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How Does Dolphus Raymond Use Characterisation In To Kill A Mockingbird

675 Words3 Pages

Society has a way of making people feel like they have to act a certain way in order to be accepted. In fact, students today are taught to be leaders not followers, which helps them not to fall into the temptations of society. Not only is this true today, but it was also true in the thirties in the south. In To Kill A Mockingbird, a story set in Alabama in the 1930s, Harper Lee uses characterization to show how society influences people’s behaviors through her characters Dolphus Raymond, Mayella Ewell and Boo Radley. Dolphus Raymond, a wealthy, white man, has privileges that others do not have. For example, since he “...owns all one side of the riverbank,” (183) it is accepted that he is married to a colored woman. However, he has to make …show more content…

He is only known for doing polite things, such as the following: laying a blanket on Scout’s shoulders when it’s freezing and she is outside with no sleeves on, putting things in the knot hole of the tree for Jem and Scout to find, and stitching Jem’s pants back together and leaving them nice and folded along the fence. The only crime Boo committed was Bob Ewell’s murder, however, he did it with good meaning. Boo saw that the kids were in trouble, so he decided to help them. He knew that Bob Ewell wasn’t a good a man, but did he really have to kill him? These were Atticus’ thoughts because he is a lawyer. Eventually Heck says something that opens Atticus’ eyes, “I never heard tell that it’s against the law for a citizen to do his utmost to prevent a crime from being committed, which is exactly what he did” (317). This quote covers up Boo’s crime because it was proven that he did it out of love for Jem and Scout. Boo had killed one man to save two children; in the end that’s a win-win.
Boo Radley, Dolphus Raymond, and Mayella Ewell are all affected by society's negative influence. They suffer by being shunned, ignored, and ridiculed because they do not live and act the way society expects. Through these characters, Harper Lee makes the point that people should not let society influence them. People today, as well as in the 1930s, are taught to act a certain way no matter what the occasion is, but they should resist society's negative influence whenever

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