The Strangers In Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird

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There is a saying that appearances can be deceiving, or people are not what they seem. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, she shows many examples of this in her writing. The novel covers a few characters who the readers eventually get to see and know more about, who demonstrate a theme of how people are not always what they seem to be. The readers learn about these characters that they are not as crazy and irregular as they are viewed, but far different than their appearances suggest. The author of this book presents the fact that people’s demeanors can often be misleading.

Specifically, one of the characters in To Kill a Mockingbird to prove the statement true that people are not what they seem is Dolphus Raymond. When the Atticus’s court case is going on, Scout and Dill take a small break and exit the building to calm Dill down. When they are out, they meet Dolphus Raymond and during their conversation, he says, “‘It ain’t honest but it’s mighty helpful to folks. 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’” (Lee 201). Mr. Raymond is explaining that he acts the way he acts and lives the way he lives for a reason. He pretends to drink whiskey out of a paper bag so

It is shown with Dolphus Raymond, who people do not see as fitting in with Maycomb, but the reader finds out why he lives the way he lives. Similarly, Boo Radley is introduced as the town crazy, and something people should be afraid of. By the end of the book the readers see that he is a normal person who chooses to avoid the drama of Maycomb. And finally, the readers see Mayella Ewell, a girl from a destructed family who tries to make her life better any way that she can. On the whole, the author shows in multiple ways that a person’s image is different on the outside than on the