Like every young girl, Scout Finch must learn how to navigate through the world and find who she is. With the help of some unexpected acquaintances and mature encounters, she ends up finding herself at a younger age than most. Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird is narrated by the seven year old, Scout Finch. Her young age provides pros and cons to us as readers.
Have you ever been judged just because of your actions? Well if you have then you can relate to Dolphus Raymond. In this passage of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the literary elements of irony, symbol and the character of Dolphus Raymond help convey the theme that people have the right to live life the way they choose to live it, and if people wish to criticize you, let them because at the end of the day it is your happiness that really matters. The character of Dolphus Raymond is constantly criticized for having a different lifestyle than everyone else and in chapter 20 Dolphus is sipping on a bottle of Coca- Cola and is explaining to the children about how he deals with people and their opinions.
In To Kill a Mockingbird there are many influential characters that did not make it into the movie adaptation. One of those important characters is Mr.Dolphus Raymond who was one of the few people that supported Atticus, went against the town, and influenced Scouts mind. In the very prejudicial town of Maycomb, Alabama Mr.Dolphus Raymond was a man living with a colored woman and their mixed kids simply because he preferred colored people over white people. Dolphus Raymond's different lifestyle and contradicting beliefs from the town made him a special character. Having him in the film would show how the town viewed people's differences in various manners.
Raymond has to endure the same treatment as the black folks in Maycomb. Knowing this, Jem, Dill, and Scout realize the social injustice that is taking place in Maycomb. This makes Jem, Dill, and Scout feel less aware of the social injustice taking place within the town because they have not truly known the hardship black people have to
However, through these words, Mr. Raymond demonstrates his awareness of the tendency of Macomb residents to hold the blacks in a state of disregard. He sympathizes with the African American's plight by acknowledging how poorly they are treated, a shocking admittance for the day. Through defending the victims of Macomb's rampant racism, Mr. Raymond displays his sympathetic
An overwhelming topic in the novel is the brutality that individuals cause upon others by the prejudice, or 'the simple hell people give other people', as Dolphus Raymond puts it. It is not only the matter of the profound racial bias which is available in Maycomb yet the prejudiced, slender, inflexible codes of conduct that most townspeople wish to force on others. This bias is made all the all the more threatening by being delineated as "expected" conduct by numerous characters in the book. Against the foundation of this residential area such individuals as Boo Radley, Dolphus Raymond, many of the African Americans segregated from the whites, and, to some degree, Maudie Atkinson, are abused on the grounds that they don't acclimate. Tom Robinson is discovered blameworthy, despite
To Kill Dolphus Raymond In her novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee not only delves into the precarious world of prejudice but also surveys the vulnerability of those greatly affected by it. Dolphus Raymond, a wealthy white man, is teetering at the lower edge of society. In the eyes of Maycomb, he is treated as a social outcast due to his relations with African-Americans. Raymond is well-aware of the ongoing racism and prejudice in Maycomb, and as a way of tolerating it, Raymond feigns alcoholism by hiding a Coca-Cola bottle in a paper bag.
In To kill A Mockingbird Dolphus Raymond is to be described as a mockingbird
This shows that Mr. Raymond is willing to live with this lie in order to satisfy his neighbors' need to understand his lack of racism. Just like the mockingbird he means no harms to anyone and wishes only to live in peace with his family. Furthermore, Mr Raymond symbolizes a mockingbird because he doesn't like to fight. For instance, when scout asked him why does he pretend he’s drunk, he says When I come to town, 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. He can't help himself, that's why he lives the way he does" it indicates that Mr. Raymond's leads a double life instead of fighting for what he believes in.
Raymond is an outcast from Maycomb due to the appearance of his family. The author states in the novel, “,but you see they could never, never understand that I live like I do because that’s the way I want to live.” Mr. Raymond drinks not because he likes it, but because he needs to give a reason to others for him living with black people. Mr. Raymond shows the reader that it is better to be considered a “drunk” than someone who has a relationship with black people in Maycomb. He is judged for the way he wants to live, thus he is considered a “mockingbird”.
When the reader is first introduced to Tom Robinson he appears to be someone with no morals, but upon further reading it is obvious that he has quite a few. In fact Tom Robinson is also a mockingbird. Later in the book when he is in prison, after the trial is over, he is shot by a guard as he is running towards the prison fence, the reason he was doing so was because he wanted to say his final goodbye. “They shot him”, “ They said he just broke into a blind raving charge at the fence and started climbing over. Right in front of them” (268) this quote shows how someone who is portrayed as doing a bad act actually has something kind and caring deep inside for the people he is doing it for.
This ‘act’ that Raymond constantly puts on implies that he lost hope of Maycomb ever understanding his want to be with a colored woman. He lost so much hope that he had to give a reason to Maycomb to blame the decisions he makes whilst being drunk, otherwise it would leave Maycomb in a state of turmoil. Like Scout says, “.. a being who deliberately perpetrated fraud against himself’ (Lee 268), he lost all hope and belief that the adults of Maycomb would understand, therefore it resulted him telling it to children because they understand. Furthermore, Mayella Ewell is another character who lost hope in the residents of Maycomb. Bob Ewell, her father, undeniably abused Mayella throughout her livelihood and was brought into question and confrontation during court.
Dolphus Raymond is the Town drunk, he does not go into town often but when he does he stumbles in; and the town use that as his excuse saying “Dolphus Raymond’s in the clutches of whiskey that’s why he won’t change his ways. He can't help himself, that’s why he lives the way he does”(Lee 200). As a matter a fact, he is not a drunk but the town of Maycomb uses that to explain why he has biracial children, and why he sits with the African Americans. It is not because of whiskey, but because he likes to but at that time no one understood that they needed an excuse. Harper Lee depicted Dolphus Raymond as a no good drunk but Jem and Scout were able to see that he is ahead of the town of
One could shine light on the part of the novel when the kids run into Mr. Dolphus Raymond and he expresses that things are never as they seem by giving Dill a taste of the Coca-Cola. The man explains, “...folks can say Dolphus Raymond’s in the clutches of whiskey-- that’s why he won’t change his ways” (268). By hiding what he’s actually drinking, Mr. Raymond is a walking lie without his community knowing it. The people of Maycomb won’t question why he is always with the African Americans because they assume his mind is messy from alcohol.
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
