Dolphus Raymond Compare And Contrast Essay

As the theme that one can never truly understand someone until he or she has walked in his or her shoes was presented similarly in both the novel and film, it was also presented differently in both genres. In the novel, there was a man named Dolphus Raymond, who everyone presumed to be the town drunk and that he likes colored people more than white people. “He’s got a Co-Cola bottle full of whiskey in there… Why’s he sittin’ with the colored folks? Always does. He likes ‘em better’n he likes us, I reckon”(Pg.182-183). Later the reader, along with Jem, Dill and Scout find that Raymond is not actually what every believes him to be. “You mean all you drink in that sack’s Coca-Cola? Just plain Coca-Cola? Yes ma’am,”(Pg. 228). That scene shows that Raymond is not actually the town drunk but just a man drinking a soda in a way that looks like alcohol so people can make their own reasonings

Along with discovering that he is not an alcoholic, the reader also finds out that he hangs out with colored people not because he has nobody else to be with but because he sees that they are people too. “Cry about the hell white people give colored folks, without even stopping to think they’re people, too”(Pg.229). The literary technique of situational irony helps to reinforce this theme in the novel. This is because situational irony is when the outcome is different than what was expected. In this case the reader assumed that Dolphus Raymond was the Maycomb County drunk when in reality he turned out to be a genuine man who just believed in the equality of everyone. This applies to the theme because one would not have known that about Raymond until Scout and the other children began to learn about him. Although Dolphus Raymond was not in the film another scene helped to inform the theme. This scene was when Jem invites Walter Cunningham to come over for dinner to settle for the fight that Scout started. As they were eating Walter begins to put a large amount of syrup over his