To Kill a Mockingbird

by

Harper Lee

Charles Baker Harris (Dill) Character Analysis

Jem and Scout’s friend and Miss Rachel’s nephew. Dill comes to stay with Miss Rachel in Maycomb one summer and immediately shows that he’s a prolific liar and storyteller. In his play dramas with Jem and Scout, Dill plays all manner of characters but truly excels at portraying villains. He prefers his own stories to reality, hence his fascination with the Radley Place and with making Boo Radley come out of the house—the thought that Boo feeds on cats and might be dead piques Dill’s interest, which leads to all manner of shenanigans that, in retrospect, Scout realizes were extremely rude. Dill begins to show that he’s sensitive and compassionate, however, when he decides that they need to give Boo a note asking him to come out and sit with them and offering to buy him an ice cream. In the year that follows, Dill begins to suspect that Boo is really very lonely and doesn’t have any friends. Dill himself is very lonely: his mother is divorced and remarries sometime before the novel’s third summer, and now Dill’s parents don’t want much to do with him. He runs away to the Finches because he feels more welcome there than he does at home. During Tom Robinson’s trial, Dill’s sensitivity comes to the forefront and causes him to have to leave the courthouse, as he can’t stomach the rude and racist way that Mr. Gilmer speaks to Tom during his questioning. He’s adamant that it’s horrible to treat any person that way, no matter their skin color. In this sense, Dill truly remains an innocent child throughout the novel, as both Atticus and Mr. Raymond suggest that as children grow, they stop crying when they see injustice like this, and ultimately become either numb to it or go on to perpetuate it themselves.

Charles Baker Harris (Dill) Quotes in To Kill a Mockingbird

The To Kill a Mockingbird quotes below are all either spoken by Charles Baker Harris (Dill) or refer to Charles Baker Harris (Dill). For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Good, Evil, and Human Dignity Theme Icon
).
Chapter 14 Quotes

Dill's eyes flickered at Jem, and Jem looked at the floor. Then he rose and broke the remaining code of our childhood. He went out of the room and down the hall. “Atticus,” his voice was distant, “can you come here a minute, sir?”

Beneath its sweat-streaked dirt Dill's face went white. I felt sick.

[...]

Jem was standing in a corner of the room, looking like the traitor he was. “Dill, I had to tell him,” he said. “You can't run three hundred miles off without your mother knowin'.”

We left him without a word.

Related Characters: Jeremy Atticus Finch (Jem) (speaker), Jean Louise Finch (Scout), Atticus Finch, Charles Baker Harris (Dill)
Page Number: 159-60
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 19 Quotes

“The way that man called him 'boy' all the time an' sneered at him, an' looked around at the jury every time he answered— … It ain't right, somehow it ain't right to do 'em that way. Hasn't anybody got any business talkin' like that—it just makes me sick.”

Related Characters: Charles Baker Harris (Dill) (speaker), Jean Louise Finch (Scout), Tom Robinson, Mr. Gilmer
Page Number: 226
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 22 Quotes

“They've done it before and they did it tonight and they'll do it again and when they do it—seems that only children weep.”

Related Characters: Atticus Finch (speaker), Jean Louise Finch (Scout), Jeremy Atticus Finch (Jem), Charles Baker Harris (Dill), Tom Robinson
Page Number: 243
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 31 Quotes

A boy trudged down the sidewalk dragging a fishing-pole behind him. A man stood waiting with his hands on his hips. Summertime, and his children played in the front yard with their friend, enacting a strange little drama of their own invention.

It was fall, and his children fought on the sidewalk in front of Mrs. Dubose's [...] Fall, and his children trotted to and fro around the corner, the day's woes and triumphs on their faces. They stopped at an oak tree, delighted, puzzled, apprehensive.

Winter, and his children shivered at the front gate, silhouetted against a blazing house. Winter, and a man walked into the street, dropped his glasses, and shot a dog.

Summer, and he watched his children's heart break. Autumn again, and Boo's children needed him.

Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough.

Related Characters: Jean Louise Finch (Scout) (speaker), Jeremy Atticus Finch (Jem), Atticus Finch, Charles Baker Harris (Dill), Arthur Radley (Boo), Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose
Page Number: 320-21
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire To Kill a Mockingbird LitChart as a printable PDF.
To Kill a Mockingbird PDF

Charles Baker Harris (Dill) Quotes in To Kill a Mockingbird

The To Kill a Mockingbird quotes below are all either spoken by Charles Baker Harris (Dill) or refer to Charles Baker Harris (Dill). For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Good, Evil, and Human Dignity Theme Icon
).
Chapter 14 Quotes

Dill's eyes flickered at Jem, and Jem looked at the floor. Then he rose and broke the remaining code of our childhood. He went out of the room and down the hall. “Atticus,” his voice was distant, “can you come here a minute, sir?”

Beneath its sweat-streaked dirt Dill's face went white. I felt sick.

[...]

Jem was standing in a corner of the room, looking like the traitor he was. “Dill, I had to tell him,” he said. “You can't run three hundred miles off without your mother knowin'.”

We left him without a word.

Related Characters: Jeremy Atticus Finch (Jem) (speaker), Jean Louise Finch (Scout), Atticus Finch, Charles Baker Harris (Dill)
Page Number: 159-60
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 19 Quotes

“The way that man called him 'boy' all the time an' sneered at him, an' looked around at the jury every time he answered— … It ain't right, somehow it ain't right to do 'em that way. Hasn't anybody got any business talkin' like that—it just makes me sick.”

Related Characters: Charles Baker Harris (Dill) (speaker), Jean Louise Finch (Scout), Tom Robinson, Mr. Gilmer
Page Number: 226
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 22 Quotes

“They've done it before and they did it tonight and they'll do it again and when they do it—seems that only children weep.”

Related Characters: Atticus Finch (speaker), Jean Louise Finch (Scout), Jeremy Atticus Finch (Jem), Charles Baker Harris (Dill), Tom Robinson
Page Number: 243
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 31 Quotes

A boy trudged down the sidewalk dragging a fishing-pole behind him. A man stood waiting with his hands on his hips. Summertime, and his children played in the front yard with their friend, enacting a strange little drama of their own invention.

It was fall, and his children fought on the sidewalk in front of Mrs. Dubose's [...] Fall, and his children trotted to and fro around the corner, the day's woes and triumphs on their faces. They stopped at an oak tree, delighted, puzzled, apprehensive.

Winter, and his children shivered at the front gate, silhouetted against a blazing house. Winter, and a man walked into the street, dropped his glasses, and shot a dog.

Summer, and he watched his children's heart break. Autumn again, and Boo's children needed him.

Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough.

Related Characters: Jean Louise Finch (Scout) (speaker), Jeremy Atticus Finch (Jem), Atticus Finch, Charles Baker Harris (Dill), Arthur Radley (Boo), Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose
Page Number: 320-21
Explanation and Analysis: