ipl-logo

Atticus Empathy Quotes

405 Words2 Pages

Empathy”, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary is “The ability to share someone else's feelings”. But, one could easily question if we are even capable to define and constrict such a monumental meaning to a meager little sentence. However, Harper E Lee the author of, To Kill a Mockingbird manages to depict this word throughout this book. This book takes place the 1930s in Maycomb, Alabama where anyone one of African American descent was looked upon with disgrace. This cruelty was presented to the reader conspicuously throughout different instances. However, Lee utilized the character Atticus to try and combat the racism and to be an exemplary man of empathy. One situation that shows this would be Atticus's final statement at the end of the Tom Robinson trial. “I am confident that you gentlemen will review without passion the evidence you have heard, come to a decision, and restore this defendant to his family. In the name of God, do your duty” (Lee 275). In this action, he displays a remarkable …show more content…

At breakfast, Scout, (Atticus’s daughter), feels confused and torn about her feelings regarding Mr Cunningham. Her mixed feelings are due to the fact that he partook in last night’s encounter. So she decides to ask for clarification from Atticus, “I thought Mr. Cunningham was a friend of ours. You told me along time ago he was”, Atticus then proceeded to elucidate that, “He still is” and that Mr. Cunningham is still a righteous and noble man however, “He just has his blind spots…” (210). The fact that Atticus’s approving opinion of Mr. Cunningham hasn't faltered even after enduring the previous night’s event, portrays to the reader that Atticus is practically the personified version of “Empathy.” In other words, he has a very prominent ability to comprehend people’s cognitive thoughts that can lead to regretful decisions or

Show More
Related
363 Words | 2 Pages

Atticus Finch’s final speech to the jury in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird inspires readers of all ages. As any book critic will tell you Atticus gives one of the greatest speeches in literary history in order to defend Tom Robinson. In order to accomplish this feat Atticus applies the three appeals logos, ethos, and pathos.

Read More
420 Words | 2 Pages

Then, there is Jem Finch, also known as just Jem. Jem is exceedingly brave and shows a lot of growth and empathy throughout the novel. Jem is the older brother and he is going through puberty and now he shows it through some of the novel. Growth and empathy are shown various times throughout the novel. “It ain 't right, somehow it ain 't right to do 'em that way.

Read More
1055 Words | 5 Pages

When certain situations happen to people with good morals, they feel empathy for those who do not understand people as easily. In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird, a respectable lawyer and his children are involved in many unique experiences that help them learn necessary life lessons about society during the 1900’s. Scout and Jem learn a particularly important lesson about racial injustice when their father takes on a life-changing case. Upstanding characters show empathy more than others since good morals lead to self-respect and happiness, it allows people to appreciate the good around them. Throughout the novel, exemplary characters like Maudie Atkinson, Atticus Finch, and Scout Finch demonstrate empathy for characters who don’t

Read More
957 Words | 4 Pages

Despite race discrimination around the world, there are still people who overcome and persevere through these challenges - often at great risk to themselves. During the 1930s, in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, a small town called Maycomb held a trial against an innocent African American man accused of raping a Caucasian woman. The reader experiences life in Maycomb through the eyes of ten year old girl name Jean-Louise Finch, Scout. In this case, Atticus Finch, Scout’s father, was assigned to be the lawyer for the accused, Tom Robinson. However, Atticus has integrity and tries his best for Tom even if his own life is at risk.

Read More
800 Words | 4 Pages

To illustrate the black community’s admiration of Atticus, Reverend Sykes and the others in the balcony of the courthouse stand when Atticus passes. They show respect and gratitude towards him then and in the next days in the following ways. The fact that Atticus is defending Tom Robinson is a sizable reason why they respect him greatly. In past reading, Atticus shows that he took this case straight to the heart. Though it does not seem true, it deeply impacts Atticus to his core.

Read More
1119 Words | 5 Pages

Though people are fond of Atticus himself, his decision to aim for Tom Robinson’s justice causes discomfort, “ ‘Lemme tell you somethin’ now, Billy’ a third said, ‘you know the court appointed him to defend this nigger.’ ‘Yeah, but Atticus aims to defend him. That’s what I don’t like about it” (186). The quote exposes that everyone understand the fact that he is assigned to the case but do not understand as to why he is so intent on proving a black man’s innocence. Since Atticus exceedingly expresses his thought on Tim’s innocence and involves so much of himself in the case with a black person, he obtains negative feedback and gets called a nigger-lover.

Read More
705 Words | 3 Pages

Atticus Finch is in many ways the pivotal character of To Kill a Mockingbird. Although Scout narrates, Atticus is the person who drives the story forward, giving the story multidimensional color. On the most superficial dimension, Atticus defends a man falsely accused in the courtroom, and cares for the needs of his family after he dies in an escape attempt. At another dimension, he wins the respect of his children by doing so. Even deeper, we see that he also started to soften peoples’ hearts to the plight of the black people in the community, and won the admiration of the black community.

Read More
788 Words | 4 Pages

Yet alongside those, there are conspicuous demonstrations of racism that would never happen in today's society. Lee illustrates many of these behaviors in her novel. Atticus, one of our main characters, is the white lawyer that decides to defend a black man (Tom Robinson) in court, despite

Read More
723 Words | 3 Pages

The next day Scout and Jem talk with Atticus about the mob from last night and how Walter wanted to kill Atticus even though he was a friend. Atticus says “he just had his blind spots like the rest of us do”, he told them that a mob’s always made up of people, Mr.Cunningham was apart of a mob but that he was still a man. Jem says “so it took an eight year old to bring them to their senses”, Atticus replies “That proves some things that a gang of wild animals can be stopped simply because they’re still human”, He adds on “You children last night made Mr.Cunningham stand in my shoes for a minute, and that was enough” (Lee 210). This is demonstrating empathy because Atticus understands the situation and believes that Mr.Cunning is still a good man and friend even though he had tried to kill him.

Read More
1008 Words | 5 Pages

“You never understand a person until you consider things from their point of view, until you climb into his skin and walk around in it,” is a quote from the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird.” This book is about a family of three, living in a household with the addition of their aunt. This includes Scout (daughter), Jem (son), Atticus (father), and Aunt Alexandrea (aunt). The kids do not call their father by that title, but by his name Atticus. The second part of the book is about a black man on trial who was accused of raping a woman.

Read More
693 Words | 3 Pages

Atticus Finch was a lawyer that had to be exploitive if he wanted to win cases. When he gave a closing argument for the case of Tom Robinson, he had to find a way to persuade his audience. Instead of making his speech specifically about Tom Robinson, Atticus stated that some people of a race may lie, but that is true for all humans, no matter what the color of their skin is. Atticus said 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,” (Lee, 30). He believed that you shouldn’t judge someone’s actions until

Read More
830 Words | 4 Pages

As can be seen, Lee’s usage of Tom Robinson’s trial and the racial discrimination and prejudice seen throughout it helps reinforce the theme of social injustice throughout To Kill A Mockingbird. Another encounter that the

Read More
493 Words | 2 Pages

Paragraph #3 Furthermore, the most reoccurring character trait that Atticus portrays is empathy. For instance, Atticus shows Scout how he understands and share the feeling of others when Scout had trouble adapted to a new teacher in Maycomb. Atticus shows empathy towards Radley family because he understands that rumors relating to the Radley family causes the family a great deal of trouble and unwanted attention from curious youngsters such as Jem, Dill, and Scout. An instance in the novel when Atticus showed empathy towards the Radleys is on page 65 “I’m going to tell you something and tell you one time: stop tormenting that man.” Atticus says this quote to Jem when he was trying to get Boo Radley outside.

Read More
352 Words | 2 Pages

Atticus’ courage is shown in multiple ways through his court actions and his stand against racial discrimination. For instance, as a lawyer, Atticus defends the innocent, despite controversial thoughts of others, this is proven true in the Tom Robinson court case. During this discriminative period, most African Americans brought to court for an accused crime were deemed guilty, despite the clear evidence that proved their innocence. When Jem thought Atticus’ defense of Tom will bring Tom to justice, Reverend Sykes said: “I ain’t ever seen any jury decide in favor of a colored man over a white man”(Lee 279). This proves Atticus’ courage because he chose to fight for a colored man to prove that he is not guilty of an alleged crime, despite knowing the usual outcome of the case and the disapproval he will receive from others.

Read More
817 Words | 4 Pages

“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” is a quote spoken beautifully by a wise man named Atticus Finch. Throughout Harper Lee’s novel, ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, empathy is openly displayed and is a recurring theme. Empathy is the art of understanding or feeling what another person is experiencing from within the other person’s frame of reference. Dill, Scout and Atticus are prime examples of people whom demonstrate this characteristic at some point in the novel. When Scout asks Dill, “Why do you reckon Boo Radley never ran off?”

Read More

More about Atticus Empathy Quotes

Related Topics

Open Document