Empathy Quotes In To Kill A Mockingbird

You never know what someones going through until you step into their shoes and walk around in them. Empathy by definition is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. It is often developed through exposure to other peoples' worlds. Among the many other lessons in To Kill A Mockingbird empathy is one of the most prominent in the book. After reading one can truly come to the conclusion that loss of innocence can lead one to develop empathy, when they see the mistreatment of others. This theme can be seen in the character Scout, the symbol of the knothole, and in medical studies in the real world.

Scout is a great example of a character who while coming of age develops empathy for the mistreated. As Scout is walking with Boo

As Scout was rushing past the Radley place on her way home from school something caught her eye. In fear she approaches it and finds two oak trees, one with gum sticking out of its knot-hole. “My first impulse was to get it into my mouth as quickly as possible, but I remembered where I was. I ran home, and on our front porch I examined my loot. The gum looked fresh. I sniffed it and it smelled all right. I licked it and waited for a while. When I did not die I crammed it into my mouth: Wrigley’s Double-Mint” (37 Lee). This illustrates that Scout was hesitant about taking the gifts in the knothole. Eventually this develops into empathy when she realizes there's a person on the other side of the knothole who is longing for a connection to the outside world. Later in the story the knothole is cemented in. This greatly upsets the children when they realize that whoevers on the other side has gotten their only connection to the outside world taken away. By the end of the story, everything has come full circle and Scout meets the man on the other side of

An article from the National Library of Medicine believes empathy is elevated empathy in adults following childhood trauma. According to Greenberg et al. “Further, the severity of the trauma correlated positively with various components of empathy. These findings suggest that the experience of childhood trauma increases a person’s ability to take the perspective of another and to understand their mental and emotional states, and that this impact is long-standing” (National Library of Medicine). This indicates that in the real world there is evidence of the trauma one goes through correlating with their ability to feel empathy. Just like how Scout learns how to have empathy for others after going through traumas, such as getting attacked by Bob Ewell and getting bullied because of her dads trial. The article includes two studies that test how traumatic experiences that occur during childhood link to empathy levels. This was the conclusion of those two experiments. Studies have proven that “Adversity can lead to posttraumatic growth”, and, “Future research should explore how a person’s increased empathy following a traumatic event may lead them to actually taking action to help others who are experiencing suffering similar to that which they experienced” (National Library of Medicine). This proves that going through a difficult time can change one's