Essay On Empathy In To Kill A Mockingbird

Scout feels compassion for Boo when she realizes all the things that he has done for Jem and her.

Jem’s relationship with Scout changes as he matures in the story. He goes from a fellow conspirator and playmate for his sister to her protector, resembling Atticus more and more with every chapter. In chapter 4, they are playing a game enacting what they perceive Boo Radley to be like. Atticus interrupts the game and inquires whether the game was about the Radley’s or not. Jem lies, saying no in response. In page 40, Scout yells in confusion and Jem remarks, “Shut up! He’s gone in the living room; he can hear us in there.” This shows his mischievous behaviour and the fact that he is still

At the beginning of the novel, Boo Radley, Scout’s neighbor that never came out of his house, was a terror to Scout. She couldn't understand why he never came out because she hadn't learned how to see things from other’s points of view. “Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough” (Lee 374). At the end of this novel, Scout understands how Boo saw the world and why he didn't come out until he needed to save Jem and Scout. Just standing on the Radley porch made her realize this but without learning the lesson beforehand, she would have never thought to even look at the world form Boos point of

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.

Jem finally connects the dot and realizes that it was Boo Radley that gave them the objects. Jem is confused and seems to be conflicted with his realization. Scout narrates, “Jem was holding his ears, shaking his head from side to side. ‘I don’t get it, I just don’t get it—I don’t know why, Scout…’” (69). He has two views in his mind, a child’s one and an adult one. With the realization that Boo Radley, the childhood monster of his, has been giving him nice gifts, he has also realize that Boo Radley isn’t actually a monster. His previous beliefs of Boo is conflicting with his newfound realization. However, Scout, a child, doesn’t understand and can’t make the same connection as Jem. She asks Jem, “How do you know it’s a man? I bet it’s Miss Maudie—been bettin‘ that for a long time,” when Jem writes, “Dear Mister,” on the thank you card (69). Scout can’t connect it to Boo Radley like Jem can because in her mind Boo is still the monster of the neighborhood, and to her, it’s impossible for the monster to have done nice deeds. Then, later in the chapter, the only connection to Boo Radley the children had is blocked as the tree hole is cemented by Nathan Radley. When Jem asks Mr. Radley why he blocked it, he simply says that it’s because the tee is sick; however when Jem ask his father whether the tree was sick,

Jem refuses to admit it, but he is terrified of Boo and the horror stories that lurk around him. When Dill challenges him to knock on the doors of the Radley Place, he unsurprisingly follows through because “he loved his honor more than his head” (13). The importance of preserving his reputation and pride overpowers his fear. After the incident, Jem becomes more assertive and constantly boasts about his accomplished feat; he believes that it was an act of bravery, conquering something that no one else dared to do. Dill incessantly tests Jem’s willingness to take on new risks and the Boo Radley Game is invented. The children mock Boo in front of the entire town on a daily basis, and Jem believes he is proving a point by doing a harmless, comical thing. Atticus catches them in the action, yet “[he] hasn’t said [they] couldn’t, therefore [they] could...Jem had thought of a way around it” (41). Like most kids, Jem is brutally honest and goes off of what he hears and what is in plain sight. His doings are prompted by the innocence he still has as well as his lack of exposure to the darker sides of the world. He is unable to make higher-level connections or construct advanced ideas about his environment yet, showing that he is no more mature than the next child.

Scout, Jem, and Dill work many summers to try to get Boo to come out of the Radley house for the first time in many years. Jem had been told many things about Boo in his short years in Maycomb, and he tells his sister Scout about the ‘monster’, saying, “Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that’s why his hands were bloodstained—if you ate an animal raw, you could never wash the blood off. There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most of the time” (chap. 1). Jem’s ideas about Boo are very biased toward rumors that can be heard around Maycomb. This shows how Maycomb’s people often judge before they know, seeing as no one has seen Boo Radley in over twenty years and people are prejudiced to believing the unknown is always bad. Prejudice and rumors can often not be trusted and Boo Radley is no exception. After Miss Maudie’s house catches fire and half the town rushes outside to watch it burn, Atticus tells Scout, “someday you should thank him for covering you up” then Scout asks, “Thank Who?” And gets a response from Atticus, “Boo Radley. You were too busy looking at the fire, you didn’t even notice when he put the blanket around you” (chap. 8). Boo Radley is not really a bad person, he

1) Atticus is an empathetic person who tries to make sure people are treated equally, and in the case of his children, that people should grow up and make a positive difference. Atticus shows his empathy by telling Scout to try to understand what Miss Caroline is going through. Harper Lee is trying to show that with empathy, everyone benefits, and there would be less hate and injustice. Atticus says, “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 is telling Scout to look at the world through Miss Caroline’s eyes, to see why Miss Caroline reacts the way that she does. Atticus believes that if Scout can see how scared Miss Caroline is, with teaching a new school in a new way, then Scout can understand what makes Miss Caroline act the way that she does. When Scout asks Atticus why he is angering the town by defending Tom Robinson, he says that he must, or else he would no longer be reputable. Atticus says, “Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win.” (Lee 101) Atticus leads by example, and that if he did not hold himself to the same standard that he wants Scout and Jem to be at, then he is no better than the rest of the town. He knows that he is going to lose, but wants to show his children that it is important to do the right thing no matter the consequences or result, and

At the beginning Scout thought Boo Radley was a scary old man who is chained up in his basement and eat squirrels. They heard stories like he was cutting a newspaper and ended up stabbing his father in the leg. Since then their friend Dill has been working with them to retrieve Boo from his home. Jem and Scout have been getting gifts from Boo in an oak tree knothole and they think that’s his way of communicating with them. But when Mr. Radley filled the hole with cement the children experienced another time with Boo when Mrs. Maudie's house was on fire and out of the blue Scout had a blanket around her that wasn’t there. Towards the end of the chapter, Jem and Scout found themselves in a hassle after walking home from the pageant. Jem got broke

At the beginning of the story, Jem and Scout was young , childish and lacked the ability to see things from other's point of view. From the children's point-of-view, their most compelling neighbor is Boo Radley, a man that always stay in his house and none of them has ever seen. During the summer , they find Boo as a chracacter of their amusement. They sneak over to Boo house and get a peek at him. They also acting out an entire Radley family. "Jem parceled out our roles: I was Mrs. Radley, and all I had to do was come out andsweep the porch. Dill was old Mr. Radley: he walked up and down the sidewalk andcoughed when Jem spoke to him. Jem, naturally, was Boo: he went under the frontsteps and shrieked and howled from time to time"(chapter 4). Eventually , Atticus catch them and order

Empathy- The ability to understand and share the feelings of another. To Kill A Mockingbird, a novel by Harper Lee, has many valuable themes. Several themes are developed throughout the storyline. One prominent and recurring theme throughout the novel is the idea that you have to try to understand others and think about how their lives are. Several characters in the novel tell the children to put themselves in someone else’s shoes before they judge or make assumptions about him or her. One example of when Atticus Finch shows empathy is when he says, “Jem, see if you can stand in Bob Ewell’s shoes for a minute. I destroyed his last shred of credibility at that trial, if he had any to begin with. [...] so if spitting in my face and threatening me saved Mayella Ewell one extra beating, that’s something I’ll gladly take. He had to take it out on somebody and I’d rather it be me than that houseful of children out there” (Lee 292). Empathy is shown through Link Deas, Atticus Finch, and Arthur “Boo” Radley’s effect on Scout’s life.

She starts doubting the words of others. She starts wondering if Boo is not locked in the house, but stays there of his own volition. A choice he makes to avoid the tyranny of the world that is outside. The relationship really climaxes, unsurprisingly, when Boo saves Jem and Scouts life from Bob Ewell. At this moments Scout realizes he is not a monster, but instead a

Both Scout and Jem become acutely aware of the social divisions and discrimination in Maycomb during the aftermath of the trial, but each responds to it in a different way. While Scout begins the novel as a naive child who basically echoes the opinions of Jem and looks up to Atticus as a role model, she becomes more independent and shows signs of being a lady, just as Aunt Alexandra wanted her to be. An example of this is on page 237, when Scout says ““After all, if Aunty could be a lady at a time like this, so could I.” to show her support for Aunt Alexandra, a dramatic change from the argumentative nature that Scout possesses earlier in the novel. Also, Scout begins to understand the true nature of malice when she sees Bob Ewell in court, and thus, Boo Radley seems to be less of a threat than before. Jem’s changes, however, are surprising because he becomes more emotionally aware and adult because of the trial, as opposed to his confident, idealistic attitude earlier in the book.

In conclusion, throughout the novel Scout and Jem become more understanding of Boo through the interactions that Scout and Jem have with Boo. They learn that he isn’t someone that should be feared, and is in fact quite like a “Mockingbird” in the way that he does nothing to hurt people or children and only wants help them. Through this process Boo grows his “wings” and, as that of a mockingbird, gain his voice. At the end of the novel Scout, Jem, and Boo part as friends of a

Scouts willingness to be unapologetically herself allows her to love herself first, and then others. At one point, Scout’s Aunt Alexandra comes to stay at the Finch household in Maycomb because Atticus and Alexandra “decided it would be best for [Scout] to have some feminine influence.” (Lee 170). Scout disagrees with this idea, but keeps quiet. While Aunt Alexandra is staying in Maycomb, she constantly has Scout speak with her friends, but usually regrets it when she see Scout “mud-splashed or covered with sand.” (Lee 176). Scout, however, has no shame in being dirty from playing. This separates her from most girls, but she does not care. Scout’s acceptance of her own quirks allows her to be open about many things, such as wearing britches under her dress at her Aunt’s party. Scout’s acceptance also allows her to accept other people. At the end of the novel, Scout shows compassion gained through self acceptance and acceptance of others to Boo Radley, a man who usually scares her. Scout walks Boo home, all the while holding his hand, even though she had run past his house many times in her life. This action shows not only compassion but also personal growth. The self acceptance that SCout develops through coming of age allows her to be compassionate towards those who previously frightened