One similarity shared between the Cunninghams and Ewells in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird is that they are both uneducated, low class families. They are also both presented as racist families. Other than that, they are mostly presented as character foils, meaning exact opposites.
They are especially presented as character foils because the Cunninghams are very hardworking people, whereas the Ewells have never worked a day in their lives. We know the Cunninghams are hardworking people because Walter Cunningham Sr. goes to Atticus for help about his entailed farmland and, as payment, brings Atticus whatever his poor farm is able to produce during the Great Depression. Scout describes the payments Atticus received from Mr. Cunningham in her following narration:
One morning Jem and I found a load of stovewood in the back yard. Later, a snack of hickory nuts appeared on the back steps. With Christmas came a crate of smilax and holly. That spring we found a crokersack full of turnip greens, Atticus said Mr. Cunningham had more than paid him. (Ch. 3)
Since the Cunninghams are such hardworking people, they are also prideful people, and their pride is demonstrated in their refusal to accept charity, despite being poor.
In contrast, not only have the Ewells never worked a day in their lives, Bob Ewell lives only off of charity in the form of government relief checks, which he mostly spends on alcohol. In addition, while the Cunninghams are respectful people who value loyalty, just as Mr. Cunningham showed loyalty to Atticus by breaking up the lynch mob, Bob Ewell is a generally evil person, so evil he is willing to try to kill innocent children for the sake of revenge.
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