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How Does Atticus Finch Use Empathy In To Kill A Mockingbird

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The book To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee is set in the small town of Maycomb in the 1930s. In this town there are displays of judgment, hypocrisy, and indeed is an “old and tired” town set in its mind. However, there are a few people in town who exhibit distinctive qualities that allow them to “walk in peoples shoes”. The use of empathy in the story is shown by the character Atticus Finch who is the guiding parent figure to his son and daughter. Lee conveys the importance of empathy through the statements and behaviors of Atticus Finch and the influence he has on his children. Atticus Finch uses empathy to show Scout and Jem that one should not judge someone without knowing what is occurring in their life. He first …show more content…

He is part of the Cunningham family, a group of moral people who never take more than they can pay back. Scout understands the concept of this but doesn't truly empathize with the Cunningham’s. “He ain’t company, Cal, he's just a
Cunningham—"(27) Scout says this to Calpurnia ( her family’s caretaker) after Cal takes her out of the dining room for shaming how Walter Cunningham eats. We can clearly see that Scout does not empathize at all at the beginning of the book. However with Atticus’s guidance we start to see the improvement in Scouts ability to “walk in peoples shoes.” Later Scout starts to empathize with Boo Radley. Once described as a “malevolent phantom”(9) who's property was never dared to be stepped on, is now the friendly neighbor who has gifted them little trinkets. "I sometimes felt a twinge of remorse, when passing by the old place, at ever having taken part in what must have been sheer torment to Arthur Radley - what reasonable recluse wants children peeping through his shutters, delivering greetings on the end of a fishing-pole, wandering in his collards
Pelteku 3 at night”(278)? Empathizing with Boo Radley is where we could successfully compare her

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In the novel, Scout shows empathy during the Mayella Ewell and Tom Robinson case. Atticus tries to teach Scout a lesson about seeing life through the eyes of others and understanding other people's insecurities or flaws and treating them with respect without assuming. During Mayella’s testimony Scout realizes how isolated she is, how hard Mayella’s life must be with no friends, and a constant fear of her own father. This trait relates to me and my personal life because when I’m at school, out with my friends, or even at home, I constantly make sure to be aware of other people's feelings and make sure to put other people before myself. “Summer was the swiftness with which Dill would reach up and kiss me when Jem was not looking, the longings we sometimes felt each other feel” Scout stated (Lee 116) when she is remembering how much she misses Dill and all the fun they had especially in the summer.

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In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses indirect characterization to show how Scout learns the lesson of empathy. In To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee the character Scout initially sees Boo Radly as a terrifying monster that causes trouble. But this was when Scout didn't understand the concept of empathy. This story takes place in a small old southern county called Maycomb. The main character whose nickname is Scout is explaining a rumor to a new friend Dill with her brother Jem about a monstrous being called Boo Radley.

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To Kill A Mockingbird Literary Analysis As defined in the dictionary, empathy is “the ability to share someone else’s feelings” (Merriam -Webster). Empathy is portrayed through emotions such as pity, compassion, and understanding. In the book To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, empathy can be found consistently in the actions and words of the characters. This repetition establishes kindness and sympathy towards specific characters, while building up hatred towards others.

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It is very important that writers are able to send a message to their reader with their book. Authors best do this by bringing about empathy. In order to send this message, authors often develop strong characters that go through various problems and struggles. The book, To Kill a Mockingbird, shows this very well with its characters Scout Finch and Tom Robinson. This book helps the readers learn from the character’s reactions to their problems.

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The protagonist of To Kill a Mockingbird Scout is confused and in quite the dreadful state. She had an exhausting 1st day at school and she is contemplating why she is even going to school anymore. From her point of view, her father doesn’t have a degree level education. Young Scout is confused on why others seemingly do as they please; she doesn’t enjoy going to school where her very teacher is not tolerant of Scout. Atticus, her father, has some ideas to share with Scout about seeing from another person’s eyes.

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864 Words | 4 Pages

Scout looks up to Jem, greatly values his opinion on many different topics and trusts him completely. She follows his lead on may things such as when Atticus enquire about the nature of a game they are playing which depicts Boo Radley , “ Jems evasion told me our game was a secret so I kept quiet.” (Page 45) Jem in turn enjoys spending time with her and adores her.

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Empathy has always been needed in our society. Day to day people go around judging others for the way they act. What they do not know is that those people are acting the way they do because of an event that happened to them. The novel To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel that is about racism, social injustice, and mainly empathy. The protagonist, Scout, is a 6 year old girl in the start of the novel that lives in a town called Maycomb.

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Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel that show the life of a southern state od Alabama during the “black racism” time period, where majority of the people had the mentality that (quote) with the exception of a few. To chosen to portray it from the eyes of Scout Finch, from a child’s point of view. Living in Maycomb, in the midst of a conservative society of the 1930’s and 20’s Southern America Scout Finch is an extra ordinary child.

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To Kill a Mockingbird Essay Plan Thesis: The three main protagonists of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird (Scout, Jem, and Dill) both learn and demonstrate empathy through the story. Directional Statement: The characters demonstrate empathy to Boo Radley both after the trial and after Scout walks him back home, and they learn about empathy during Tom Robinson's testimony. Body Paragraph 1: Point: Jem demonstrates empathy towards Boo Radley after Tom Robinson is convicted of raping a white woman. Proof: Right after the trial, and Tom Robinson has been convicted of raping Mayella Ewell, Jem starts to understand why Boo Radley doesn't come out of his house: "I think I'm beginning to understand why Boo Radley's stayed shut up in the house all the time...

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493 Words | 2 Pages

Paragraph #3 Furthermore, the most reoccurring character trait that Atticus portrays is empathy. For instance, Atticus shows Scout how he understands and share the feeling of others when Scout had trouble adapted to a new teacher in Maycomb. Atticus shows empathy towards Radley family because he understands that rumors relating to the Radley family causes the family a great deal of trouble and unwanted attention from curious youngsters such as Jem, Dill, and Scout. An instance in the novel when Atticus showed empathy towards the Radleys is on page 65 “I’m going to tell you something and tell you one time: stop tormenting that man.” Atticus says this quote to Jem when he was trying to get Boo Radley outside.

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Dialogue in To Kill a Mockingbird By Harper Lee The book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, is told through the perspective of a little girl named Jean Louise Finch, nicknamed Scout. The setting is in Maycomb, Alabama, in the early 1900’s. Harper Lee uses the author 's craft of dialogue to achieve three3 goals. The three goals she is trying to achieve are to teach empathy, promote a theme and to get the readers to predict what will happen next in the novel.

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Through To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee teaches us the righteousness of empathy. Harper Lee 's technique of writing and coinciding Christian beliefs weaved through emphasizes the importance of the story 's moral and themes. It is through Scout, the young dynamic and protagonist, that Lee opens the reader 's eyes to a realistic world of prejudice and inequality during the 1930s. Though introducing many characters throughout the novel, it is through Lee 's wise father character, Atticus Finch, that she further helps teach her readers life lessons, one being empathy. While narrating in first person, Lee further details her novel with the setting and use of style and diction.

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751 Words | 4 Pages

This book is about how Jeremy “Jem” Atticus Finch and Jean “Scout” Louise Finch learn important lessons along the story from Atticus. Empathy is the first lesson Scout learns and later demonstrates. The second lesson, courage, is learned by Jem. And the third lesson learned by both Jem and Scout is tolerance. In Harper Lee’s

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738 Words | 3 Pages

Scout is initially naïve and does not think about how her actions affect others, showing that children can be offensive when their naïveté equates to a lack of empathy. For example, when Jem invites Walter Cunningham over for dinner, Scout is not accustomed to the way he eats. She says to Calpurnia, “But he’s gone and drowned his dinner in syrup, he’s poured it all over” (Lee 32). Scout’s youth prevents her from understanding the differences in other people’s life circumstances, including Walter’s. Her family is wealthier than the Cunninghams and she knows proper manners; Walter, on the other hand, likely does not.

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1244 Words | 5 Pages

In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee teaches us about the town of Maycomb County during the late 1930s, where the characters live in isolation and victimization. Through the perspective of a young Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, readers will witness the prejudice that Maycomb produces during times where people face judgement through age, gender, skin colour, and class, their whole lives. Different types of prejudice are present throughout the story and each contribute to how events play out in the small town of Maycomb. Consequently, socially disabling the people who fall victim from living their life comfortably in peace. Boo Radley and his isolation from Maycomb County, the racial aspects of Tom Robinson, and the decision Atticus Finch makes as a lawyer, to defend a black man has all made them fall in the hands of Maycomb’s prejudice ways.

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