Miss Caroline offers to borrow Walter three quarters for his lunch money, Walter doesn’t accept it, because he wouldn’t be able to pay it back. In addition, the Cunninghams also show loyalty to Atticus and morals, as they realize that just because Tom Robinson was black, didn’t mean he was always guilty. As a member of the jury, one of the Cunninghams had the trial on for a few hours, even with an inevitable verdict.
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