Dill cries because he was so horrified at the treatment of Tom Robinson at the hands of Mr. Gilmer. Mr. Gilmer was in the middle of Tom's cross-examination, and Scout had to take Dill outside because his sobs were a distraction to the rest of the court. Scout thinks that Dill hasn't recovered from running away yet, but in truth it is so much more than that. Dill says that "it was the way he (Mr. Gilmer) said it made me sick, plain sick," (Lee 266). The interesting thing about this scenario is that although Dill is brought to tears, the rest of the spectators just continue listening and watching the trial. Dill has led a pretty sheltered life and this has helped him maintain his innocence and naivety, and he has yet to become accustomed to the cruelties of the adult life. The behavior of Mr. Gilmer was extremely disrespectful and rude, calling Tom Robinson "boy" and giving him dirty looks, but the crowd was so used to this course of action that they just took it for granted. The crowd doesn't think that they have enough power to change the way humans treat other humans, when in reality, they do. Dill hates that nobody else cares, and is disgusted and ashamed at the rest of the audience. Dill's reaction relates back to Atticus's comment about having a police force of children by just reinforcing the idea that children are much more open minded than adults. Adults have had more personal experience, and are more likely to be biased and opinionated than children who have led sheltered lives, and just know the basic morals of right or wrong. It depends on the situation, but in the particular one, it almost seems that being less experianced and naive helps children maintain their moral standards better than adults.
If you were watching the trial, how would you react? Do you think Dill was over reacting and it was ridiculous of him to cry, or did he have good reason?
Dill had a good reason to cry during the trial, as he had never heard this strong language before, and was letting his feelings about it come out. He did not agree with how rudely Mr. Gilmer was treating Tom Robinson, and how no one in the audience seemed to care. As Mr. Raymond said, Dill was “crying about the simple hell people give other people . . . cry about the hell white people give colored folks, without even stopping to think that they’re people too” (Lee 269). Dill had to cry, or else he would have not been able deal with this new experience with racism. This disrespect in the trial helped him understand and learn about racism, and how awful people treat others. After getting his emotions out by crying, Dill was able to move on and go back into the courtroom to hear the verdict.
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