An analysis of one quote of Raymond from chapter 20
Quotes are more than important for readers to pause and get some enlightenment. There are a large
number of insightful quotes in every novel. The novel To kill a mocking bird is also not an exception of this.
One of the most impressive quotes in this novel is said by Dolphus Raymond, “Cry about the simple hell
people give other people—without even thinking. Cry about the hell white people give coloured folks,
without even stopping to think that they are people, too.” (Lee, 20) This essay would explore the context of
this quote and the importance of this quote characterized by its contribution on the convey of the theme of
prejudice and the characterization of Dolphus Raymond.
This paragraph would focus on the context of the quote mentioned above. The context of a quote is the
most important thing to understand first before learning deeper from it. Firstly, this quote mentioned was
said by Mr Raymond to Dill outside the courthouse. At that time, Scout accompanied Dill went outside
because Dill burst into tears due to the unfair treatment Tom Robinson had received in the trail, after which
they met Dolphus Raymond and started a conversation. Secondly, the reason why Dolphus Raymond said
this to Dill is that he wanted to comfort Dill. After having witnessed a lot of ugly and filthy things, Raymond
had been accustomed to these things and had become cynical. He thought that there was no need for Dill
to be depressed about the hell that black experienced, because white people even did not consider them
as people. Raymond tried to make Dill understand that it was unnecessary for him to be so upset about
these unfair things in the society because he could not change this but to accept. In summary, this quote
was said outside the courthouse by Raymond to Dill out of his goodness.
This quote has huge significance to the development of the novel in many aspects, including the
convey of messages and characterization. The most obvious effect of this quote to the novel is that it
deepens the theme of prejudice and racism, which is one of the most important ideas that Harper Lee
wanted to convey in this novel. Prejudice upon the black was common to see in 1930s even at the present
time. This kind of prejudice was caused by the complicated social hierarchy of the town of Maycomb and
the psychological phenomenon of mob mentality among people. Under the rooted influences of the stern
caste system, the black was titled as the lowest class. Under such circumstances, even a kind and
hard-working black people like Tom Robinson was considered to be inferior to a evil white people like Bob
Ewell. Maycomb people had to follow the trend to be judgmental and racist, otherwise they would be
discriminated. The quote of Raymond greatly enhanced this theme, since in this quote Raymond pointed
out the fact that the black were not treated as people and hell to them was what the white should give to
them because they were not people. This kind of gloomy social phenomenon has effectively pushed the
idea of prejudice to a vertex. The black people were already not seen as people due to prejudice and
racism. Therefore, this quote by Raymond is important as it well supports the theme of prejudice.
Another principal significance of this quote to the novel should be related to the characterization of
Dolphus Raymond. Characterization is one of the most important novel elements because it helps readers
to see and know each character and also provides them with sense of reality. Speech of a character
usually contributes a lot to characterization, which could be demonstrated by the quote. The quote was
one of the speeches of Raymond, and from this quote readers could see that Dolphus Raymond had
already been accustomed to the injustice of the society and had become apathetic and cynical. He had
understood that he could not change the unfair situation among the black because the black were not
considered as people, and he thus knew that the only thing he could do was to forget them and do not be
influenced to be upset by these nasty things. This is also the reason why Raymond preferred to live with
his black mistress and mulatto and pretended to be drunk in order to get rid of the hypocrisy and filthiness
of many white people. Readers could have a better understanding of the life attitudes and personalities of
Raymond by inferring and digging into this quote. Readers could know that Raymond was a cynical
hopeless white people with a actually kind heart. Thus, this quote is of great importance due to the fact
that it promote the characterization of Dolphus Raymond and helps readers to have a clearer idea of who
and how is Raymond.
In conclusion, the quote analyzed was said by Raymond to comfort Dill outside the courthouse when
Dill was upset by the unfair treatments Tom Robinson got from nasty white people. This quote is of great
importance to the novel, which could be proved by its great contribution to support the theme of prejudice
and to characterize Dolphus Raymond.