Prejudice: Behaviours
In the small town of Maycomb County, the smallest or the slightest of abnormalities can cause the townspeople to feel wary; to judge. Mr Dolphus Raymond was a normal white American, however, who chose to be with an African American woman. Rather than accepting his decision, rumours were created to placate the townspeople that no sane and sober white American would do such a thing.
“That’s just his way…They say he never got over his weddin’. He was supposed to marry one of the—the Spencer ladies, I think. They were gonna have a huge weddin’, but they didn’t—after the rehearsal the bride went upstairs and blew her head off… They said it was because she found out about his colored woman…He’s been sorta drunk ever since." But such harsh prejudice can cause one to lose hope in humankind. Mr Raymond pretended he was always drunk instead of confessing that his actions and choices were made when he was sober as he had no faith in the townspeople that they would understand and respect his choice.
“Mr. Dolphus Raymond was an evil man… I didn’t think Atticus would like it if we became friendly with Mr. Raymond, and I knew Aunt Alexandra wouldn’t.” Thus, the whole town believed he was ‘evil’. The townspeople wanted a reason to latch onto; to explain what he was doing; and much like the Cunninghams and Ewells, he was shunned. The people of Maycomb County created rumours to elucidate the strange behaviour existing in their town. Events were sensationalised, which encouraged such gossip.
Boo Radley, who simply wanted to stay inside his house, was made to seem like ‘a malevolent phantom’, who ‘went out at night when the moon was high and peeped in windows. When people’s azaleas froze in a cold snap, it was because he had breathed on them. Any stealthy crimes committed in Maycomb were his work.’ These claims were unjustified and were prejudiced against him simply because he was introverted.
Burdened with his mentally unstable image and false history, he was a figure of goodness that did nothing but give and give to the Jem and Scout with no compensation. ‘Boo… gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a pair of good-luck pennies, and our lives… we never put back into the tree what we took out of it: we had given him nothing.’
He was a ‘mockingbird’, someone who did not expect anything in return, but still gave, much like Tom Robinson. Boo Radley had a negative reputation that he did not deserve, which could not be removed. Although the ‘mockingbirds’ slowly disappeared into the least of everyone’s concerns, they were people who did not harm others but instead actually helped them out of kindness - a mockingbird who becomes victim to a prejudiced society.
