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

According to the gossip Jem has picked up, Dolphus's fiance killed herself

"... because she found out about his colored woman, he reckoned he could keep her and get married too. He's been sorta drunk ever since."  (Chapter 16)

Because of his dark past and his preference to live with Negroes, Dolphus is one of Maycomb's outsiders. He lives alone "way down near the county line," and he has "all sorts of mixed chillun."

     "They don't belong anywhere. Colored folks won't have 'em because they're half white, white folks won't have 'em 'cause they're colored, so they're just in-betweens, don't belong anywhere."  (Chapter 16)

Dolphus seems to enjoy the notoriety that follows him wherever he goes in Maycomb. He deliberately weaves about the town, always carrying a paper sack with a bottle inside and a straw sticking outside. People in Maycomb believe he is a drunk, but when Scout and Dill meet up with him outside the courthouse on the day of the trial, Dolphus reveals his secret to them. When Dolphus offers Dill a sip to calm his stomach,

     Dill released the straws and grinned. "Scout, it's nothing but Coca-Cola."  (Chapter 20)

Dolphus explains that he "deliberately perpetrated fraud against himself" in order to make the people of Maycomb feel more at ease.

     "I try to give 'em a reason, you see. It helps folks if they can latch onto a reason... folks can say Dolphus Raymond's in the clutches of whiskey--that's why he won't change his ways... that's why he lives the way he does."  (Chapter 20)

Dolphus warns Dill that one day he will become old enough to be hardened by the behavior he has seen in the courtroom--that he will no longer

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

In the end, Scout finds that

... I shouldn't be here listening to this sinful man who had mixed children and didn't care who knew it, but he was fascinating.  (Chapter 20)

Dolphus Raymond is an outlier in the strictly racially divided world of Maycomb. He is a puzzle in the way he violates social norms. He is a wealthy white man from an old family. Jem says of him:

he owns all one side of the riverbank down there, and he’s from a real old family to boot.

All of these factors—whiteness, wealth, and pedigree—are status markers that should propel him to the upper echelon of Maycomb's white society. However, he has violated a strict social taboo by living with a black woman and having children with her. In the racist South of that era, he would not legally be allowed to marry his black girlfriend, but he does live with her as if they are married.

Since it is impossible for the white community to understand why a white man of Dolphus's background would live openly with a black woman, he gives them an easy answer: he cleverly pretends he is an alcoholic. The Maycomb elite can then understand his seemingly aberrant behavior as stemming from his alcoholism. The children find out that the drinking is a ruse during the Tom Robinson trial, when Dolphus offers Dill a sip from his paper bag. The bag does not hide a whiskey bottle as everyone thinks; it contains a bottle of soda.

There's a bit of comedy in this episode in that it is easier for the white community to accept Dolphus as an alcoholic rather than one who could rationally and clearheadedly live with a black woman. It is also another example of the way the children have access to knowledge that is hidden from the adults.

Dolphus Raymond is a rare freethinker in a world that is dominated by confining norms and conventions. He dares to live with African Americans though he is white, and he has a relationship with an African American woman and has children with her. He has also ingeniously decided to pretend to be an alcoholic so that people in the white community in Maycomb can have an easy explanation about why he has decided to let himself live in a way that they consider degraded. In many ways, Dolphus Raymond is a bit of a genius because he has maneuvered a way to live the life he wants. Living freely in a society like that in Maycomb is difficult, particularly when one wants to associate and live with people of a different race. Maycomb is ruled by racial stereotypes and barriers, but Dolphus Raymond has devised a way to live as he wants. He manages to live in a way that few could even dream of—not to mention, manage to make reality.

Dolphus Raymond is an outcast in Maycomb's society, who walks through town feigning alcoholism by sipping Coca-Cola out of a brown paper bag. Despite coming from an affluent family and owning valuable property by the river, Dolphus is viewed with contempt by his neighbors because he openly associates with black citizens and has several biracial children, which is taboo in the racist community.

In chapter 20, Dolphus offers Dill a sip of his Coca-Cola when he comes out of the courtroom and sympathizes with Dill's feelings regarding Mr. Gilmer's treatment of Tom Robinson. When Scout asks Dolphus why he feigns alcoholism, Dolphus says that it gives his prejudiced neighbors a reason to latch onto and helps them understand his taboo behavior. Rather than continually arguing and defending his lifestyle, Dolphus prefers to feign alcoholism to avoid conflict with his community.

The audience sympathizes with Dolphus's difficult situation while understanding that his method of avoiding conflict drastically contrasts with Atticus's valiant approach to racism. Rather than challenging the prejudiced community like Atticus, Dolphus prefers to cowardly feign alcoholism in order to continue living his taboo lifestyle. Through Dolphus's character, Harper Lee examines how other tolerant citizens secretly rebel against overt racism rather than courageously challenge racial injustice in a public setting.

Dolphus Raymond is a sad character who, like the blacks in the community of Maycomb, is oppressed by the values and beliefs of white society.  Raymond comes from a well-known wealthy family; however, he has a black mistress and several mixed children with his mistress.  He prefers to live and socialize with blacks in the community.  This would have been taboo in the South.  The mixing of races was something not accepted by white people.  In order to survive in the white world, Raymond pretends he is an alcoholic to explain his “scandalous” behavior.  He is seen carrying a brown bag with a bottle in it.  We later learn that it contains Coca-Cola, and he is really not an alcoholic.  It’s sad to think that it was more permissible to be an alcoholic than to fraternize with blacks at this time. 

In some ways, Raymond’s deception is cowardly.  He is so oppressed by what other people in the community think that he can’t live the life he really wants to live.  He does not speak up for justice and equality like Atticus does. Perhaps Raymond is so disgusted with the white society that he rebels in any way he can to survive, or maybe he just doesn't have the strength to stand up and fight the unfair system.  

Dolphus Raymond is one of the most complex and contradictory characters in To Kill a Mockingbird. Although he only appears occasionally in the novel, Raymond’s status as a misfit in Maycomb reveals the deceptions in which individuals might feel compelled to engage if they wished to continue living in a segregated, racist Southern town. Because he is well-to-do and his family history is well-known in Maycomb, most of the town’s white people tolerate Raymond’s eccentric behavior even though they disapprove of it. Raymond is a white man who was widowed, and for many years has been in a long-term relationship with a black woman, with whom he has several children. In that era, there were laws against interracial marriage or “miscegenation.” Raymond shows kindness when he goes out of his way to help Dill when he overhears him talking with Scout outside the courtroom.

Because he understands that many people in Maycomb are seeking excuses for what they regard as unusual behavior, he has created the impression that he is an alcoholic. He allows people to continue thinking this, knowing that they are seeking reasons for what they regard as otherwise inexplicable behavior: being married, in every way but under the law, to an African American woman. When he finds Dill struggling with his emotions over the prejudice he witnessed in the courtroom, he lets the children in on his secret as a way to help them understand how adults may cope with everyday racism.

Dolphus Raymond, a kind gentleman, is clearly one who marches to a different drum beat. Mr. Raymond does not conform to the code of conduct expected of him in Maycomb. He is an upper-class white man, but finds his society hypocritical, which prompts him to abandon it and live in another part of town.

Mr. Raymond finds life with the black population of Maycomb simpler and more genuine. Because his departure from the behavior that is expected of him is so radical in the Jim Crow South, he pretend he is an alcoholic by swaying when he rides his horse, and by carrying a drink in a brown paper bag, as though to disguise it. In reality, his drink is nothing more than Coca-Cola. 

During the trial, when Dill cries in the courtroom at the meanness directed at Tom Robinson, Jem and Scout take him outside, and the kind Mr. Raymond offers the boy a drink from his container in the paper bag. This is when the children discover he merely drinks Coca-Cola and his behavior is just a charade. Mr. Raymond explains,

Some folks don't—like the way I live. . . I try to give'em a reason, you see. It helps folks if they can latch onto a reason. When I come to town, which is seldom, if I weave a little and drink out of this sack, folks can say Dolphus Raymond's in the clutches of whiskey—that's why he won't change his ways. He can't help himself, that's why he lives the way he does (Chapter 20).

Mr. Raymond tells the children his secret because they "can understand." When people rode up to the courthouse before the trial, though, Jem told Scout that Mr. Raymond is rumored to have never recovered from the suicide of his fiancée, who shot herself after their wedding rehearsal because:

They said it was because she found out about his colored woman, he reckoned he could keep her and get married, too (Chapter 16).

Despite his tragedy, Mr. Raymond takes good care of his mixed children, sending older ones to the North where they can have more opportunities.

Half of Dolphus Raymond's story is revealed in chapter 16. Dolphus seems to be a person who is on the lower-edge of society, in the eyes of most Maycomb-ites. He is a wealthy man--he owns a lot of land by the river. However, his first wife killed herself and the town blames that for Dolphus' constant state of drunkenness. They also blame his lifestyle of being drunk--he lives with the black folks, and has mixed children with a black woman. Jem notices Dolphus going to town during the trial and tells this information to Scout, saying that Dolphus can't even sit up straight in his saddle. However, there is more to Dolphus Raymond, and the children learn this during the trial.

Dolphus Raymond is a white man who is in a relationship with a black woman and has children with her.

In Alabama in the thirties, it was against the law for a white man and black woman to be married.  This did not stop Dolphus Raymond.  He was from a good family, but made himself an outcast in Maycomb by having an interracial family.

“Why’s he sittin‘ with the colored folks?”

“Always does. 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. Show you some of ’em if we see ‘em.” (Ch. 16)

Dolphus Raymond spends most of his time pretending to be drunk.  He carries a sack and people assume he is drinking liquor.  The children realize he is actually drinking Coca-cola.  Raymond is as sober as anyone else.  He is just trying to help others understand his actions.  He knows that they won’t appreciate that he loves his wife and children, so he lets them think he is an alcoholic.

During the trial, Raymond comforts Dill and the other children.  Dill in particular is very upset about the way Tom Robinson is being treated disrespectfully by Mr. Gilmer, the prosecutor.  Raymond tells him that this is the way things are, even though it isn’t right.  He says when Dill is older he won’t cy.

“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.” (Ch. 20)

Dolphus Raymond is an example of the fact that not all Maycomb’s citizens are unrepentant racists.  He has a unique approach to dealing with it, but it keeps him apart from society.  Scout realizes that it is a privilege of his class that people accept the way he is.

Dolphus Raymond is considered the town drunk and is looked down on not only because of that, but also because of the fact that he lives with a "colored" woman (whether married to her or not) and has "mixed" children. This fact makes him special in the eyes of those in Maycomb, but presumably not in a good way, at least for the most part.

Mr. Raymond is also special because he encourages society to see him as a drunk so that they will assume that they understand his reasons for maintaining such closeness with the "colored" people. Raymond feels that society is more willing to accept an action that has a cause they can understand, even if the truth continues to elude them.

A social pariah in Maycomb, Mr. Dolphus Raymond is non-compliant with the social mores of the white community, free-thinking, unbiased, somewhat misanthropic,gentle-natured, kind, observant, sympathetic, and thoughtful.

• non-compliant with society and free-thinking

Breaking unwritten social laws, Mr. Dolphus lives by the county line with "a colored woman and all sorts of mixed chillun," Jem tells Scout.

In Chapter 20, after Jem and Scout walk an emotionally disquieted Dill outside the courthouse, Mr. Dolphus Raymond approaches the children and offers Dill a sip of his bottle hidden in a paper sack. As he does so, he jokingly asks them not to reveal his secretive drinking of only a Coca-Cola, rather than liquor, as the community believes. He explains that he only pretends to be a drunkard since the community's belief that he is an alcoholic gives them reason to tolerate his living the way he does. 

When I come to town, if I weave a little and drink out of this sack, folks can say Dolphus Raymond's in the clutches of whiskey--that's why he won't change his ways. He can't help himself....

• unbiased

Mr. Raymond does not believe as many other whites do that the blacks are inferior and there should be no association between the races. He rejects the conventional wisdom and lives his life without bias, staying on the "wrong side of the tracks" and fathering mixed children.

• misanthropic

Mr. Raymond is fairly disgusted with human nature. He tells Dill,

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."

Then, he addresses Scout, informing her that Atticus is not a "run-of-the-mill man," and in a few years she will understand what his remark means. Further, he tells the children to return to the courthouse and they will learn about Maycomb.

• gentle-natured and kind

Certainly, Mr. Raymond's treatment of Dill and the children demonstrates his kind heart. While he mentions the town, he does not specifically censure any one person or other persons.

• observant

Quickly, Mr. Raymond observes Dill's discomfiture, and he rushes to aid him by offering his Coca-Cola. In addition, his judgments of the townspeople indicate his powers of observation.

• sympathetic and thoughtful

Mr. Raymond acts with compassion for Dill, consoling him and offering his Coca-cola to the boy. Further, he remarks that Dill will become more accustomed to the cruelty of men for others, and he will not, then, cry as he does this day: "Let him get a little older and he won't get sick and cry."

Dolphus Raymond is considered a social outcast in the community of Maycomb. Dolphus is a white man who openly associates with black people and has children of mixed race with a black woman. In the prejudiced society of Maycomb, Alabama, it is taboo for a white person to have a relationship with someone who is black. Despite the fact that Dolphus is a wealthy landowner, he is viewed with contempt throughout the community for his relations with black people and his "alcoholism." Later in the novel, Scout and Dill learn that Dolphus actually feigns alcoholism and drinks Coca-Cola from a paper bag to give the illusion that he is drunk. Dolphus tells Scout that it helps people latch onto a reason as to why he chooses to associate with black people. Dolphus realizes that he will never be accepted into Maycomb's society, but refuses to change who he is and tries to avoid controversy by feigning alcoholism. 

Mr. Raymond is from a family of wealth and connections going back into the history of the community, so at first glance, one might think he would fit in very well with Maycomb's social elite.  However, Raymond also has children with an African-American woman, which is more than enough to qualify him as a social outcast to people like Aunt Alexandra.  He sits under a tree during the Robinson trial drinking out of a bag. . .but the bag doesn't contain alcohol, it contains soda.  His reasoning:

When I come to town. . . if I weave a little and drink out of this sack, folks can say Dolphus Raymond's in the clutches of whiskey – that's why he won't change his ways. He can't help himself.

In other words, Raymond understands that he doesn't fit into the rigid and unforgiving social categories of 1933 Alabama, and so he's turned the tables a bit and made it easier for the "folks" to reconcile their beliefs with what they're seeing in how he lives in life.  Although it's not clear why he feels compelled to do this, one might imagine that he's figuratively (and maybe literally) getting the "last laugh" as they say.

It is not until the trial of Tom Robinson that Scout encounters Mr. Dolphus Raymond a pariah in the white community of Maycomb, although he is from one of the "better families." But he has fallen from favor in the Jim Crow Southern town.

In the far corner of the square, the Negroes sat quietly in the sun, dining on sardines, crackers, and the more vivid flavors of Nehi Cola. Mr. Dolphus Raymond sat with them.

Unlike the other white residents of Maycomb, Mr. Raymond joins in the society of African-Americans. Moreover, Scout notes, "he's drinkin' out of a sack," an act that indicates a man drinks liquor in the daytime as he tries to disguise it.

Although he owns one side of the river bank, "Mr. Raymond lives in the black community and even has offspring by one of the women. "He's got a colored woman and all sorts of mixed children," Jem informs her.  He adds that Mr. Raymond purportedly has never recovered from the tragic events of his wedding day years ago. He was supposed to marry one of the Spender ladies, but she "blew her head off" with a shotgun because, as rumor has it, she learned of his mistress, a black woman.

Mr Raymond enjoys the prestige of being a wealthy man,  but his name is swarthed in scandal because of his preference for Negroes, including his taste in women. This has especially been the case since an incident a few years earlier when his fiancée, a white woman, discovered Dolphus was "keeping" a black mistress, and committed suicide.

Mr Raymond wants to "steer cleer" of the while community and tries to live up to his doubtful reputation by feigning alcoholism, when actually it's just cola that he carries around in a bagged bottle. The Finch children discover this when Dophus Raymond offers Dill a swig to help settle his stomach.  Mr  Raymond reveals to the children his ruse and why he does it, adding that in a few years they will probaby be thinking just like everybody else.

In this Dolphus Raymond  shows himself to be a compassionate man and rather "enlightened" for his times, in spite of his doubtful reputation and marginal lifestyle he lives. The fact that he does not go along with everybody else but choose rather to find his own way makes the reader ask serious questions about 'majority rule' and who's finally "right" in a society blighted by prejudice.

Dolphus Raymond is one of the most unusual characters in To Kill a Mockingbird. A descendant of an old and wealthy family, Dolphus owns land along the river, and he is (was?) a planter (Tom Robinson's arm injury came while working with one of Dolphus's cotton gins). Scout admires his English riding boots (the only ones she has ever seen) and his smell--"of leather, horses, cottonseed." He has a sordid past: His fiance committed suicide just before their wedding day after finding out that Dolphus had a Negro mistress. According to Jem,

"... he never got over his weddin'. He was supposed to marry one of the--the Spencer ladies... after the rehearsal the bride went upstairs and blew her head off. Shotgun. She pulled the trigger with her toes..."They said it was because she found out about his colored woman, he reckoned he could keep her and get married, too. He's been sorta drunk ever since."

Following his disastrous wedding day, Dolphus returned to his home "near the county line." He kept his black mistress and they produced "all sorts of mixed chillun."

Despite his lineage, Dolphus is considered "trash" by some of Maycomb's residents. He prefers the company of Negroes, and he is scorned by most of Maycomb's white population. Scout worries that Atticus would disapprove of her "listening to this sinful man," who enjoyed "taking delight in corrupting a child," but she nevertheless finds him "fascinating." A man with an obvious sense of humor, Dolphus deliberately pretends to be a drunk: He weaves around town with a bottle hidden inside a paper sack, which everyone in town believes to be whiskey. The children discover his secret when Dolphus reveals to Scout and Dill that the bottle is only Coca-Cola. Dolphus explains that he does so to give the townspeople who despise him a reason to latch onto--a reason for his evil ways. But Dolphus has his serious side: He refuses to attend the trial because he knows what the outcome will be, and he cries

"... about the simple hell white people give colored folks, without even stopping to think that they're people, too."

Social outcast: People view Dolphus Raymond with contempt because of his relations with African Americans. Dolphus has a black woman as a companion and several mixed children. Even though he is white, the rest of the white community of Maycomb ridicules him for his lifestyle. In Maycomb, Alabama, interracial relationships are not accepted, which makes Dolphus Raymond a social outcast.

Understanding: Dolphus Raymond is an understanding individual. He tells Scout that things haven't caught up with Dill's instincts yet, and when Dill grows older, he won't cry anymore. Dolphus understands how children's reactions to racial injustice will fade over time because they become desensitized to witnessing prejudice.

Secretive: Dolphus hides his Coca-Cola bottle in a paper bag to feign alcoholism. He lets the children in on his secret. He tells Scout that he pretends to be drunk, so people have an explanation for his taboo lifestyle. He says that people could never understand why he chooses his lifestyle and pretending to be drunk gives them a reason to latch onto.

Rebellious: Dolphus refuses to change his ways despite his community's disapproval. He rebels against typical social conventions and lives his life the way he wants.