# To Kill A Mockingbird. Dill. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 10, 2001, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird-dill/86510 "2001-10-10T04:30:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![d12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/71c47a/32.png) [@d12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/d12)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird-dill/86510/1 "2001-10-10T04:30:31Z")
I need to do a character sketch on Mr. Charles Baker Harris, only problem is it’s hard to find information on Dill because he isn’t exactly a “main” character. Would you Dopers be kind enough to provide me with physical, personality, and emotional traits that he has (with examples from the book). Thanks in Advance. Justin K. ---
**Author:** ![andygirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@andygirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andygirl)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird-dill/86510/2 "2001-10-10T04:33:59Z")
Sucks when you put off your homework, doesn’t it? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![acconav](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f4b2a3/32.png) [@acconav](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/acconav)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird-dill/86510/3 "2001-10-10T05:28:52Z")
so… you want us to spend a couple hours basically rereading a book that most of us probably haven’t read in years, and do your homework for you? come on. if you have a more general question, you’ll probably get a better response. ---
**Author:** ![andygirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@andygirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andygirl)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird-dill/86510/4 "2001-10-10T05:36:10Z")
One more thing. If you go to a bookstore and buy Cliffs Notes, the clerk won’t make fun of you. We will. Incidentally, my first reaction to your post was to write up a detailed character analysis of Dill, referencing the book, the movie, and the play, all of which I dearly love. I would do this just to see what your teacher’s reaction would be to read about how Dill is in fact a 6’3 20-year-old from San Diego with an anxiety disorder. This is a public service announcement via Brick-In-The-Face Subtlety. ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird-dill/86510/5 "2001-10-10T05:40:58Z")
Dill was a very serious, unimaginative, and morose child for his age, due to the recent death of his mother. Scout was always trying to get him to do more than sit on the porch of the house he is staying at, with little success until later in the story. I believe Dill was added as contrast to the outgoing nature of Scout, and possibly as an example of the type of child who grows up to be the bigoted and closed-minded Southerner, as opposed to Scout’s father, who is her role-model and whom she will most likely resemble when she gets older. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird-dill/86510/6 "2001-10-10T13:08:50Z")
Oh, this is rich. It’s “hard to find information” on Dill. I guess it didn’t cross your mind to read the book carefully, noting all the details about Dill when he’s mentioned or shows up. Anyway, I always wondered why a Norwegian kid like Dill was always wearing lederhosen, and why he was so obsessed by Manhattan jewelry stores. ---
**Author:** ![Legomancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/779978/32.png) [@Legomancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legomancer)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird-dill/86510/7 "2001-10-10T13:36:44Z")
Dill gets a suit of power armor in Chpater 14. He and Boo Radley then go after Lex Luthor, who it turns out is after the oil underneath Scout’s home. Later, Dill runs for governor, but loses to Charles Foster Kane. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird-dill/86510/8 "2001-10-10T13:41:32Z")
Dill went on to lend his name and fortune to making adulty novelty toys. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird-dill/86510/9 "2001-10-10T14:01:25Z")
Somebody e-mailed me to come yell at the “Do My Homework For Me!” guy, but you guys are a stitch. Please carry on. Didn’t Dill become the sex toy of the famous aging Hollywood star, Cornichon Pickles Gherkin? ---
**Author:** ![Slacker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@Slacker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slacker)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird-dill/86510/10 "2001-10-10T14:27:12Z")
Actually, I’m fairly certain that Dill went into business selling _merkins_ door to door. Now that’s a tough job! ---
**Author:** ![screech-owl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@screech-owl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/screech-owl)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird-dill/86510/11 "2001-10-10T14:40:05Z")
Aw jeez, now I gotta go back and re-read the book (and write these little tidbits in the margins) Cool. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird-dill/86510/12 "2001-10-10T14:43:05Z")
FWIW, the character of Dill is actually based on Truman Capote; he and Harper Lee were childhood friends; his first book, Other Voices Other Rooms is a very different book than Mockingbird, but has a similar setting and features a Scout-like (Harper Lee-like) character, Idabell, IIRC… But, if you haven’t done your homework, coming out with this type of reference isn’t exactly going to make a lot of sense… ---
**Author:** ![andygirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@andygirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andygirl)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird-dill/86510/13 "2001-10-10T19:46:06Z")
I would have loved the book were it not for that bizarre love triangle between Dill, Atticus, and the maid. What was Harper Lee thinking? ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird-dill/86510/14 "2001-10-10T20:07:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by WordMan \* > \*\*FWIW, the character of Dill is actually based on Truman Capote; he and Harper Lee were childhood friends; his first book, Other Voices Other Rooms is a very different book than Mockingbird, but has a similar setting and features a Scout-like (Harper Lee-like) character, Idabell, IIRC… > \*\* Hey! We all would have pointed this out, but we deemed it to be FAR too helpful. YOU CROSSED THE LINE! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird-dill/86510/15 "2001-10-10T20:12:06Z")
If memory serves me correctly, Dill used his lengthy earnings from the novelty bidness to pursue his true passion, horticulture. Dill uses hydroponic hose from shredded Firestones to make some kind of killer weed… now what’s that shit called? ---
**Author:** ![Ivorybill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ee59a6/32.png) [@Ivorybill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ivorybill)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird-dill/86510/16 "2001-10-10T20:17:45Z")
> [@](#): > > …to make some kind of killer weed… now what’s that shit called? Erm \ that would be the **Macomb Bake-em**. Thank you folks! I’ll be here all week! ---
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird-dill/86510/17 "2001-10-10T20:25:39Z")
> [@](#): > > Dill used his lengthy earnings from the novelty bidness to pursue his true passion, horticulture. In fact, Dill coined the phrase “you can lead a horticulture, but you can’t make her think,” and started scrawling it upon bathroom walls throughout the midwest. ---
**Author:** ![Ivorybill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ee59a6/32.png) [@Ivorybill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ivorybill)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird-dill/86510/18 "2001-10-10T20:45:06Z")
I forgot to mention that Dill’s **Macomb Bake-em** profits started cutting into the Ewell’s market for corn-likker and home-grown Macomb County weed. This naturally upset the Ewells, and they started to plot Dill’s demise. Calpurnia helped Dill by funneling money to her friends and relatives. They formed a posse to protect Dill and Dill’s market from the Ewells. Tom Robinson was a leader of the posse, but miscalculated when he went to shake-down the Ewells. You know the rest, he was accused of rape so as not to blow the cover on the Ewell’s likker and weed bidness. Man. I love that book. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird-dill/86510/19 "2001-10-10T21:01:33Z")
Come on, guys, the kid needs help. Don’t tell me you never put off your homework. Seriously, though, D12, what suprised me was when I found out that Dill was really Boo Radley’s little brother. That’s why he hid the evidence that it was really Boo Radley that raped Maybelle Ewell, and arranged it to make people believe that it was Tom Robinson. I shouldn’t have given that away, though, if you haven’t read the book yet. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird-dill/86510/20 "2001-10-10T21:17:44Z")
Dill? Slobbery little baby, last name a’ Pickles? Big brother Tommy, and cousin Angelica? I watch way too much Nickelodeon. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird-dill/86510.md?page=2)