Harper Lee's novel To Kill A Mockingbird shows that whilst knowledge is important, empathy is an equally important character trait to have. The narrator Scout develops empathy throughout the novel, and Harper Lee champions this as her growing into an adult. The schoolteacher, Miss Caroline, is portrayed as a villain in the novel, because she has no empathy despite her knowledge. Finally, Atticus is seen as the hero and he carefully balances his broad knowledge with empathy and understanding.

Harper Lee uses the character Miss Caroline, a schoolteacher, to highlight that knowledge without empathy, is not necessarily valuable. Whilst Miss Caroline is shown to be clearly knowledgeable, being a schoolteacher, she is shown to lack any empathy towards