Empathy in To Kill a Mockingbird “I think we all have empathy. We may not have enough courage to display it.”-Maya Angelou. This connects with many people as they see what is happening all around them and have empathy, but they can’t show it. In my first selection, “To Kill a Mockingbird”, by Harper Lee, the story's main character, Jem Finch, slowly develops empathy as she grows and finally matures at the end of the book. In my second selection, “Statement on the Assassination of Martin Luther King” by Robert F. Kennedy, is the deceased former US Attorney General delivering a speech to the people of Indianapolis, and informing of the recent death of Martin Luther King. Out of these two, I strongly believe that Harper Lee is able to show the …show more content…
Textual Evidence Throughout the whole story, we see many stages of Scouts growing empathy. In chapter 1, when Dill is introduced, Scout without thinking, “Asked Dill where his father was,”(Lee 8). Later in the book, we can observe that Jem was attempting to “mash”(Lee 273) a rollie pollie as she had no empathy for it. But finally, at the end of the novel, Scout finally “sees the neighborhood from [Another] angle.”(Lee 320) . In the first 2 examples of the novel, we see Scout being rather unthoughtful and unempathetic as she did not think of who or what she was hurting. Through that, in the last example, after she gets saved by Boo Radley and walks him home, she finally steps in Boo Radley’s shoes and looks at the neighborhood in his eyes, consequently gaining empathy for …show more content…
In the novel, the symbol of the Mockingbird is quite an important part of the story and final plot, being brought up, most importantly, in 2 very important scenarios. The first instance is in chapter 10 when Addicus reminded Jem and Scout that “[Its] a sin to kill a mockingbird.”(Lee 103) and later in chapter 30, when Scout compares the mockingbird to Boo Radley and even comments that “it’d be sort of like shootin’ a mockingbird”(Lee 317). The introduction of this symbol in chapter 10, foreshadows the future conflicts and plots as again Atticus explains that mockingbirds are innocent and don't hurt us. Later in chapter 30, while the question of whether Boo Radley should be put on trial, Scout uses what she learned from Atticus, and argues that Boo is like a mockingbird, and innocent, making the reader feel empathy for the innocent Boo Radley. Out of everything, one of the best ways Harper Lee shows empathy, is Arthur Radley, or also called Boo