In most of the United States, people who drink alcohol in public places are required to hide their bottle in a paper bag. In To Kill a Mockingbird,...

Dolphus Raymond is an intriguing minor character in To Kill a Mockingbird. Harper Lee introduces us to him outside the courthouse before the trial as a man "drinkin' out of a sack'" (163) who has "'a colored woman and all sorts of mixed chillun'" (163). In this short description, Lee leads us to believe that Raymond is some sort of social outcast, one who is hopelessly addicted to liquor and who has no part in "civilized" society.

Lee subverts this idea when Dill and Scout actually speak with Raymond later on in the afternoon. At this point, the children discover that Raymond is actually drinking Coca-Cola, rather than whiskey (202), and seems to be a kind, sober, responsible family man. Raymond explains his deception by claiming:

When I come to town, which is seldom, 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, that why he lives the way he does. (203)

With this explanation, Mr. Raymond gives us an insight into the psyches of the citizens of Maycomb. They can't understand why a sane white person would want to live with the black community, and so they need a reason to explain this "scandalous" lifestyle, such as insanity or, in Raymond's case, drunkenness. By discovering Raymond's carefully veiled lifestyle, we're given yet another example of Maycomb's racism.