Why does
Dill cry? Explain the situation in detail. How does this relate back to
Atticus’s comment about having a police force of children? (210) Chapters 18 and 19 (Carter Liou)
At the courthouse Mr. Gilmore, Mrs. Ewell’s lawyer, interrogates Tom Robinson. During the testimony Dill starts crying and Scout and Jem have to escort him out of the building. On page 266 Dill says, “I don’t care one speck. It ain’t right, somehow it ain’t right to do ‘em that way. Hasn’t anyone got any business talking like that –it just makes me sick”(Lee 266). Dill is saying that the reason he started crying is that Mr. Gilmore was treating Tom Robinson poorly, and disrespectfully. Dill then says, “Well Mr. Finch didn’t act that way to Mayella and old man Ewell when he cross-examined them. The way that man called him ‘boy’ all the time an’ sneered at him an’ looked around at the jury every time he answered-”(Lee 266). Here Dill is saying that the way that Mr. Gilmore was calling Tom Robinson ‘boy’ when he is really a man made him just sick. Dill also couldn’t stand that Mr. Gilmore wasn’t even looking at Tom when he was responding to the questions; this shows that Dill is taking notice of Mr. Gilmore’s contempt toward Tom. This scene relates to when Atticus says that Maycomb should have a police force of children. Adults, since they have been alive longer, have had more time to accumulate bad habits or racist thoughts. And kids who haven’t been influenced as much, because they just haven’t been on this earth long enough, will see right and wrong more clearly. That is why Dill is the only one who starts crying when Tom Robinson is mistreated. Everyone else in the courtroom finds the racism between Mr. Gilmore and Tom Robinson normal because they are all are under the influence of whites being better than blacks.
Do you agree with Atticus's comment on having a police force of children? Why or why not?
At the courthouse Mr. Gilmore, Mrs. Ewell’s lawyer, interrogates Tom Robinson. During the testimony Dill starts crying and Scout and Jem have to escort him out of the building. On page 266 Dill says, “I don’t care one speck. It ain’t right, somehow it ain’t right to do ‘em that way. Hasn’t anyone got any business talking like that –it just makes me sick”(Lee 266). Dill is saying that the reason he started crying is that Mr. Gilmore was treating Tom Robinson poorly, and disrespectfully. Dill then says, “Well Mr. Finch didn’t act that way to Mayella and old man Ewell when he cross-examined them. The way that man called him ‘boy’ all the time an’ sneered at him an’ looked around at the jury every time he answered-”(Lee 266). Here Dill is saying that the way that Mr. Gilmore was calling Tom Robinson ‘boy’ when he is really a man made him just sick. Dill also couldn’t stand that Mr. Gilmore wasn’t even looking at Tom when he was responding to the questions; this shows that Dill is taking notice of Mr. Gilmore’s contempt toward Tom. This scene relates to when Atticus says that Maycomb should have a police force of children. Adults, since they have been alive longer, have had more time to accumulate bad habits or racist thoughts. And kids who haven’t been influenced as much, because they just haven’t been on this earth long enough, will see right and wrong more clearly. That is why Dill is the only one who starts crying when Tom Robinson is mistreated. Everyone else in the courtroom finds the racism between Mr. Gilmore and Tom Robinson normal because they are all are under the influence of whites being better than blacks.
Do you agree with Atticus's comment on having a police force of children? Why or why not?
I agree with Atticus's humorous comment of having a police force of children and think he is addressing a larger issue. Children haven't been polluted by the corrupt system of justice in the 1930's, their minds underdeveloped, making this lack of knowledge a fair system of justice. I believe this related to why Dill cracked when he saw the poor treatment of Tom Robinson on page 165, "That old Mr. Gilmer doin' him thataway, talking so hateful to him." Why not Scout of Jem? Scout and Jem have already broken the barrier of underdeveloped minds thanks to Atticus. Dill has just been overwhelmed by this new unjust, corrupt, racist world he has just been opened up to.
ReplyDeleteDill cries because he feels that it is unfair for Tom Robinson to be treated differently than the other people that are being questioned and on trial. This relates to Atticus's comment about having a police force of children as well as the racism and future of Maycomb. Dill cries because he hasn't been exposed to racism such as the attitudes of Mr. Glimmer and other town folk. Although the town has always been racist and has been through worse times, Dill, along with the new generation have not experienced racism and are growing up with new beliefs and equal rights. When Atticus talks about the police force of children, he is talking about the moment Mr. Walter Cunningham decided to walk away from the jail and Atticus all because Scout made him realize what he was about to do and how the one decision would change the life of his children as well as his own. Atticus was saying that children were the future and that children can make even adults think about their actions and decisions. Dill did not realize it but he opened a new door to the future and the past by reacting differently to how Tom Robinson was being treated than the rest of the observers at the courthouse.
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