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Roscoe Conkling “R.C.” Crowley
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:
).
Chapter 19
Quotes
“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?”
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“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.”
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Get the entire It Can’t Happen Here LitChart as a printable PDF.
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:
).
Chapter 19
Quotes
“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:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
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:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
