To Dill a Mockingbird essay Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings with others. In To KIll a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, there are many characters who show the quality of empathy. A few examples are the main characters Jem, Atticus, and the narrator Scout Finch. They are all asked to show empathy throughout the book. One of the characters that shows empathy is Jem Finch. Jem is growing up to be a fine young man who learns how to put himself in others shoes or empathy. “Atticus is a gentleman just like me”(Pg.131). As Jem is coming of age he finds that he prefers to do things the way Atticus does. He likes the way Atticus thinks-logically, fairly and justly. As he starts to do things the way Atticus does he begins to understand why Atticus does the things he does. He realizes that with so many racists and harmful people in the world let alone Maycomb county there should be someone who should set a good example for others and how humans should act around eachother no matter how different they are. Jem wants to be fair and set a good example for Scout to also be fair. Jem shows empathy toward Walter Cunningham. For example, “Walter looked as if he had been raised on fish food...he fingered the straps of his overalls, nervously picking the metal hooks.”(pg.30) Jem had to rip Scout off of Walter after scout blaming him for making scout have a bad impression on the new teacher the first day of school. Jem looks at walter and sees him for more than the cunningham boy who smells and doesn't eat lunch. Jem looks at him and thinks, wow look at this boy who did nothing wrong and this girl is beating him up for no reason. These are only two examples of empathy from the character Jem Finch. Another character who shows empathy is Atticus. “I destroyed his last shred of credibility. So, if spitting in my face and threatening me saved Mayella one beating that’s something i’ll gladly take.”(Pg. 292) Atticus has empathy for Mayella. He knows taking a spit to the face is taking Bobs anger out on him instead of having Mayella be beat. He also feels for Bob. He knows he made every one look down on Bob now even more than they did before. Not only is Bob now in the lowest class but now an abusive father.
Sympathy is understanding between people as well as sharing a common feeling for one another. “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view- until you climb into his skin and walk around in it. (Lee 39)” Atticus defines sympathy by saying: “Consider things from his point of view.” Throughout To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Atticus shows Jem and Scout that you can get along with everyone if you sympathize with them, not for them. The novel follows the young kids, Jem and Scout as they mature during a time of the Great Depression in a small town called Maycomb, in Alabama. Throughout this time, as they grow as people they learn important lessons
Scout does not like all of the prejudices in the town, and world, all shows a lot of empathy for how young she is in this quote, “I think there's just one kind of folks. Folks,” (304) Atticus, Scout, and minor characters show the importance of empathy. Atticus always thinks about how people feel, scout shows empathy throughout the novel, especially at the end, and some minor characters show some empathy. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee demonstrates the importance of empathy.
“You never really understand a person until you consider things from their point of view-until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” (p.30) The novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee includes a plethora of essential themes that make one think deeply. The story takes place in the 1930’s when segregation tensions were high. The narrative is told through the eyes of a young girl, Jean Louise (Scout) Finch. Scout’s father, Atticus is a lawyer fighting a case for an African American man named Tom Robinson. Throughout the novel, both Scout and her older brother Jeremy (Jem) Finch learn many life lessons that are crucial for all children to learn about. One fundamental lesson learned by the children, is the lesson of having empathy.
In conclusion, To Kill A Mockingbird has many examples of how characters show empathy to other characters. In this novel, one of the main themes or lessons Lee tries to teach the reader is empathy for others. To judge a person, you must walk in his “shoes” or “skin”. Throughout the novel, Atticus, Jem and Scout Finch mature and start showing empathy more and more and to more and more people. If it weren’t for empathy, no one would have defended Tom Robinson. A wise person told me many of our lawyers today as kids they decided to be lawyers because of Atticus Finch’s heroic
Empathy can be defined as making a connection to someone during a situation. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, empathy is a main part in some of the characters’ lives. Without empathy, the novel would lack many components that make the main characters, Jem and Scout, who they are.
Empathy is the theme which connects the reader with the characters in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird; the experiences of the characters in this novel show us the significance of empathy as a theme. Harper Lee writes about the experiences which Scout and Jem undergo in learning to be empathetic, while Atticus and Tom Robinson are two of the key characters who, at the time of the novel already possessed the ability to be empathetic.
In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Lee evokes compassion in the audience to help them better understand the world and take action. In my opinion, authors can best evoke compassion or empathy in their audience by developing strong characters that experience conflicts. This can be seen in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and “Statement on the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.”. It is first shown in the book when Atticus is given Tom Robinson’s trial, and then again when Ms. Dubose overcomes her addiction to morphine. It is also proved in “Statement on the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.” when Robert F. Kennedy states that Martin Luther King, Jr. has been murdered.
Throughout Harper Lee’s novel, ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, empathy is learned and demonstrated in the characters lives. It is one if the novels defining themes as Lee’s character, Atticus teaches it to his children, Scout and Jem. His children are also taught it by Tom Robinson, a person that Atticus is defending in law.
One major theme in To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is that empathy can change how one reacts to his surroundings. In chapter three, protagonist Scout has a bad day at school. She asks Atticus, her father, to homeschool her after she has disagreements with both Burris Ewells and Walter Cunningham. However, Atticus tells her that “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view-until you climb into his skin and walk around in it” (39). Atticus says this to Scout so she can reevaluate the situation and have a more realistic view, however, what he said can be applied to everyday life. To understand the feelings of another is to see the world through their eyes. Only through this can true connection be developed. Empathy creates bonds and friendships between individuals, and when Atticus says
Many characters in To Kill a Mockingbird demonstrated empathy throughout the novel. Atticus strived to understand what other people were going through in all situations.
Human interaction is important in today's society. It allows each of the species to communicate and share what they feel. But, wny for people struggle with the concept of empathy? To Kill A Mockingbird is a great example of the struggles of empathy. People struggle with empathy because they have different experiences. Characters who show this are Scout, Mayella, and Aunt Alexandra.
In the third chapter of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird Atticus proclaims that “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view . . . until you climb into his skin and walk around in it” (P. 39). By including this statement Lee presents to us the idea of empathy and that, in the words of author Madeleine L’Engle in her book A Wrinkle in Time, ‘people are more than just the way they look’. Applying this concept to some of Lee’s characters in the book can teach us invaluable
According to Merriam Webster, the definition of sympathy is an affinity, association, or relationship between persons or things wherein whatever affects one similarly affects the other. Sympathy is shown all throughout the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by, Harper Lee. To Kill a Mockingbird is set in a small, lonely town called Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930s. To Kill a Mockingbird is about two kids named Scout and Jem. Scout and Jem’s father, who they call Atticus, took a case to defend a black man. The black man named Tom Robinson was accused of raping a girl named Mayella. Throughout the novel, Tom is treated unfairly because he is black. Tom does not get a fair trial and is later accused of raping Mayella, even though all the evidence pointed to her father, Bob Ewell. During this novel, Scout and Jem learn that the world is not as innocent as they thought. Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird sympathy is shown through putting yourself in someone else’s situation. The characters that sympathy is shown to are Tom Robinson, Boo Radley, and Mayella Ewell.
In to Kill a Mockingbird harper lee demonstrates to the reader the importance of empathy mainly through the action and advice of Atticus. An example of this would be when Atticus said "you never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view...until you climb into his skin and walk around it" to scout (33). This quote teaches students the basics of empathy and how to look at things at others point of view. In addition, the advice Atticus gives in this quote is direct, easy to understand and is crucial towards student understanding on how to develop a good relationship with someone. Empathy can
Another example that illustrates the dangers of a lack of empathy is the oppression that society enforces on the entire African American community. There is a plethora of instances of the unfair societal rules and apathetic treatment of the black community as a whole, especially with a setting in Alabama in the 1930s. An example of this is the unjust and ignorant mindset, which was incredibly prevent at the time, that stereotyped all African American people as immoral and subhuman. Most of society did not find it necessary to try to understand, sympathize with, or care about the black community, and this made it easy to categorize all black people as second class citizens. This depicts the message of the story, because it shows how a lack of empathy can lead to the systemic oppression of an entire group of people. A quote that illustrates this is when the text explains Atticus’s point that the Ewell’s case is based on, “The assumption---the evil assumption---that all Negroes lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral beings, that all Negro men are not to be trusted with our women,” (232). This quote illustrates that many people assume that black people are beneath them, without ever offering sympathy or understanding. It directly states how evil and dangerous this assumption can be, and in this case it even got a man killed. Furthermore, one more quote that demonstrates this point is when the text states Atticus’s dialogue, “You know the truth, and the truth is: some