A poor boy in Scout’s first-grade class. Scout notes that Walter’s family is extremely poor, with no food or extra money to spare, hence why he comes to school on the first day without shoes or a lunch. Despite this, in contrast to the Ewells, Walter is clean and wears clean clothes. Scout blames him for souring her relationship with Miss Caroline.
Walter Cunningham Quotes in To Kill a Mockingbird
The To Kill a Mockingbird quotes below are all either spoken by Walter Cunningham or refer to Walter Cunningham. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 3
Quotes
“There's some folks who don't eat like us," she whispered fiercely, "but you ain't called on to contradict 'em at the table when they don't. That boy's yo' comp'ny and if he wants to eat up the table cloth you let him, you hear?”
“He ain't company, Cal, he's just a Cunningham—“
“Hush your mouth! Don't matter who they are, anybody sets foot in this house's yo' comp'ny, and don't you let me catch you remarkin' on their ways like you was so high and mighty!”
Related Characters:
Jean Louise Finch (Scout) (speaker), Calpurnia (speaker), Walter Cunningham
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
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Walter Cunningham Character Timeline in To Kill a Mockingbird
The timeline below shows where the character Walter Cunningham appears in To Kill a Mockingbird. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2
...stock of who will go home to eat and who brought lunch. She notices that Walter Cunningham isn’t going home and doesn’t have a lunch. Walter quietly agrees that he forgot...
(full context)
...able to explain this as well as Atticus, Scout tells Miss Caroline that she’s shaming Walter since he can’t pay her back. Miss Caroline hauls Scout to the front of the...
(full context)
Chapter 3
Scout finds and beats Walter in the schoolyard until Jem pulls her off. She explains the situation to Jem, who...
(full context)
Chapter 15
...for a friendly face and recognizes Mr. Cunningham. She asks about his entailment and about Walter, which makes him look uncomfortable. Remembering Atticus’s advice to talk to people about what they’re...
(full context)
Chapter 16
...can be stopped, simply because they’re still human.” Scout declares that she’s going to beat Walter up on the first day of school, which Atticus forbids. He leaves for work and...
(full context)
Chapter 23
Scout feels good about defending Walter at school and declares that she’s going to invite Walter for dinner sometime. Aunt Alexandra...
(full context)
...asks if Scout would start sewing. Scout insists that she’s upset that Aunt Alexandra called Walter trash, not about being a lady. Jem proposes that there are four kinds of people...
(full context)
...has been literate. Scout points out that nobody is born knowing things and notes that Walter is smart, he just misses school to help on the farm. She thinks that people...
(full context)
