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Examples Of Empathy In To Kill A Mockingbird

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The Contrast of Empathy and Racism

Although Americans follow the same rules and government, there is a clear divide between the priorities of the citizens. As with Americans, in Maycomb, Alabama, there is a clear divide in people’s viewpoints. Some of them are empathetic of others and see everyone with an open mind while others generalize people and can immediately make an assumption about someone from the color of their skin. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, she makes it clear that there are two kinds of people in Maycomb, the majority whom are racist and the select few who are empathic.
Empathy is shown throughout the novel in many situations by the Finch family. In the beginning of the book, Jem, Scout, Dill constantly …show more content…

Because all Jem, Scout, and Dill focused on was getting the attention of Boo Radley, Atticus finally told them his view on their actions, he sternly remarked, “What Mr. Radley did was his own business. If he wanted to come out, he would. If he wanted to stay inside his own house he had the right to stay inside free from the attentions of inquisitive children.” (65) Atticus in this quote is explaining to his children that Boo Radley is not someone to constantly ridicule. It is evident that Atticus feels bad for Boo Radley as Boo hasn’t been able to live a normal life for over fifteen years. He hopes that his children will understand this and leave this poor man alone. Later in the story, after Boo saves the life of Scout and her brother, Scout starts to realize that he wasn’t the malevolent monster she thought he was nd was actually a great neighbor who helped entertain her for multiple summers. She pondered, “Boo was our neighbor. He gave us soap dolls, a broken water and chain, a pair of good- luck pennies, and our lives.” (373) Scout realized the night Bob Ewell almost killed her, that Boo Radley was not a person to fear. As the novel is set in Southern Alabama during the 1930s, racism was either intentionally or unintentionally

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Jem and Scout have always been scared of Boo Radley because they are afraid of the rumors. Everytime Jem and Scout (along with Dill) go to the Radley’s House, they would always try to be brave and get Boo’s attention, but it would always end with them running out in fear. Boo Radley demonstrates the he is actually nice when he gives Jem and Scout gifts from a tree, fixed Jem’s pants, and gave Scout a blanket while she watches Miss Maudie’s firehouse. The readers can see Boo Radley’s genuine generosity from the conversation on page 96, “Someday, maybe, Scout can thank him for covering her up.” “Thank who” “Boo Radley, you were so busy looking at the fire you didn’t know it when put the blanket around you.”

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Empathy, everyone gives empathy for someone eventually. However, Tom Robertson made the mistake of admitting this in the courtroom. In Chapter 19, Tom is being questioned in the courtroom and admits that he felt sorry for Miss Ewell. It was a mistake admitting this because it is not acceptable back then for a black man to feel sorry for a white woman. Harper Lee really gives the feeling of tension when the statement, “‘Yes, suh.

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Without compassion the world would be a dark place, there would be no such thing as love and there would be no one to lend a helping hand. Even in society today, people approach situations with no compassion, humans discriminate against others because of differences in color or appearances. In the book "To Kill a Mockingbird" the author, Harper Lee, writes about a town that shows no compassion towards people of color even when there are lives at risk. In the book, we learn that "[you 'll] never understand a person until you consider things from his point of view...until you climb into his skin and walk around in it. "(Lee

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Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. To me the word empathy in “To Kill A Mockingbird” means “putting yourself in someone else’s shoes.” Harper Lee’s novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” suggests that empathy is a universal feeling, but everyone experiences it in different occasions and in different ways. Many people empathize through real life experiences. Scout is one of those people.

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Going above and beyond for others can turn out great or not so great, but the satisfaction of helping others should be enough. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee demonstrates showing compassion through many different characters. It is told from a 10 year-old, Scout Finch’s point of view. The novel takes place in Maycomb, Alabama. The Finch family has many challenges to face, such as Atticus being assigned to Tom’s case, which he was accused of raping a white girl.

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Even before he saves them, Scout begins feeling guilty about the way they had treated Boo in the past. She says, “I sometimes felt a twinge of remorse when passing by the old Radley place, at ever having taken part in what must have been sheer torment to Arthur Radley – what reasonable recluse wants children peeping in through his shutters, delivering greetings at the end of a fishing pole, wandering in his collards at night.” She understands how Boo Radley feels. After being rescued, she begins to start empathizing with Boo without even realizing it; “Feeling slightly unreal, I led him to the chair farthest from Atticus and Mr. Tate. It was in a deep shadow.

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To Kill A Mockingbird, a novel based of the American south, shows lack of empathy between individuals by showing the animosity between Scout and her classmate, Walter Cunningham. At school, Scout was put into a situation where she was pressurized to defend Walter Cunningham when Miss Caroline Fisher, Scout’s first grade teacher, was giving Walter a quarter when he said he did not want it. After telling Miss Caroline Fisher Walter why Walter did not want the quarter, Scout got yelled at by Miss Caroline Fisher. Because Scout got yelled at, she started feeling animosity towards angry and “...stomped at him to chase him away”. When Jem was talking to Walter about coming to his house for dinner, Scout immediately notices that, “Walter had looked

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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.

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Empathy cannot be grasped, but is always there for people who can, “climb into people’s skin and walk around,”(39) as constantly repeated by Atticus Finch, throughout Harper Lee’s novel. “To Kill a Mockingbird” distinctly depicts empathy through Scout and Jem, as they learn to step into people’s skin and perceive their predicament. Russell Freedman in his nonfictional passage, “Freedom Walkers” directly shows how people were affected negatively by racism and how that was unacceptable. However, he does not give readers a thorough understanding of empathy, as it is ineffective to spark action to readers in comparison to the novel, “To Kill a Mockingbird.” In both stories, people are persecuted by others for their race or on premature biases.

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In “To Kill a Mockingbird”, Scout Eliminates tension between a lynch mob and Atticus, Jem, and herself using compassion and empathy. Another situation that she is in that she uses her compassion and sympathy in the story is when Dill ran away from home because his mother and new father does not pay attention to him as much, and decides to sleep under a bench during night. Scout tried to convince her father, Atticus, for Dill to stay with them because Scout did not want to see Dill be transported to the orphanage. Thanks for the use of her compassion and empathy, Dill is able to stay in Scout’s home, and avoids staying out in the streets and the orphanage.

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Before making her remark, Scout sees that Boo Radley is extremely shy and prefers to be left in the shadows. She also comes to realize that Boo is not a monster, like she previously thought, and is truly more of a guardian angel who has silently been looking after Jem and her as they grow up. Putting her observations together, Scout understands that Boo is not going to like any public attention, either positive or negative, that a court case about his heroic role in the death of Bob Ewell might bring. As a result, when Atticus asks Scout if she understands why he is letting Sheriff Tate cover up the case, Scout extends his lesson about not harming the innocent to Boo; to display her understanding of Atticus's lesson, she implies that making innocent Boo uncomfortable and harming his quiet life in the shadows due to his rightful action of protecting the children is just as wrong as shooting an innocent mockingbird. By illustrating Scout's journey from first learning that it is wrong to harm the innocent to being able to apply the lesson herself, Harper Lee demonstrates that Scout has matured during the course of the book and has come to understand that it is wrong to disturb those who do not disturb others.

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Compassion is a theme that is demonstrated in many different ways throughout the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Compassion is represented by people who are looked down upon within a community in both the book and today. Jem shows compassion in the novel when he recognizes the unfairness of Tom Robinson’s verdict just because the color of his skin. Atticus expresses compassion for Mrs. Dubose who has a hard time controlling her actions because of her disability. Also, Scout demonstrates compassion for Boo Radley who is an outcast of society because of rumors spread about him.

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Though most of the town Maycomb feels negatively and discriminates the African-Americans, characters like Atticus show us how one person can impact his surroundings if he has high morals. Although he couldn’t change the mindset of the other town residents , he made sure that his own children didn’t discriminate people, purely on the basis of their skin colour. Racism can be seen even in the first few chapters of the book. These racist comments by nonracist children typify the culture in which they were growing up.

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Jem usually ignores people who talk trash about their family but when someone insults Atticus he would be furious but Atticus teaches him to be a gentleman and ignore the hateful comments. One other neighbor, Boo Radley is always behind doors but he shows Scout that he is not a bad person. Atticus knew it was Boo who covered up Scout but Scout says “Thank who?” and Atticus replies with “Boo Radley. You were so busy looking at the fire you didn’t know it when he put the blanket around you” (72).

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Boo Radley represents one of the “mockingbirds” in the book, and a mockingbird is someone that is pure and innocence in the world. He is a good person that is hurt by the evil of mankind. In a lot of ways, Boo Radley might have have wanted to stay shut up in his house after seeing some of the awful acts that the townspeople have committed. But after seeing the Finch kids being attacked by Bob Ewell he had no choice but to leave the comfort of his own home that he has been enclosed in for so long to come out and save them. All though it would have been easier for this man to stay in his house rather than leave and then be drug into court, he did what he knew would be right and rescued the

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