TKAM: Dill and Francis Relationship 12/1-12/5

Pages: 144 out of 281
Prompt: Pick a pair of characters and describe the similarities and differences between the two. What relationship do they have Scout and how does it effect her?


                            Similarities and Differences between Francis and Dill

       The first major similarity between these two characters is their age in which they are about 7 years old. In the first few chapters I noticed that Dill was a bit bossy and he likes to tease other people , especially Scout. I also noticed that they are a bit bossy when it comes to play most notably Francis during the family reunion. The boy Francis always wants to do something in which Scout disapproves this indicates that he is bossy. We see this when the author says "he enjoyed everything I disapproved of, and disliked my ingenious diversions." I'm starting to think that they become in common when they start to push away Scout in some sort of way. Dill does this when he starts to ignore his old pal Scout. The author says "Dill was becoming something of a trial anyway, following Jem about." The major difference between the pair is of course their personality because one is extremely mean and other some sort of nice. We could easily know another difference which is that Francis is family and Dill is a friend. Francis seems to criticize people a lot by saying "You're mighty dumb sometimes, Jean Louise. Guess you don't any better, though." He also says something about Dill which is "If Uncle Atticus lets you run around with stray dogs, that's his own business." Francis is being extremely angry with Scout, but Dill is sweet and passionate when it comes to talking about Scout. The letter he sent during chapter 12 shows that what Dill feels for Scout is true love, we see this when he sends a letter. Scout mentions "Dill concluded by saying he would love me forever and not to worry, he would come get me and marry me as soon as he got enough money together, so please write." Overall the similarities are being bossy and pushing Scout away. The differences are their personality and feelings towards Scout.

                             Scout's Relationship with Dill and Francis

When we compare the relationship between this pair of characters with Scout we can easily see that Francis is a foil and Dill is Scout's alter ego. The reason behind this is that Dill and Scout love the same things such as learning about Boo Radley or going on an exciting adventure, with this information we can see that he is an alter ego of Scout.  On the other hand  with Francis we know that they are foils due to the reason that they don't like the same things, Scout even mentions that he likes the things she disapproves of.

     We know from the first few chapters that Dill is best friends with Scout and Jem. He seems to be the excitement in the children's lives and the reason why summer is their favorite season. On the other hand Francis isn't that exciting. Scout describes him as being the most boring person in the world and selfish after calling Atticus harsh names. During the middle of chapter 9 we get to see that the relationship between Scout and Dill goes to a whole new level. They don't consider themselves friends, but in fact fiances. The true feelings that Scout has over this character is seen when she mentions " with him life was routine;without him, life was unbearable. I stayed miserable for two days." Scout shows that she is sometimes inspired by Dill, this is described in the early pages of the book in which Dill comes for the first time to Maycomb. She says "thus we came know Dill as a pocket Merlin, whose head teemed with eccentric plans, strange longings, and quaint fancies." The relationship with Francis is the total opposite since Scout mentions that she truly hates this character even more than Aunt Alexandra. She says "talking to Francis gave me the sensation of settling slowly to the bottom of the ocean. He was the most boring child I ever met." Francis might be her relative but she still loves Dill more than him. She even defends her fiance when Francis says "lets you run around with stray dogs." Scout gets extremely angry and even goes and punches her own relative. We can clearly see that she has a terrible relationship with Francis.

                       What Effect Does Dill and Francis Have on Scout?

    Since Scout and Dill are already fiancees this tells me that her friend is showing her how to grow up. I'm predicting that after chapter 15 they start to act like mature adults instead of putting plays and trying to figure out the Boo Radley mystery. I have a feeling Dill teaches her how to have love for other people instead of fighting with them all the time, although Atticus actually teaches her that lesson. In the beginning of chapter 12 she starts to act more mature by expressing her love for Dill, even though she still acts like child even after this chapter. She describes his kisses by saying "summer was the swiftness with which Dill would reach up and kiss me when Jem was not looking." Another reason is that Dill brings adventure into the life of both children. He makes Scout a bit more courageous and brave. Dill was the one who came up with the idea of investigating Boo Radley which created a spark of excitement in Scout's daily routine. Scout mentions "Dill gave us the idea of making Boo Radley come out." In several occasions Scout says that she is miserable without Dill, during chapter 2 Scout says "we saw him off on the five o'clock bus and I was miserable without him." Francis is the base and main reason why Scout decided to fight with her words instead of her fists. The night before the Christmas reunion Atticus tells her daughter than she must learn how to control her anger towards other people. Scout's relative was the reason she stopped fighting because she finally realizes that her fighting causes huge pain to her father. Before the holiday party Atticus says "you just hold your head high and keep those fists down. No matter what anybody says to you, don't you let 'em get your goat." We first see that she locks Francis in a closet then he makes her lose her temper which results in a brawl. The quote that supports this statement is "Franics looked at me carefully, concluded that I had been sufficiently subdued, and crooned softly. Black lover..." Then Scout says "this time, I split my knuckle to the bone on his front teeth." She not only disappoints her father but also her Uncle Jack when he says "I'm disappointed in you -you had that coming aand you know it." After this fight Scout never punches anyone or hits them except for his brother Jem but he deserved it. We can see that he had a huge effect on her which is sort of positive since she is learning how to grow up.

 

This quote is summing up the relationship between Dill and Scout and the effect it had on her. She seems to choose her own family by saying that in a few years she will get married with Dill. If I were to explore the mind of Scout, I would infer that she would rather choose her family instead of being with her given family. We already know that she dislikes her Aunt Alexandra and of course Francis. If she were to choose I think she would choose Dill, Calpurnia, and Miss Maudie. 

This week I will comment on Stanley, Gustavo, and Sarai's Blogs.