This question could certainly apply to one of the novel's most unusual characters, Dolphus Raymond, though the change was not necessarily for the better. One of the wealthiest men in town who owned property along the Alabama River, Raymond was engaged to "marry one the Spencer ladies," but just before the wedding

"... the bride went upstairs and blew her head off. Shotgun. Pulled the trigger with her toes."  (Chapter 16)

The bride-to-be had apparently discovered that Dolphus was also involved with his African American mistress, and the disgrace that Miss Spencer faced was too much for her to bear. The event caused Dolphus to be estranged from the rest of Maycomb's white community, who scorned him for his interracial tryst. A change came over Dolphus, too, and he soon began to appear in public, weaving about while drinking from a bottle hidden inside a paper sack. Dolphus and his mistress produced a number of "mixed" children: Though Jem considered them "real sad" because of their heritage, Dolphus was "real good to those chillun," and he provided an education for them "up north" where people "don't mind 'em." Dolphus meets up with Scout and Dill during the trial, and he reveals both his special secret about what's really inside the bottle in the sack and his love for the black folks of Maycomb. Like Miss Maudie, Dolphus chooses not to stomach the trial in person, but he is one of Tom's supporters, and he understands the source of Dill's tears--to

"Cry about the hell white people give colored folks, without even stopping to think that they're people, too."  (Chapter 20)