TKAM Character Relationships

Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird has a wide cast of characters, most of them related to each other in some way. Some may have a direct relationship with Scout, while some might not. Those that do may serve as "alter egos" or "foils" for Scout.

I will try to analyze the relationship of one pair of characters, how they are alike or different, and from there, see if one of them acts as a foil or alter ego to Scout. I've chosen Dill and Francis as my subject.

Dill and Francis never interacted with each other directly, although Francis seems to know about the other. He expresses a negative opinion of Dill during Scout's visit to the Finch's Landing. There isn't much more to their actions concerning each other after that.

Dill is crafty, confident, and sensitive, while Francis is... rude. He's not a dirty person, exactly. He's proper and all that stuff. Such a waste, since he acts just like a spoiled child. In my opinion, he's obnoxious. Despite being around the same age, these boys have quite the number of differences. I can't think of any more similarities between them aside from their age and the fact that they can get any material thing that they ask for from their parents.

The only way these two could have any sort of relationship without actually meeting is through a "common medium", aka Scout. Dill is apparently "engaged" with Scout, something that goes on for the duration of the book. Although if Scout's initial treatment of Dill continued for much longer (she beat him up for not paying much attention to her) that wouldn't be the case. In reality, both of them are just close friends.

Francis's relationship to Scout, is something of the opposite. During the time span of Scout's visit, Francis constantly provokes her, challenging her self control, until Scout's mental fortitude breaks and she sends a flying one to his face. Simply put, she hates his guts. That's largely due to the fact that Scout and Francis are complete opposites. For example, Scout usually comes to conclusions on her own, while Francis gets his from his grandmother. Francis is an example of a foil for Scout.

Both Dill and Francis have a huge impact on Scout, even though Dill interacts with Scout over a much longer time period than Francis. Francis has a more obvious effect on Scout, since his provocations ultimately led to Scout getting punished by Uncle Jack. Scout learned an important lesson then (even though I can't grasp in my memory what it was). Dill was a change to Scout's everyday life after appearing one summer. It's possible that events concerning the "Boo Radley timeline" might not have even happened if Dill wasn't present, since he was usually the one who spearheaded any "Boo operations".

To finish this up, I believe that Francis had an immediate effect on Scout, while Dill had a long-term effect. Without both characters, the book would be rather dull.