The only time Dolphus Raymond shows up in this novel is in
chapter 16. The first time the kids see Mr. Raymond is on the day of the trial, and Jem
wonders how someone can be drunk enough to fall out of his saddle so early in the
morning.
We learn that Mr. Raymond doesn't socialize with
the white folks in town, though that's more by their choice than his. He is seated with
the Negroes who have gathered for the trial--clearly an unusual practice for a white man
in Maycomb. Jem says:
"He likes 'em better'n he likes us, I reckon.
Lives by himself way down near the county line. He's got a colored woman and all sorts
of mixed chillun."
Dolphus is
clearly an outcast in the town of Maycomb, and he understands why--he makes the fine
people of the town nervous because he has crossed racials line and seems comfortable and
content to have done so.
"'He doesn't look like trash,' said
Dill.
'He's not, he owns all one side of the riverbank down
there, and he's from a real old family to
boot.'"
We discover he has a
bit of a sordid past involving a former white fiancee and a black mistress and a shotgun
(you can find that one yourself--what a story!), but "'he's real good to those
chillun'...."
He is not, in fact, a drunk--his brown paper
bag holds nothing stronger than a bottle of Coca Cola. When asked, he explains he does
this drunk act in order to let others find something else to criticize him about other
than the obvious racial issues.
In short, Dolphus Raymond
is a character, literally, who emphasizes the obvious prejudice in Maycomb and
demonstrates for Jem and Scout that loving people is far more important than loving the
mindless traditions of hate.
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