Aras Dilley Character Analysis in It Can’t Happen Here

Aras Dilley is a poor dairy farmer who later becomes a Squad Leader in the Minute Men. Like many down-and-out Americans, Dilley initially supports Buzz Windrip because he thinks that Windrip will personally make him rich. He ends up being right: his buddy Shad Ledue gets him a lucrative job. Dilley helps execute Fowler Greenhill, spies on the New Underground, and finally becomes a guard at Trianon—where he takes a bribe from Lorinda Pike and helps Doremus Jessup escape. Dilley’s actions show how many people support fascist governments like Windrip’s out of pure self-interest—like Windrip himself, Dilley has no real principles, besides his thirst for power and money.

Aras Dilley Quotes in It Can’t Happen Here

The It Can’t Happen Here quotes below are all either spoken by Aras Dilley or refer to Aras Dilley. 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:

“The tyranny of this dictatorship isn’t primarily the fault of Big Business, nor of the demagogues who do their dirty work. It’s the fault of Doremus Jessup! Of all the conscientious, respectable, lazy-minded Doremus Jessups who have let the demagogues wriggle in, without fierce enough protest.

[…]

“It’s my sort, the Responsible Citizens who’ve felt ourselves superior because we’ve been well-to-do and what we thought was ‘educated,’ who brought on the Civil War, the French Revolution, and now the Fascist Dictatorship. It’s I who murdered Rabbi de Verez. It’s I who persecuted the Jews and the Negroes. I can blame no Aras Dilley, no Shad Ledue, no Buzz Windrip, but only my own timid soul and drowsy mind. Forgive, O Lord!

“Is it too late?”

Related Characters: Doremus Jessup/William Barton Dobbs (speaker), Berzelius “Buzz” Windrip, Aras Dilley, Oscar “Shad” Ledue, Rabbi Vincent de Verez

Page Number and Citation: 186

Explanation and Analysis:

“Cut the cackle, will you, M. J. [Military Judge]? I’ve just come here to tell you that I’ve had enough—everybody’s had enough—of your kidnaping Mr. Jessup—the most honest and useful man in the whole Beulah Valley! Typical low-down sneaking kidnapers! If you think your phony Rhodes-Scholar accent keeps you from being just another cowardly, murdering Public Enemy, in your toy-soldier uniform—”

Swan held up his hand in his most genteel Back Bay manner. “A moment, Doctor, if you will be so good?” And to Shad: “I should think we’d heard enough from the Comrade, wouldn’t you, Commissioner? Just take the bastard out and shoot him.”

Related Characters: Dr. Fowler Greenhill (speaker), Effingham Swan (speaker), Doremus Jessup/William Barton Dobbs, Aras Dilley, Oscar “Shad” Ledue

Page Number and Citation: 195

Explanation and Analysis:

Aras Dilley Character Timeline in It Can’t Happen Here

The timeline below shows where the character Aras Dilley appears in It Can’t Happen Here. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Shad Ledue’s outlaw friend Alfred “Snake” Tizra, the unkempt dairy farmer Aras Dilley , Lorinda Pike’s business partner Mr. Nipper, and Emil Staubmeyer all giddily tell Doremus Jessup... (full context)

...voted against Windrip is a traitor and should be jailed. Jessup sees Shad Ledue and Aras Dilley marching with the parade, and Francis Tasbrough following it in his car. Later that night,... (full context)

Political Communication and Mass Media Theme Icon

...Jessup worries about Emma and Lorinda. He realizes that one of the Minute Men is Aras Dilley , but Dilley pretends not to recognize him. Jessup enters the courthouse and jail building... (full context)

...Emma and Lorinda, and he wonders how Lorinda’s case went in court. Just after midnight, Aras Dilley wakes Jessup up and leads him to the courtroom. Jessup notices that Dilley has ruined... (full context)

Lorinda Pike and Mr. Nipper leave the courtroom, and Aras Dilley joyously tells Jessup that the judge has given Nipper total control over the Tavern. Then,... (full context)

...be free. Fed up, Judge Swan orders Greenhill to be shot. Shad Ledue agrees, and Aras Dilley drags Greenhill outside. There are several gunshots and a terrible scream. (full context)

...him. Louis Rotenstern and Buck Titus come over to spend Christmas with the Jessups, but Aras Dilley visits after dinner and drags Rotenstern away for questioning. The next day, Jessup learns that... (full context)

...following him on his route to Titus’s house. When Dan Wilgus arrives, he reports that Aras Dilley was prowling around outside the house in disguise. Jessup, Wilgus, Titus, and Father Perefixe dismantle... (full context)

...the guards’ dirty secrets, so they actually treat him well and bring him gifts. When Aras Dilley gets transferred to Trianon, even he starts bowing down to Karl Pascal. (full context)

...by treating her as a hero. She also tells Sissy that she will be bribing Aras Dilley to help get Doremus out of Trianon and into Canada. A few days later, Lorinda... (full context)

Doremus Jessup wants nothing more than to escape. One day, to his surprise, Aras Dilley tells him that Lorinda Pike is plotting to get him out. Dilley makes a hole... (full context)