As once said by a Roman poet, Phaedrus, “Things are not always what they seem; the first appearance deceives many; the intelligence of a few perceives what has been carefully hidden.” In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, characters are misconceived and appear different than how they truly are. The motif Appearance vs. Reality is observable various times throughout the novel. One should not judge others too soon as a person may not be what they appear to be. Nevertheless, Arthur “Boo” Radley, Dolphus Raymond and Tom Robinson are all misjudged and many people do not see their realities.
Dolphus Raymond is a character who is prejudged and his true identity is not seen by others. Dolphus Raymond is a white man who chooses to live around black people rather than white people. Mr.
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Dill comments on Dolphus Raymond drinking out of a bottle in a bag to which Jem replies, “He’s got a Co-Cola bottle full of whiskey in there. That’s so’s not to upset the ladies. You’ll see him sip it all afternoon, he’ll step out for a while and fill it back up,” (Lee, p. 214). Jem assumes that Mr. Raymond is actually drinking whiskey out of the bottle when it is in fact Coca Cola. Jem uses the stereotypes he has heard about Mr. Raymond being a drunk and incorrectly guesses Mr. Raymond is drinking liquor. Mr. Raymond is disliked by many people in Maycomb and is distant from the other whites in the county due to them believing he abuses alcohol. When Scout questions Mr. Raymond about why he acts the way he does, Mr. Raymond answers, “… 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, and that’s why he lives the way he does,” (Lee, p. 268). Dolphus Raymond explains that he acts