Another relevant concept from the Western Marxist school is offered by Z. D. Gurevitch, who has argued that “the awareness of others and their differences from us awakens our realization of our own uniqueness.” (Kreyling, 1998, p.46) In this way, To Kill a Mockingbird can be seen as a ‘coming-of-age’ novel which is about the social maturation of Jem and Scout. But this is not a straight forward process, as the two children had to first understand the society in which they live and the members that comprise it. It is by contrasting with the ‘Other’ that individuals arrive at an understanding of themselves. In the case of Scout and Jem they develop their personalities by miming the behavior of other people in their immediate environment. It is likely that they get to interact with people of same social and economic station, thereby adopting a set of norms accepted by the group. For example, Miss Maudie, Uncle Jack, Atticus and Aunt Amexandra are from a background similar to that of Scout and Jem. In contrast, the Others would include Tom Robinson, the Cunningham family, Calpurnia, the Ewell family and Boo Radley. The Others comprise a diverse group, spread across class and race lines. What helps the formation of the identities of Scout and Jem is the interplay between various Others. This dynamic process “establishes for the children the rules of acceptable behavior and interaction with Others and demonstrates the consequences of not adhering to the guidelines of their own group or ‘section’ (as coined by Foucault)”. (Best, 2009, p.544)
Though comparison and contrast are essential to the process of individuation and identity formation, it can so easily lead to stereotyping, bias and prejudice. To Kill a Mockingbird amply demonstrates the negative aspects of identity formation. A clear indication of this tendency is the usage of derogatory terms for blacks. A Marxist critical analysis of the novel leads to evidence of class divisions even among the whites. While the jury represents the white bourgeoisie, the Ewell family is distinctly from the lower rungs. This is evidenced from the dysfunctional family dynamics and the lack of integrity among its members. For example, Mr. Ewell exercises no scruples when he plainly accuses Tom Robinson for the injuries sustained by his daughter, when in fact it was he who was guilty. The Ewells and their lot represent
“the mass of southern poor whites from which they came, and they are the causes of racism in southern cultural practices. In To Kill a Mockingbird, they petition Atticus Finch for permission to lynch Tom Robinson. They are turned away, departing sheepishly, by Atticus’s stern refusal and Scout’s innocent conversation. The “invention” at work here is that the race hatred virulent enough to result in lynching flows from the lower southern classes, not from the bourgeoisie or the gentry.” (Kreyling, 1998, p.176)
What Harper Lee is also implying is how whites do not hold any moral high ground for justifying their prejudices against blacks. For example, the shoddy moral standards of the Ewells underscore this point. Just as blacks were referred to in derogatory terms, the white underclass was also treated with contempt. Though racism, especially that virulent manifestation witnessed in the American South, is the central issue in the novel, the class divisions are as acute. Alongside the gross injustice meted out to Tom Robinson, the other victim in the story is Boo Radley who is white. Right from the beginning of the story, Boo is much abused, misunderstood and maligned that he hardly leaves his house. Boo is as discriminated against as Tom is. Both are innocents in a society that rejects, even punishes, those who are different. While Scout denies these distinctions, she lives in a world clearly divided along class lines. Though they are both part of the white working class, Lee distinguishes between the Cunninghams and the Ewells based on their ambition to reach bourgeois status—or, “the degree to which they accommodate themselves to the hegemony of the dominant class”. (Singley, 2002, p.186) Likewise, the young Walter Cunningham prefers to starve than to borrow money from the teacher that he knows he cannot pay back. Mr. Cunningham
“diligently pays back his legal debt to Atticus Finch through subsistence crops from his farm. Although Mr. Cunningham is a member of Tom Robinson’s potential lynch mob, he politely retreats when faced by Scout’s authentic moral presence. In contrast, the Ewells place no value on education, showing up the first day and never coming to school again. Mr. Ewell breaks the law by hunting out of season, and Mayella Ewell breaks the fundamental code of middle-class southern womanhood by desiring the black body of Tom Robinson.” (Singley, 2002, p.186)