Chapter 20 Chapter Twenty

"Come to me, boy. I'll give you something to drink to clear your stomach." Mr. Dolphus Raymond was not a good man, and I was most reluctant to accept his invitation, but I went with Dill anyway.I thought to myself that Atticus might not be happy if he knew we were so close to Mr. Raymond, and as for Aunt Alexandra, she wouldn't approve of it 100 percent. "Here," he said, handing Dill the paper bag with the straw in it, "take a big sip, and you'll be fine." Dill took a sip from the straw, a smile spread across his face, and he took a big sip. "Hey." Mr. Raymond obviously took it as a pleasure to encourage children to be bad.

"Dill, you have to be careful." I warned him. Dill let go of the straw and grinned. "Scout, it's just Coca-Cola." Mr. Raymond sat up against the trunk of the tree.He had been lying on the grass just now. "You two little guys, you won't reveal the secret to me, will you? Telling it out will ruin my reputation." "You mean you never drink Coca-Cola out of a paper bag? Pure Coca-Cola?" "Yes, ma'am." Mr. Raymond nodded.He smelled good, a mix of leather, horse, and cottonseed.He had those English riding boots I'd only seen him wear by himself. "That's pretty much all I drink."

"So you're just pretending... Excuse me, sir," I cut off hastily, "I didn't mean to..." Mr. Raymond chuckled, without seeming angry at all, and I tried to put it in a less presumptuous manner and asked again: "Why did you do that?" "Why - oh, see, you're asking me why I'm pretending? Well, it's very simple," he said, "some people don't like the way I live. Now I can say, let them go to hell , I don't care if they like it or not. In fact, I did say I didn't care if they liked it or not - but I didn't say to hell with it. Got it?"

Dill and I said in unison, "I don't understand, sir." "You see, I'm giving them a reason. It's easier if people can put things down to a reason. I rarely come into town, and when I do show up, if I'm wobbly, Drinking something from this paper bag now and then, they can say that Dolphus Raymond is a prisoner of whiskey - so he won't change his mind. He can't help himself, that's why he lives that way .” "It would be dishonest, Mr. Raymond, and would make you look worse, and you are already enough..." "Even if it's dishonest, it's good for others. Miss Finch, I don't drink very much privately, but you know, they'll never, never understand—the reason I live like this , because that’s the way I want to live my life.”

I was like, I shouldn't be here, listening to this evil guy rambling on—he has a lot of mixed kids and doesn't care if people know, but he's so fascinating.I have never seen a man who deliberately pretends to be depraved to ruin his image.But why did he tell both of us his deep-seated secret?I voiced my doubts. "Because you're children, and you can understand," he said, "and because I just heard that..." He raised his head towards Dill: "His nature hasn't been destroyed. When he grows up a few years later, he won't feel disgusted, and he won't cry about it. Maybe, all kinds of things will make him He—feels wrong, but he won't cry anymore, and he won't cry about it in a few years."

"Crying for what, Mr. Raymond?" Dill's manly self-esteem began to rise again. "Crying over the suffering that some people cause to other people - they don't even think about it. Crying over the suffering that white people cause to black people, they don't even stop to think that black people are human too." "Atticus says it's ten times worse to lie to a black man than to lie to a white man," I whispered, "and he says it's the worst thing a man can do." Mr. Raymond said: "I don't think it's... Miss Jean Louise, you don't know your father yet, he's a different man, it's going to take you a few years to realize that—you don't know him yet." You haven't seen much of the world, and you haven't even seen this town. But what you're going to do now is go back to court."

This quote reminds me that we almost missed the entirety of Mr. Gilmour's cross-examination.I looked at the sun, which was sinking hurriedly behind the roofs of the row of shops on the west side of the square.I was torn between whether to stay and chat with Mr. Raymond or go back to the Fifth Circuit. "Come on, Dill," I finally decided, "are you all right now?" "It's all right. Nice to meet you, Mr. Raymond. Thank you very much for the drink too, it worked." We sprinted all the way back to the county hall, up the steps, up two more flights of stairs, and squeezed in sideways against the railing.Luckily Reverend Sykes had reserved a seat for us.

There was silence in the courtroom, and once again I wondered where the babies had gone.Judge Taylor's cigar had turned into a little brown blob; Mr. Gilmour, sprawled across the table, was scribbling something hastily in his yellow notebook, as if to compete with the court reporter, while Mr. The court reporter's hand was also flying up and down like a chicken pecking rice. "Too bad luck," I muttered, "we missed it." Atticus was in the middle of his statement to the jury.On the table in front of him was a stack of papers that he seemed to have just taken out of the briefcase next to the chair, and Tom Robinson was flipping through them.

"...without any definite evidence, this man has been accused of committing a capital crime and is undergoing a trial to decide his life..." I poked Jem. "How long has he been talking?" "He just went over the evidence," Jem said in a low voice. "We're going to win, Scout. I don't see how we can lose. He talked for about five minutes, very plain and simple, just like I It's the same as your explanation. Even you can understand it." "Mr. Gilmore..." "Hush—he's nothing new, just the same old thing. Keep quiet." We looked downstairs again.Atticus was speaking with the same ease and detachment he had when he dictated the letters.He paced slowly up and down before the jury, and the jurors seemed to be listening intently: their heads were up, their eyes followed Atticus's with what seemed to be admiration.I guess it was because Atticus never yelled impassionedly.

Atticus paused, and what he did next could be described as extraordinary—he took off his pocket watch and fob, put them on the table, and said: "I beg the permission of the court..." Judge Taylor nodded, and Atticus then did something unprecedented for him, which I have not seen since, either in public or in private: He unbuttoned his waistcoat, He unbuttoned his collar, loosened his tie, and took off his coat.On weekdays, he always dresses neatly and meticulously, and only takes off his clothes before going to bed. From our point of view, his current appearance is no different from standing naked in front of everyone.Jem and I exchanged a terrified look.

Atticus put his hands in his pockets and walked back to the jury.I saw his gold collar button, pen cap, and pencil tip gleaming in the light. "Gentlemen," he said, and Jem and I exchanged glances.His tone was like calling "Scout", without the original rigidity and monotony, nor the detachment and indifference.He walked slowly before the jury, as if he was standing on the corner next to the post office, chatting with his neighbors. "Gentlemen," he said, "I will try to be brief, but I would like to spend the rest of my time reminding you that this case is not difficult to decide. It does not require rigorous screening and examination of complicated facts, but it does require You convict the defendant after you have removed all reasonable doubt and are 100% sure. First of all, this case should never have been heard in court. This case is as simple and clear as black and white. "The prosecution has not produced a shred of medical evidence to prove that the crime Tom Robinson is accused of actually happened. On the contrary, this allegation is based on the testimony of two witnesses for the prosecution. The evidence they presented not only The cross-examination was full of loopholes and was categorically denied by the accused, who was innocent and guilty by someone who appeared in court today. "For the main witness of the prosecution, I have nothing but sympathy, but I cannot allow her to put a person to death because of pity, and the purpose of her painstaking efforts is to get rid of her own crime. "Gentlemen, I say crime, because it was crime that caused her to act. She did not commit a crime, she just violated a deep-rooted law in our society. The law is very strict, and whoever breaks it is doomed. Deported as an alien. She is a victim of extreme poverty and ignorance, but I can't sympathize with her because she is white. She knows she is wanton, but her desire is so strong that she knowingly commits it and insists on going Violated the law. She insisted on her own way, and her subsequent reaction is known to everyone. She acted like a child's behavior-she tried to cover up her guilt. However, in this case, she It's not a child who secretly hides stolen contraband, but wants to kill her victim-if she has to, she must deal with that person, and she must make him completely out of her sight and from the world. Disappear. She must clear her evidence. "What's her incrimination? Tom Robinson, a living creature. She has to get rid of Tom Robinson. Tom Robinson reminds her every day of what she did. What did she do ?She seduced a black man.? "She was a white man and she went to seduce a black man. Her behavior is unspeakable in our society - she kissed a black man. Not a black uncle, but a young and strong black man. In violation of this Before the first social law, she didn't care, but afterward she suddenly collapsed. "It was discovered by her father, and the defendant mentioned it in her statement of facts. What her father did, we do not know, however, there is some circumstantial evidence that Mayella Ewell had Beaten up by a man who is mostly left-handed. We know a little about Mr. Ewell's actions: that's what any God-fearing, tough, dignified white man would do under the circumstances What was done—he charged under oath, which prompted the police to issue an arrest warrant, and signed, no doubt, with his left hand. Now, as Tom Robinson sits before you, he swore under oath The only hand he could use well--his right hand. "This quiet, respectable, humble black man, out of sheer recklessness, developed 'sympathy' for a white woman and ended up having to confront two white men in court. The behavior of those two witnesses on the stand Saw it all with my own eyes and needs no reminder. With the exception of the Maycomb County Sheriff, the witnesses for the prosecution displayed before you gentlemen, and before the whole court, an air of supercilious confidence that their testimony would not be judged. Questioning, confident that gentlemen will share the same assumptions they make--the shameless assumption that all Negroes lie, that all Negroes are inherently immoral, that all Negroes behave in the presence of white women, that It is closely related to their spiritual quality. "Gentlemen, we all know that the assumption itself is a lie, a lie as dark as Tom Robinson's skin, a lie that I don't need to expose to you. You all know the truth, and the truth is: Some Negroes lie, some Negroes are immoral, and some Negroes behave badly around women—whether black or white. However, this truth applies to all human beings, not just a particular race. In this There is no man in court who has never lied, no man who has never done something immoral, and no man who has not lusted after any woman." Atticus paused, took out his handkerchief, took off his glasses and wiped it. This was another "first" we witnessed: we had never seen him sweat—he was the kind of man who never had a face. Sweating, but at this moment his tanned face was greasy. "Gentlemen, before I close my remarks, I would like to touch on one more subject. Thomas Jefferson once said, 'All men are created equal,' a favorite phrase used by the Yankees and the wise men of the Washington Executive to attack us. .In this year, that is, 1935, many people took this sentence out of context and applied it everywhere, and even formed a trend. The most ridiculous examples I can think of are those public education administrators. Stupid and lazy students go on as much as bright and hard-working ones because 'all men are created equal' and educators will tell you seriously that children who repeat a grade develop a strong sense of inferiority. We all know that some We are taught that 'all men are created equal' is actually a fallacy - the truth is that some men are smarter than others, some men have more opportunities than others because they are born that way, some men have more opportunities than others Men make more money, some women make better cakes than others - all in all, some people are inherently more gifted and talented than most ordinary people. "But in this country all men are, in a sense, created equal—there is a human institution that makes a beggar the equal of a Rockefeller, a fool the equal of an Einstein, Let the crude and ignorant stand against the president of the university. Gentlemen, this institution is the courts-whether it be the highest court of the United States federal government, or the lowest magistrate's court, or this noble and sacred court that you serve now. Our courts. Our courts are flawed, as are all institutions of society, but, in this country, our courts are the great egalitarians. In our courts, all men are created equal. "I am not an idealist, and I am not a firm believer in the perfection and impartiality of our courts and our jury system—they are, to me, not ideals, but living conditions at work. Courts, gentlemen, are no more Any member of the jury sitting before me is more impartial. A court is only as perfect as its jury, and a jury is only as perfect as each of its members. I have every confidence in gentlemen that you will Re-examine the testimony you have heard with a rational eye and reach a verdict that reunites the accused with his family. In the name of God, do your duty." Atticus' voice grew low, and as he turned from the jury back to his place, he said something else that I didn't catch.He spoke more to himself than to the court.I poked Jem: "What did he say?" "'In God's name, trust him.' I think that's what he said." Dill suddenly leaned over me and tugged at Jem. "Look over there!" We looked in the direction of his fingers, and our hearts sank—Calpurnia was walking down the middle aisle, straight toward Atticus.