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Empathy In To Kill A Mockingbird Essay

1982 Words8 Pages

The Meaning of the Mockingbird Innocent people, expunged by the viciousness of the world. Starting to develop empathy for others is something that goes along with your maturity level, but a lot of people fail to learn it. In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the moral of the story was to show that the mockingbird symbolizes innocence and a lack of empathy. “Killing a mockingbird is a sin” (119). This basically means that harming something or someone that doesn’t do anything wrong, is a sin. In the book, cruelty and vehement behavior were more visible when someone not deserving of being attacked, is attacked. The mockingbird had its own beauty that shouldn’t be messed with. “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy” (119). The aggression of the story was due to the fact that people didn’t have empathy …show more content…

Since Atticus was teaching not only his children, but also his enemies empathy, people started to change for the better. After the trial, people started to see what Bob Ewell was truly capable of, and he lost the little bit of respect the town had for him. People started to empathize for Tom Robinson, realizing that he was actually innocent and that he didn’t deserve the punishment he received. For example, Tom Robinson pitied Mayella and it added to the reason of why he was convicted. Being a black man, it was wrong for him to pity someone “above” him, even if she was a squalid, poor white girl. Miss Maudie showed empathy towards Scout, Atticus, and the black people. She stays loyal to Atticus’s side throughout the trial and doesn’t let anyone change her ideas, even though people try to convince her otherwise. When she is comforting Atticus after the trial, she makes a valid point. “The jury took a couple hours. An inevitable verdict, maybe, but it usually takes ‘em just a few minutes” (297). Since the jury took so long, it meant that some white men actually believed Tom was

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