The Cunningham boys hailed from a poor farming family in Old Sarum, and Scout describes them as an "enormous and confusing tribe domiciled in the northern part of the county." The Cunningham boys were known for their rowdy behavior and caused a minor stir throughout the town of Maycomb. They enjoyed drinking whiskey, gambling, attending local dances, and pulling harmless pranks. Arthur "Boo" Radley got involved with the Cunningham boys as a teenager and was present when they locked Mr. Conner, Maycomb's ancient beadle, in the courthouse outhouse.
The Cunningham boys and Boo Radley were charged with disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace, and assault and battery for their prank. The probate judge decided to send the boys to the state industrial school, which provided them with food and decent shelter. The Cunningham boys received the best secondary education in the state, and one of them eventually earned an...
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engineering degree at Auburn.
The irony is that their punishment turned out to benefit them greatly. Unfortunately, Mr. Radley considered the state's industrial school a disgrace and refused to enroll Boo. Instead, Mr. Radley assured the judge that Boo would cause no further trouble and kept him secluded in the house for decades. Essentially, only Boo Radley suffered the consequences, and the Cunninghams reaped the benefits of being sent to the industrial school.
Who were the Cunningham boys in To Kill a Mockingbird, and what is the irony?
In chapter 1, Scout recounts the legend of Boo Radley and tells a story about his interactions with the Cunnigham boys when he was an adolescent. Scout mentions that the Cunningham boys hailed from Old Sarum, which is in the northern part of the county, and were known throughout Maycomb as a reckless bunch of disruptive juveniles. One evening, the Cunningham boys and Boo Radley were out drinking and ended up locking Mr. Conner in the courthouse outhouse. The boys were brought before a probate judge for their actions and charged with disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace, and assault and battery.
The judge decided to send the Cunningham boys to the state industrial school, which was an upstanding institution with outstanding facilities. Ironically, their punishment was the best thing for them and Scout mentions that they received the best secondary education in the state.
Their lives at the state industrial school were actually better than their lives in Old Sarum. Therefore, it is ironic that they benefited from their punishment and the consequences to their actions turned out to be an advantage for them later in life. Tragically, Mr. Radley refused to send Boo to the state industrial school and kept his son inside the house for fifteen consecutive years.