Meeting Mr. Dolphus Raymond

We finally meet Mr Dolphus Raymond, and we find out that he is not who people thought he was. During this chapter, Dill starts crying, and Scout needed to take him out of the courtroom. When they go outside, they meet Mr. Dolphus Raymond. They find out that some assumptions about him are not true. For example, they find out that what Mr. Dolphus Raymond drinks in his paper bag is not whiskey, but instead, Coca-Cola. They also find out that Mr. Dolphus Raymond is not a drunk, but he just pretends to be to give his fellow whites a reason as to why he prefers African Americans. Lastly, they find out that Mr. Dolphus Raymond isn't a mean, old, scary man, but just someone who is misunderstood by society, and that is actually pretty nice when you get to know him.

Dill and Scout were very surprised to hear these things about Mr. Dolphus Raymond. We could see that they expected Mr. Dolphus Raymond to be a completely different person with a completely different personality. I was also surprised when reading what kind of person Mr. Dolphus Raymond actually is. I expected something different when Mr. Dolphus Raymond started talking to them. I expected him to be drunk and sort of scary, similar to how Scout described him. I never would have thought that he was pretending this whole time. Mr. Dolphus Raymond says that the reason he pretends to be drunk is to give everyone a reason as to why he acts the way he does toward African Americans. He says that no one would understand why he prefers the company of African Americans, so he gives them a reason to by pretending to be drunk all the time.

 I understand why Mr. Dolphus Raymond is doing this. Back then, whites couldn't comprehend why someone would prefer the company of African Americans instead of the company of the whites, so he pretends to be drunk so people wouldn't bother him about it. I understand Mr. Raymond, because if I were him, I also wouldn't want people to bother me about why I live the way I do. Mr. Dolphus Raymond seems to be the only adult, other than Atticus, who is tolerant, and who gave African Americans a chance before criticizing them, and ended up liking their company more. I respect Mr. Dolphus Raymond because he is an example of one of the few adults who actually try to get to know the African Americans and one of the adults who realizes that African Americans are human too, and are equal to whites. Mr. Dolphus is one of the very few adults who isn't ignorant against the African Americans, and I think he should receive some respect for that.