In the book To Kill A MockingBird by Harper Lee, the character Mr. Dolpus Raymond proves to be very complicated. During the trial, Mr. Raymond kept drinking something in a sac and most people assumed it was alcohol in the sac. However when he offers some of his drink to Dill it turns out to be regular coca cola. I was very confused of why he wanted people to see him as an alcoholic. Mr. Raymond is married to a black women and many people don't agree with his life style since he is white. Mr. Raymond purposely makes others believe that he is an alcoholic to give them a reason as to why he lives the way he does. When Mr. Raymond explains this to Scout he says, " secretly Miss Finch, I'm not much of a drinker, but you see they could never, never understand that I live like I do because that's the way I want to live."(201). Mr. Raymond proves to be very complicated because he likes the way he lives but he acts like he doesn't in public so people will respect him more. Being an alcoholic gives one a bad reputation but Mr.Raymond wants the bad reputation and tries to keep it. I connected Mr. Raymond's concern with his reputation with people today. Many people strive to have a good reputation because others will most likely respect them more and will treat them better compared to someone whop has a bad reputation and is looked down upon or feared be others. Many people focus too much of their time and energy on improving their reputation or creating one that doesn't reflect their true selves. It is important to have a reputation one approves of but having one that doesn't truly reflect who they are is meaningless since others won't be able to see that person for who they really are.
The jury's verdict for Tom Robinson's trial made me very confused. I was having trouble understanding how the jury could have convicted him guilty of the crime when the evidence given didn't make sense as well as the witness statements not adding up with one another. When the verdict was being given , " The foreman handed a piece of paper to Mr. Tate who handed it to the clerk who handed it to the judge....Guilty ...guilty ...guilty"(211). Tom should have been declared innocent since he couldn't have chocked Mayella with both of his hands since he has a crippled right hand. Also, Mayella had a black eye on her right eye making it hard to see how Tom could have done it since he cant use his right hand very well. When the witness statements were being given, there seemed to be "holes" in some of the stories. Mr.Ewell claimed to have ran to the house when he heard screaming and run to the window to see what was going on. During his statement he never mentioned how Mr. Tate came later to help Mayella. Also, no one called a doctor after she was attacked making the case only rely on what people said with no evidence of medical records of how Mayella was attacked. From the statements that were provided I had doubt in my mind that Tom did it making me think that he was innocent. I predict that Mayella tried to tempt Tom and that her father caught her and was the one who beaten her up. Mayella didn't want to punish her dad and blamed it on Tom Robison. If Mayella did tell the court or police that her father beat her up then he would be put in jail, making her responsible for taking care of her siblings and put her in a position she may have not been able to handle
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