Chapter 20

Scout thought he was an evil man. Mr Raymond called Dill over and said he had something that would settle his stomach. He let Dill drink from the paperbag with the two straws. There was coca-cola in it

He smelled of leather, horses and cottonseed. People don’t like the way he lives so Dolphus tries to give them a reason that would explain why he lives the way he does. People now say Dolphus lives the way he lives because he is in the clutches of whiskey and that makes them happy.

It is not honest, but it helps the other people to understand things better. The people would never understand that Dolphus Raymond lived the way because he wanted to live that way.

He told the children his secret because only children would understand it. Dolphus said in a few years Dill won’t be crying about the simple hell people gave each other and the hell white people gave coloured people without stopping to think they were people also anymore. He would be immune to it.

Said Scout must still get a lot more experience to understand everything, she doesn’t even know this town. She must just go back into the court and she will see she does not know the town.

Scout thought she should not be there listening to the sinful Dolphus Raymond but he fascinated her. She never met someone who deliberately spoiled his own reputation just so that others would accept him better. Atticus said cheating a coloured man is ten times worse than cheating a white man.

The case should never have come to trial. The state did not produce any medical evidence that the rape ever took place. The defendant is not guilty but someone else in the courtroom is guilty.

Mayella said Tom Robinson raped her because Mayella broke a rigid and time-honoured code of our society, one so severe that whoever breaks it would be hounded from our midst as unfit to live with. Her desire was stronger than the code she broke, that is why I don’t pity her. Mayella wants to destroy the evidence of her offence, Tom Robinson, that is why she accused him of rape.

What offence did Mayella commit? She tempted a Negro. She kissed a black man. Her father saw her do it. We know Mayella was beaten by someone who leads with his left hand, we know Tom Robinson’s warrant was signed by Mr Ewell, with his left hand.

Tom Robinson took his oath with his only good hand, his right. Tom Robinson’s crime is that he felt sorry for a white woman. The state’s witnesses want you the jury to find Tom Robinson guilty because they think you, the jury think all Negroes lie, all Negroes are immoral beings, and all Negro men are not to be trusted around our women.

Thomas Jefferson said all men are created equal, but that is not totally true. Some people are clever, some are stupid, some rich some poor. There is only one place in the United States of America where all men are equal and that is in the court, any court in the country, whether he is rich, poor, stupid, clever, black or white.

The reality is that the court isn’t any better than the 12 people that sit on the jury, and I believe you will restore this man to his family and do your duty to God.

He took of his coat and neck tie to give his final deliberation, something he has never done before. He perspired profusely, something he never does.

Entered the courtroom with a note