In To Kill a Mockingbird, author Harper Lee condemns characters like Bob Ewell because they are not contributing members of society. Rather, they are society's leeches that contribute nothing but damaging racist hatred.
We learn that the Ewells are not contributing members of society early in the novel when Scout, after being very disappointed with her first day of school, proposes that she can skip out on going to school just like Burris Ewell, son of Bob Ewell. Atticus refutes her idea, saying it is illegal for her not to go to school and pointing out that Maycomb gives people like the Ewells a lot of legal allowances because they are just going to break laws regardless. Atticus continues to describe the Ewells as the "disgrace of Maycomb for three generations" and to explain that "[n]one of them had done an honest day's work in his recollection" (Ch. 3). Instead, the Ewells live off of Bob's relief checks, which he mostly spends on whiskey. Since Bob drinks away all of his money, Maycomb turns a blind eye when he hunts and traps out of season, thinking that allowing him to hunt illegally is better than allowing him to starve all of his children to death. By refusing to work and instead living only off of relief checks, Bob Ewell acts as a leech of society, feeding off of society without contributing.
In contrast to characters like the Ewells, characters like Calpurnia are praised for being important contributors to society. Calpurnia particularly contributes by upholding moral values such as of self-improvement through education and of humility. The fact that Calpurnia is literate and speaks grammatically, unlike many African Americans in Maycomb, testifies to the fact Calpurnia values self-improvement through education. However, despite her advancement over many people of her class, she also has the humility not to show it off. Calpurnia teaches the Finch children a lesson in humility when she explains the following to them on the Sunday they accompany her to the African-American church has her guests:
It's not necessary to tell all you know. It's not ladylike. ... You're not gonna change any of them by talkin' right, they've got to want to learn themselves, and when they don't want to learn there's nothing you can do but keep your mouth shut or talk their language. (Ch. 12)
Since Calpurnia behaves respectfully and humbly in society, plus improves herself through education, we can see that Calpurnia is a contributing member of society, worthy of being praised.
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