Compassion In To Kill A Mockingbird

The most basic objective of life is to stay alive. The probability of death occurring within one 's lifetime is 100% guaranteed. Death is unavoidable, but the inevitable can be postponed. The urge to survive has supplied humans with the two traits of empathy and compassion. Empathy is the ability to walk in someone else’s shoes and see things from their perspective. Compassion is what helps us survive. Compassion is acting on the insight gathered from empathy, compassion is helping others, but it is not done without the underlying promise that the act will be returned. This is where right and wrong originate from. Morality is a means of survival, the morally permissible choice will keep you alive longer, people will like you and want to protect

Atticus, Scout’s father, is appointed as Tom Robinson 's lawyer. This creates a conflict in the usually quiet town of Maycomb. Some angry men of Maycomb confront Atticus at night in the form of a mob. They want to kill Tom Robinson and they make it clear that they won’t let Atticus stop them. Scout runs to her father 's aid and speaks out to a familiar face she finds within the mob, “Don’t you remember me, Mr. Cunningham? I’m Jean Louise Finch. You brought us some hickory nuts one time, remember?”(Harper pp.205). In the small county of Maycomb, everyone knows one another. The mob that confronted Atticus did not consist of strangers. It consisted of familiar faces; neighbours and family friends that could be traced back by generations. Scout unknowingly uses this to her advantage and pressures Mr.Cunningham to make the morally right decision. In the end Mr. Cunningham displays moral courage by calling off the mob.

Harper Lee creates the theme of moral courage through the use of setting and characters. By placing the story in a racist small town county of Alabama in the 1930’s, Harper Lee provides racial tension that drives the majority of the novel 's conflict. The characters refusal to conform to the morals of those who surround them effectively support her theme. This novel proves that moral courage goes against human instinct, that it doesn 't aid in survival. The most basic