Mr. Dolphus Raymond Explained

Mr. Dolphus Raymond is a very important character for Scout and Dill. He comes off as someone who is a drunk and is quite scary. He carries around what is suppose to be liquor in a brown paper bag, so he doesn't upset the ladies of Maycomb. To the town, he is always drunk, so that is why he hangs out with African Americans. His wife killed herself, because she found out that he liked an african american woman. Mr. Raymond has mixed kids, which is they are half white, half african american. Mixed children are not accepted by african americans, because they are part white, and they are not accepted by whites, because they are part african american. Mr. Dolphus Raymond is not liked by the whites, because he hangs out with african americans. Mr. Raymond prefers the company of african americans over whites, but the whites do not like how he hangs out with the african americans, so they say that he is drunk all the time.

However, the Mr. Dolphus Raymond that Dill and Scout met at the start of chapter twenty, is not drunk at all. He lets Dill have a taste of the liquid in his brown paper bag, and instead of liquor, in which they thought it was, it was actually Coca-Cola. He told Dill and Scout that he acts like he is drinking all day in order to give the whites something to believe in. Mr. Dolphus Raymond says that the whites could never think that a man that is not under the clutches of whiskey could ever prefer the company of african americans over whites. Mr. Dolphus Raymond is making a fraud of himself, in order to give whites a reason to believe why he would prefer the company of african americans over whites. Scout can not rap her head around in why he would go through all of this trouble just to give people a reason. Mr. Dolphus Raymond says that Dill needs to keep his childhood innocence for as long as he can, until he catches Maycomb's usual disease. Dill's ability to cry about Mr. Gilmer questioning Tom means that he still has his childhood innocence. In a couple of years, Mr. Dolphus Raymond says, Dill will lose his childhood innocence, and catch the usual disease of Maycomb.

I understand why Mr. Dolphus Raymond would give people a reason to why he would prefer the company of african americans. He understands the ignorance that people have in Maycomb, so he knows that no one would understand why he would hang out with african americans. No one in Maycomb can believe that african americans may be better people than they are, so they don't understand why someone would hang out with them. The people of Maycomb just give a reason for Mr. Raymond's choices to hang out with african americans, the reason they say is that he is drunk all the time. Scout doesn't understand why Mr. Raymond would need an excuse to give to the people of Maycomb, because she hasn't lost her childhood innocence. She doesn't understand that people can be so ignorant to think that no one wants to be around african americans. Mr. Dolphus Raymond understands that the people of Maycomb are ignorant, and they need to learn to accept people instead of assuming things about them that are probably wrong. People are ignorant of Dolphus Raymond, they say that he is drunk all the time, so he hangs out with african americans, but they never understand that it is actually Coca-Cola, and he prefers the company of African Americans.