In chapter three of To Kill a Mockingbird, Calpurnia holds a significant amount of power in the Finch household. This chapter is set months before Aunt Alexandra comes to live with the family, so Calpurnia's word is law until that happens. Atticus sits at the top of the household hierarchy, Calpurnia comes in second, Jem is third, and of course, Scout is fourth. However, when Walter Cunningham comes to lunch on the first day of school, he sits higher than Scout on the hierarchy because he is a guest. Due to the code of hospitality, a guest's desires come before anyone who lives in the home. Therefore, when Walter asks for the syrup to drown his vegetables in, Calpurnia gives it to him. Scout is so shocked at Walter's behavior that she vocally questions him at the table. As a result, Calpurnia takes Scout into the kitchen and asserts her teaching authority by saying the following:
"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! Yo' folks might be better'n the Cunninghams but it don't count for nothin' the way you're disgracin' e'em--if you can't act fit to eat at the table you can just set here and eat in the kitchen!" (24-25).
Not only does Calpurnia use her position as the Finch household motherly figure to teach Scout a lesson, but she brings up the Cunninghams and their social position in Maycomb as well. The Cunninghams are poor, white farmers, so they fall beneath the Finches socially, yet they are higher than Calpurnia because she is black.
Another family that has more social power than Calpurnia is the Ewells. Scout meets her first Ewell in chapter three, and she learns that not only are they filthy, but they also have no manners, respect, or self-control. For example, Miss Caroline shrieks when she finds a louse in Burris' hair. Then she is mortified when Burris speaks to her disrespectfully as follows:
"Ain't no snot-nosed slut of a schoolteacher ever born c'n make me do nothing'! You ain't makin' me go nowhere, missus. You just remember that, you ain't makin' me go nowhere!" (28).
Burris gets away with talking to his teacher this way because he is part of the lowest social class in Maycomb. People just leave the Ewells alone because they are so unruly and unmanageable. The irony lies in the fact that Calpurnia is more educated (proven because she taught Scout to write) and more polite than any of the Ewells, but since she is black, she is treated as a second-class citizen even beneath the Ewells.
Therefore, based on characters presented in chapter three, the social hierarchy would look something like this:
1. Atticus Finch, Jem, and Scout (financially stable, white landowner, professional, educated)
2. The Cunninghams (poor, white landowners)
3. Miss Caroline (educated and white)
4. The Ewells (poor, white and uneducated)
5. Calpurnia (educated, black)
As said before, Calpurnia has power and influence over Jem and Scout because she is supported by Atticus in the Finch household. For instance, when Scout attempts to get Calpurnia fired for sternly instructing her about manners during lunch, Atticus tells Scout the following:
"I've no intention of getting rid of her, now or ever. We couldn't operate a single day without Cal, have you ever thought of that? You think about how much Cal does for you, and you mind her, you hear?" (25).
Therefore, Calpurnia has power over Scout in the Finch home, but not so much in Maycomb where she doesn't have any social influence at all. Calpurnia's quality of life is better than that of the Cunninghams and Ewell's, though. She has a steady job and can live independently. However, socially, Calpurnia doesn't have much of a figurative leg to stand on because she is black.
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