Centeno's Sympathy

Carl Rogers describes empathy as the ability to sense the client’s world as if it were your own. Sanders (1999)

The author’s narrative, ripe with horrifying descriptions, is nonetheless told with compassion appealing to the emotions of the audience

When defining the possible limitations of the “Empathy and (Film) Fiction”, it is in high priority to consider the experimental set in the research and the film examples Neill provides in the essay. The set of examples the author uses in the essay does correspond only to the award-winning or highly-rated films that are assumed to be “good” in evoking the empathetic or any other emotional response. This excludes possible alternative response to “bad” or “not-so-good” films. In addition, Neill does not cover many other cases of the empathetic response to the fictional character; thus he ignores the complex set of emotions the audience usually expresses (e.g. the antagonist as the main character, disgusting scenes etc). As a result, deficiency of the elaborate experimental set generates more questions in the issue. At the same time, however, the strength of

To begin with, the sense of empathy for the man is formed by including his point-of-view and a description of his character. One of the first examples of these techniques is when he finds the snake and states, “My first instinct was to let him go his way.” From this thought the reader can tell that the man has no inclination of killing the snake at first and did not see him as any sort of immediate threat. With the author’s decision to write the passage in the first person perspective of the man it has a crucial impact of skewing details to reflect off of his perceptions, allowing for a better insight on the character. Another example that helps the readers empathize with the man is when he reveals his views on a potential killing by mentioning, “I have never killed an animal I was not obliged to kill.” Although all that the man says is that he will only kill an animal if necessary, by choosing to inform the

Authors empower our understanding of the world through compassion and empathy. Meaning to make readers share and understand the feelings of another. In “Harvest Gypsies” by John Steinbeck the author informs of two families and their tussles for survival.In the same manner, Kevin Starr in his excerpt titled “Endangered Dreams” tells of a family and their daily troubles. Both taken place during the great depression they both depict the hardships of migrant families trapped in poverty. While Dorothea Lange helped readers perceive the poor living conditions of the 1900’s through her photo, John Steinbeck helped evoke the most empathy through his descriptiveness, straightforward style, and listing of dramatic events.

Empathy is having the ability to understand the feelings of others often through connecting our own experiences to those around us. “Wildwood” by Junot Diaz follows the journey of the main character, Lola. Lola is a rebellious teenager living with her mother and younger brother in New Jersey. Lola's mother who is battling breast cancer, must deal with Lola and her defiant ways. Lola’s mother sends her away to live in the Dominican Republic to learn how to be a mature young woman. Every kid can relate to wanting to go against their parents rules and Lola is no different. The reader can relate to Lola through her common experiences that many deal with. Diaz uses first person to allow the reader to experience the perspective of Lola through her narration. He makes it easy to relate to as the story follows something that everyone has been through, growing up. Rebellion is a natural characteristic of maturation, although difficult for the parents it allows children to learn from their mistakes. Junot Diaz’s short story, “Wildwood” uses teenage rebellion and common feelings, to challenge stereotypes which allows the reader to easily sympathize with the story.

• empathy is created as we grow fond of the protagonist who shares a story of hardship

The major characteristics of the narrator and main character, Montresor, are anger, hatred, and revenge. In the story, he is angry with Fortunato because he believes that Fortunato has wronged and insulted him many

What is it about literature that makes people more empathetic? Empathy defined is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. Similarly, the word compassion expresses the idea of expressing sympathy or concern for those who are suffering. Literature forms an empathetic compassion in the reader to comprehend others’ life challenges, and it sparks a drive in the reader to conquer their own trials.

Cyrano's actions and the resulting emotional response from the reader, then, portray him as an individual. During this age of romanticism, this was considered to be the "chic" thing to do. Here we have the feeling of the fashionability of Cyrano's actions. He is a moral leader which the people look up to.

Empathy is vital to trust- but what if that understanding is absent, or if sympathy is not given as needed? Such is the case of The Grapes of Wrath, where class differences rule over a turbulent and aggressive rivalry. The novel follows the struggling lower class, oppressed by the corrupt upper class, who cannot understand their hardships. This lack of understanding and willingness to sympathize with the lower class boosts tensions and further emphasizes differences between the classes, leading to the primary conflicts of the story. Through the use of juxtaposition and point of view in his novel, The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck shows that the upper class lacks the empathy to relate to the struggles of the lower class.

(TS)In the novel The Elephant Man, by Christine Sparks, Treves has sympathetic qualities towards other characters especially Merrick because of inability to support and defend himself. (CD)First, Treves discusses Merrick’s Mother with him, and Merrick becomes sad. Treves feels sorry for Merrick and says, “Oh but she’s… Mr. Merrick, she’s beautiful!” (Sparks 164). (CM)Treves feels sympathetic for Merrick because tragically, Merrick’s mother dies. (CM)Treves compassion for Merrick contributes to his character and how he plays a role in the book. (CD)Secondly, again Treves shows sympathy towards Merrick when Merrick’s mother’s name came up once more. Treves reassures Merrick by stating, “No, Mr. Merrick, no. No son as loving as you could ever

Elroy, for example, is a minor character who only appears in “On the Rainy River”, yet within this specific story he is irreplaceable. Elroy represents a God-like figure in O’Brien’s life while he tries to decide whether he wants to flee the war and go to Canada or follow his duty to Viet Nam. Elroy is significant because his relationship with O’Brien does not have ulterior motives. He seems to help O’Brien come to a decision without persuading him towards one side or the other. He is simply there to support him. O’Brien’s intention for including Elroy in the novel is to show that everyone needs someone who is supportive of them no matter what. People just need someone to be there for them. The problem is, few people can actually live up to this holy standard. This idea presents itself later in the novel. It is why so many men, like Norman Bowker, have trouble after the war. There is

Society is built upon a foundation of norms, but not all individuals adhere to said norms, some are outliers. If the actions of an individual causes pain onto another, society defines that the normal reaction for that individual would be to exhibit a state of empathy, but this is not always the case, as there are those who do not feel or exhibit the normal psychological reactions to differing scenarios (sociopaths). As individuals’ progress and experience obstacles in their lives, they become familiar with the different aspects of their mind, such as their persona, shadow, and self, ultimately achieving individuation. In

Most definitions of empathy are based on the same core idea - empathy is the ability to understand and identify someone else’s thoughts and feelings, as if they were one’s own (wordreference online dictionary, 2016). Although it’s been said “there are probably nearly as many definitions of empathy as people working on the topic.” (de Vignemont & Singer, 2006, p.435) suggesting that there is no singular way to even define empathy, let alone explain its impact on our behaviour. Due to the sheer depth and complexity of empathy it’s understandable that each discipline within psychology presents it’s own explanation for why we experience it, and how it can affect our interaction with the world around us. Psychologists have been exploring empathy for decades, in hope of gaining a complete grasp of what it means and how it can vary between each person, therefore its important we look at different psychological perspectives to try to understand it’s many dimensions.