Arthur Radley Character Analysis

People often make assumptions on a person’s appearance; however, People do not know someone just by their appearances. Arthur Radley is a neighbor of Jem and Scout Finch, the main characters from Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird. Arthur Radley is an excellent example of how looks can be deceiving; he is a victim of town chatter, and Jem and Scout have suspicions over him. Since they have never seen him they wrongly believe he is crazy, however he saves them from their murder. Mr. Radley is just one example of how appearances have no correlation to who someone is. In the beginning of the story, Scout and Jem both compare Arthur Radley to a malevolent phantom. Even going as far to say Mr. Radley scratches on people’s doors, Mrs. Stephanie

Mr. Raymond supposedly deals with being shunned by constantly drinking. As Dill talks to Mr. Raymond scout thinks “Mr. Dolphus raymond was an evil man I accepted his invitation reluctantly, but I followed Dill. Somehow, I didn’t think Atticus would like it if we became friendly with Mr. Raymond, and I knew Aunt Alexandra wouldn’t” (Lee 267). Scout believes that because of his appearance as appearing to be drunk when in town he is an evil man. He later reveals it is only coca-cola to the children. This shocks Scout. He explains “ When I come to town. Which is seldom, if I weave a little and drink out of this sack, folks can say Dolphus Raymond’s in the clutches of whiskey- That’s why he won’t change his ways” (Lee 268). He explains that folks in the town assume that he is in the clutches of whiskey, however this is him giving them an excuse because he likes to converse with the black people in Maycomb. As the society calls for whites to only talk to whites, Mr. Raymond changes his appearance to give the townspeople an excuse. Mr. Raymond knows they only judge him off of his appearance in town, and this allows him to do as he