Compare And Contrast Dolphus Raymond In To Kill A Mockingbird
Spencer Kessler
Mrs. Krone
Honors English 1
20 September 2017
Dolphus Raymond’s Lack of Courage In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Dolphus Raymond is a partial foil to Atticus Finch because of their differing actions when faced with the similar stance upon a highly controversial topic of Black equality. Before Scout learns otherwise, she follows the society’s belief that alcoholism has caused Dolphus to follow a so-called evil lifestyle, living as an equal to people of color. Dolphus and Atticus both face ridicule from the white people of Maycomb due to their beliefs and treatment of the black people in Maycomb. The contrast between the two characters is how they choose to handle this ridicule. Atticus always stands courageously …show more content…
Cry about the hell white people give colored folks, without even stopping to think that they’re people, too’” (Lee 269). By stating this, Dolphus reveals that he thinks about the pain that the white people cause the colored folk. If a man realizes this pain and claims to live equal to African Americans by choice, then it can be inferred that he doesn’t see race as a factor to base his opinion of a person upon. When questioned by Scout about why he hides the truth from the people of Maycomb, he replies that, “‘Oh yes, you mean why do I pretend? Well, it’s very simple,’ he said. ‘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. I do say I don’t care if they don’t like it, right enough---but I don’t say hell with ‘em, see?... I try to give ‘em a reason, you see. It helps folks if they can latch onto a reason’” (Lee 268). By giving the town’s people misdirection as to why he lives among the colored folks, he shows his lack of courage, greatly contrasting Atticus's strong shows of courage throughout the book such as when facing the lynch mob and all cases in which he took on ridicule directly for his choice to do all that was in his power to defend Tom Robinson. Lee’s purpose for writing this passage was to give Atticus contrast and to help the reader see his significant amount of courage by comparing him to
Mrs. Krone
Honors English 1
20 September 2017
Dolphus Raymond’s Lack of Courage In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Dolphus Raymond is a partial foil to Atticus Finch because of their differing actions when faced with the similar stance upon a highly controversial topic of Black equality. Before Scout learns otherwise, she follows the society’s belief that alcoholism has caused Dolphus to follow a so-called evil lifestyle, living as an equal to people of color. Dolphus and Atticus both face ridicule from the white people of Maycomb due to their beliefs and treatment of the black people in Maycomb. The contrast between the two characters is how they choose to handle this ridicule. Atticus always stands courageously …show more content…
Cry about the hell white people give colored folks, without even stopping to think that they’re people, too’” (Lee 269). By stating this, Dolphus reveals that he thinks about the pain that the white people cause the colored folk. If a man realizes this pain and claims to live equal to African Americans by choice, then it can be inferred that he doesn’t see race as a factor to base his opinion of a person upon. When questioned by Scout about why he hides the truth from the people of Maycomb, he replies that, “‘Oh yes, you mean why do I pretend? Well, it’s very simple,’ he said. ‘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. I do say I don’t care if they don’t like it, right enough---but I don’t say hell with ‘em, see?... I try to give ‘em a reason, you see. It helps folks if they can latch onto a reason’” (Lee 268). By giving the town’s people misdirection as to why he lives among the colored folks, he shows his lack of courage, greatly contrasting Atticus's strong shows of courage throughout the book such as when facing the lynch mob and all cases in which he took on ridicule directly for his choice to do all that was in his power to defend Tom Robinson. Lee’s purpose for writing this passage was to give Atticus contrast and to help the reader see his significant amount of courage by comparing him to