KidLit Forum

Prejudice runs also from black towards white. Calpurnia takes the children to her church where she is confronted by Lula who says “I wants to know why you bringin’ white children to nigger church”. The funny part is that children are too innocent to understand racism and Calpurnia’s only worry is “I don’t want anybody sayin’ I don’t look after my children”. She really considers them her children, and the children consider her to be the closest motherly figure they have ever had. But it is all about society: the black community does not have prejudices towards the black, but more like a kind of respect, doubled by the fear they could have problems is mingling with the whites.
Many black citizens of Maycomb could be proud of being superior to some of the whites, when it comes to lifestyle and cleanliness: their houses are small, they are poor, but clean; compared to the Ewells who are dirty. Scout says: “people like the Ewells lived as guests of the county in prosperity as well as in the depths of depression. No truant officers could keep their numerous offspring in school; no public health officer could free them from congenital defects, various worms, and the diseases indigenous to filthy surroundings”