During a break from the Tom Robinson trial, Scout and Dill both
get a lesson about the evil that lurks in the world from none other than Dolphus Raymond--a man
with one of the worst reputations in Maycomb. After Dill had become upset about Tom Robinson's
treatment by the prosecuting attorney (who repeatedly referred to Tom as "boy"), the two children
took a break outside. There they found Raymond, sipping from his bottle in a bag. They found
Raymond to be a curious man, and they soon saw that one of his supposed vices--drinking whiskey
hidden in a bag--was just unfounded gossip. They also learned that Dolphus prefers living with
black people. He tells Dill that when he gets older, he won't cry as easily as he does
now.
"Cry about what,
Mr. Raymond?" Dill's maleness was beginning to assert itself.
"Cry about the simple
hell people give other people--without even thinking. Cry about the hell white people give
colored folks, without even stopping to think that they're people,
too"
Mr. Raymond tells the children to
just go back into the courthouse to see some of the evil that is seated
inside.
There are many other examples of Scout's discovery about the
evil of the world. She sees the hypocrisy in her teacher, Miss Gates, and in the women of the
Missionary Circle. She sees the injustice in the accusations by the Ewells against the innocent
Robinson and the jury's racial hatred in their verdict. She comes to recognize that Boo's family
had cruelly mistreated him. Later, Scout will become a victim of Bob Ewell's own evil motive of
revenge.
No comments:
Post a Comment