Dill witnesses Mr. Gilmer cross examine Tom Robinson on the stand. Gilmer is not only hateful and sneering in his conduct and questions, his racism is blatant. At one point Gilmer says, "Are you being impudent to me, boy?" His question sounds very threatening. Tom is used to dealing with men like Mr. Gilmer and plays he role he is expected to play, deferring to Gilmer.
The ugliness and injustice of the whole scene makes Dill physically sick. He tries to explain his feelings to Scout: "It ain't right, somehow it ain't right to do'em [African-Americans] that way. Hasn't anybody got any business talkin' like that." Scout doesn't understand, but Mr. Dolphus Raymond, sitting nearby, does understand. He tells Dill, "You aren't thin-hided, it just makes you sick, doesn't it?"
Dill's unhappy family situation may have made him especially sympathetic to someone else's pain.
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