Empathy In To Kill A Mockingbird

Empathy is one of the most fundamental things that keeps society is a whole functioning today, but it is often overlooked when considering people's own interests. However, this scarcely talked about topic is something that is brought up repeatedly throughout the award winning novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee that is told through the perspective of its main character, Scout Finch. This story shows the importance of why Scout needs to learn empathy , how she learns it, and how Scout uses empathy.

Scout was always quick to judge the people around her; this is especially evident during the beginning of the novel when she talks about the town reject, Boo Radley and a poor boy, Walter Cunningham. During her summer, Scout would hold

Jem would break up the pummeling and invite Walter to lunch at their house as compensation. During their meal, Scout would be horrified when Walter poured molasses over his food and Scout would ask what the “sam hill”(24) he was doing which caused their house maid and motherly figure, Calpernia, to bring her aside. Calpernia would chastise Scout saying that Walter was a guest and that she shouldn’t judge him for the way he eats but Scout would retort, “He ain’t company, Cal, he is just a Cunningham.”. These scenes show the lack of understanding Scout has for the others around

Atticus would allude to what happened at lunch saying “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it”(30). He would tell Scout that if she had come to empathize with Ms Caroline that her offer to Walter would have been an honest mistake because she didn’t know the town’s ways. When Scout brings up the fact that the Ewells, who were a notoriously animalistic and racist family even for the time, also didn’t have to go to school, Atticus would argue back saying that it would be silly to bring people like them into a learning environment after generations of doing the contrary (which is a whole other character analysis I don’t feel like writing). Atticus would bring up that they were also permitted to hunt out of season, which was also very illegal in their county but the Ewell father, Bob Ewell, spent all of his money on alcohol and that Bob was forced to hunt to feed his children and Atticus would emphasize that even though what Bob was doing was wrong that Scout shouldn’t place that same disapproval on his children for that fact even though