ipl-logo

Character Analysis: To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

590 Words3 Pages

To Kill a Mockingbird Essay On the first day of middle school I walked into my classroom hoping I would get to sit by one of my friends in the class. I was disappointed to see that a girl I did not know sat next to me. At first we did not really talk to each other, but eventually we got to know each other and now she is one of my closest friends. In To Kill a Mockingbird the topic of everyone not being who people think they are comes up multiple times. This life lesson is very important in the fact that you should not jump to conclusions when you first meet someone. In the novel Dolphus Raymond is different. He is a white person who hangs out with all the colored people and is even married and has children with a colored women. Everyone in the community just assumes that he does this because he is drunk all the time. It seems to make sense, I mean he drinks something out of a paper bag, walks around like a drunk, and he hangs out with the colored community. Therefore, Scout and Jem are confused when they find out that Mr. Raymond …show more content…

‘Scout it’s nothing but Coca-Cola’
Mr. Raymond sat up against the tree-trunk. He had been lying on the grass. ‘You little folks won’t tell on me now, will you? It’d ruin my whole reputation if you did.’
‘You mean all you drink in that sack’s Coca-Cola? Just plain Coca-Cola?’”(267).
This passage is when Scout realizes that Mr. Raymond is not a bad, drunk person. He just knows people will not understand who he actually is. So he makes it easy for them by giving a reason to this “absurd” behavior.
“‘I try to give ‘em a reason, you see. It helps folks if they can latch onto a reason’”(268).
Mr. Raymond is saying that people will think he is crazy for being the person that he is, so he gives them what they want to hear. A reason that he hangs out with them. To them the only reason he lives with African Americans is because he is drunk and does not know what he is doing. They just can not relate to

Show More
Related
548 Words | 3 Pages

“Hee Hee,” said Mr. Raymond, evidently taking delight in corrupting a child. ”Dill, you watch out, now,” I warned. Dill released the straws and grinned. “Scout, it’s nothing but Coca-Cola.

Read More
1046 Words | 5 Pages

Although it makes sense why he would want people to think of him as a drunk rather than have the whole town interrogate him. I don't think that Scout has ever gotten to know Mr. Raymond until now and already she has these strong feeling regarding him, and part of that could be because of the atmosphere she lives in. It is amazing how parents pass on their opinions to their children, even if they don't mean to, they should still monitor what their saying because children can be impressionable and they should be taught better than to judge someone based on what they see, hear or seem to be true. Scout referring to Mr. Raymond as a sinful man makes sense because in the time period this book is based you don't see a lot of interracial marriages, it is looked down upon.

Read More
640 Words | 3 Pages

Raymond’s meaning behind his words was because; since Scout is a child, she holds no prejudice. She is able to empathize with people equally and to the point that no biased adult would be able to. During Jem and Reverend Sykes talk about rape and its punishments, “Sykes demurred, ‘this ain’t a polite thing for ladies to hear…’ ‘It most certainly is not’” (279).

Read More
729 Words | 3 Pages

To Kill a Prejudice In To Kill a Mockingbird, the classic novel by Harper Lee, many of the characters adhere to the rigid social structures of America in the early 1900s. Townsfolk hide their true character behind polite guises and do not dare tarnish their reputation. These people view children and other races as their inferiors, subject to blunt opinions and open ridicule. However, one character in particular, Mr. Dolphus Raymond, distances himself from these cultural "norms" and sacrifices a good name for his beliefs.

Read More
737 Words | 3 Pages

Spear, Ella Mr. Shipp English 1 05/17/2024 Characterization in Kill a Mockingbird. One of the main themes in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is that people aren’t always how they seem at first. This is shown in several characters throughout the novel. Mrs. Dubose, Mr. Underwood, and Mr. Raymond are all characters that prove to be someone different than how they are presented at first.

Read More
456 Words | 2 Pages

Scout’s family is more middle class, but she is having a lower class kid over for lunch. Calpurnia yells, “Hush your mouth! Don’t matter who they are, any-body sets foot in this house’s yo’ comp’ny and don’t you catch me remarkin’ on their ways like you was so high and mighty!” (Lee 33) In this quote, Scout has Walter Cunningham over for lunch.

Read More
431 Words | 2 Pages

as stated in chapter 20. The smell of the man made Scout want to stay and talk to the man longer than they had to. The man had mixed children and he was a very sinful man. He committed fraud to himself and other people by putting original Coca-Cola in a paper sack and saying he made the concoction. Scout told the man what Atticus said “cheatin a colored man is ten times worse than cheating a white man.”

Read More
595 Words | 3 Pages

When Scout saw Mr. Cunningham in the mob outside the jail, she started talking to him about his entailments and how it takes a long time to sort things out. This seemingly innocent conversation made Mr. Cunningham think about his family and his

Read More
849 Words | 4 Pages

According to the town’s rumors, Dolphus is an alcoholic who is affected by alcohol so much that he spends his time with black people, rather than white people, which would be “normal”. As it turns out, this is exactly what Dolphus wants people to believe. In their conversation with Dolphus, Scout and Jem discover that rather than whisky in his sack, all that’s really there is Coca-Cola. Dolphus explains why he did this, saying “...Some folks don’t like the way I live. Now I could say the hell with ‘em, I don’t care if they don’t like it” (Lee 228).

Read More
520 Words | 3 Pages

Scout asks him “what in the sam hill” he is doing and Walter ducks his head and puts his hands in his lap, seemingly embarrassed. Atticus shakes his head at her disapprovingly and then Calpurnia asks to see her in the kitchen. Calpurnia informs Scout, “There’s some folks who don’t eat like us,” she then goes on to say, “but you ain’t called on to contradict ‘em at the table when they don’t. That boy’s yo comp’ny and if he wants to eat up the tablecloth you let him, you hear?”

Read More
1204 Words | 5 Pages

Scout wonders how he could be drunk when he does not look like

Read More
268 Words | 2 Pages

Mr. Raymond gets very little respect from the white people in town because he is seen as an alcoholic that lives with a black woman. It is during our scene that Dill and Scout learn that he is not actually a drunk. It is Coca-Cola that he is seen drinking all the

Read More
534 Words | 3 Pages

The locals made accusations about Dolphus Raymond, a man married to a black woman, as an excuse for his actions that they do not agree with, but what they believed is not accurate. Mr. Raymond carried around a brown paper bag with a straw sticking out; Scout and her friend Dill learn that it was not what it seemed. Mr. Raymond called the children but Scout was skeptical because, “Mr. Dolphus Raymond was an evil man” but they still went to him (Lee 267). Scout and Dill never spoke to Dolphus before, but because of all the rumors that they had heard the children felt like they could make judgments about him. After talking to the man, Scout and Dill were surprised to discover that his drink was,”nothing but Coca-Cola”(Lee 267).

Read More
579 Words | 3 Pages

To Kill A Mockingbird Critical Analytical Essay Jamie M 10-1 Perspective is the way that you understand or see a person and is one of the most crucial qualities of any book. The importance of perspective is constantly talked about by the characters in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Lee supports the fact that every person or thing can be viewed in different ways depending on your perspective of them and that by using a different perspective you can have a deeper understanding. "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." Atticus Finch, To Kill A Mockingbird.

Read More
824 Words | 4 Pages

In the the novel, there is a man named Dolphus Raymond who had children with a blakc woman and had mixed children. He would drink coca cola in order to make the town think he was drinking and an alcoholic. So after a day in the trial the children go outside and meet up with him, and Scout says that,” I shouldn’t be here listening to this sinful man who had mixed children and didn’t care who knew it, but he was fascinating” (205) . Showing us that although Raymond is a kind hearted person, the community perceives him as a rude, shameful alcoholic. Of how Scout felt as if she,”shouldn't be here listening to this sinful man who had mixed children”, yet again making the audience feel a sense of secret between the community and misconception of an innocent man.

Read More

More about Character Analysis: To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

Related Topics

Open Document