Examples Of Empathy In To Kill A Mockingbird

Throughout history, people have used racism to discriminate and antagonize others, based on the belief that their own race is superior. They have also come to their own opinions or prejudices based on no reason or actual experience, but rather their individual preconceptions of a person. Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. To simplify, it means being able to put yourself into someone else’s shoes. Within the first part of To Kill A Mockingbird, quite a few instances of racism and prejudice arose. However, it is made very clear that the author is showing that empathy is the solution for racism and prejudice. Tom Robinson represents a case of racism in Maycomb County. He is an African-American man, who the

Dubose is a character in To Kill A Mockingbird, which many people chose to view her as a nasty old woman, without allowing themselves to know who she really was, and this is the danger of prejudging someone. Scout said, “Jem and I hated her. If she was on the porch when we passed, we would be raked by her wrathful gaze, subjected to ruthless interrogation regarding our behavior, and given a melancholy prediction on what we would amount to when we grew up, which was always nothing (Lee 132).” But once again, they didn’t know everything about her. They didn’t know that she was actually sick and this was one of the causes of her harsh behavior towards them. If they had let go of their prejudices of her, it is possible that they could’ve learned about her illness, rather than judging or commenting about her, and tried to help her. And with empathy, they definitely would have viewed her differently. This is confirmed later on in the book, when Jem, one of the many who had a prejudice of her, showed remorse after finding out that she had both had an illness, and died. Upon Atticus giving him the flower, a gift from Mrs. Dubose, “In a flash Atticus was up and standing over him. Jem buried his face in Atticus’s shirt (Lee 148).” This goes to show that when knowing the whole truth about someone, whether it being sad, pleasant, etc., people have a better chance of feeling a stronger emotion towards them, considering they know better

Atticus Finch is another example of this. He has empathy towards both Tom Robinson and Mrs. Dubose, and because of this, he shows no racism or prejudice. “This case, Tom Robinson’s case, is something that goes to the essence of a man’s conscience --Scout, I couldn’t go to church and worship God if I didn’t try to help that man (Lee, 139).” This illustrates that Atticus feels a sense of self-pressure to help Tom Robinson, and that if he didn’t at least try, he couldn’t live with himself. Another example of this was proven earlier on when he talks about how he knew he was going to lose the case, yet it was no reason not to try anyways. He has empathy, and with that ability to put himself in Tom Robinson’s shoes, he understands the importance of giving someone the closest thing to fairness as possible. Atticus also feels obligated to know and to have his children know the total truth about Mrs. Dubose. “I wanted you to see something about her --I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand (Lee, 149).” Atticus knew Mrs. Dubose. He understood what was wrong with her and that she was struggling, and instead of judging her, he helped her and had his children help her. Atticus has empathy, and therefore shows no racism or