To Kill a Mockingbird

Chapter 3: Who does Atticus say are not included in the “common folk”? Why are they excluded?

Chapter 3TKAM

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Atticus tells Scout that the Ewells are not included in the common folk, thus, they are allowed certain priviledges in which they are exempt from the law. These exemptions are the only way that "common folk" can be guaranteed the Ewell children will be fed. It is for the sake of the children....

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“Let us leave it at this,” said Atticus dryly. “You, Miss Scout Finch, are of the common folk. You must obey the law.” He said that the Ewells were members of an exclusive society made up of Ewells. In certain circumstances the common folk judiciously allowed them certain privileges by the simple method of becoming blind to some of the Ewells’ activities. They didn’t have to go to school, for one thing. Another thing, Mr. Bob Ewell, Burris’s father, was permitted to hunt and trap out of season.

“Atticus, that’s bad,” I said. In Maycomb County, hunting out of season was a misdemeanor at law, a capital felony in the eyes of the populace.

“It’s against the law, all right,” said my father, “and it’s certainly bad, but when a man spends his relief checks on green whiskey his children have a way of crying from hunger pains. I don’t know of any landowner around here who begrudges those children any game their father can hit.”

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To Kill a Mockingbird