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How Does Lee Show Empathy In To Kill A Mockingbird

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In “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee a girl named Jean Louise Finch learns the truths of her town when her father, Atticus Finch, is appointed to defend a Black man. Jean Louise, nicknamed Scout, and her brother Jem make many friends and uncover the importance of many things through her father defending a Black man named Tom Robinson. One of these friends being Charles Baker Harris, nicknamed Dill, who is immensely infatuated with the town’s so-called lunatic, Boo Radley. Her brother and herself learn most of the important things from Atticus and Calpurnia, their caretaker. Everything else that they learn about is most likely from and situations they’ve found themselves in throughout the novel. She learns about the cruel, real world when …show more content…

Dill learns empathy through constantly thinking about Boo Radley and what he’s like since he’s been trapped inside a house for more than 15 years. Jem displays his knowledge of empathy when Atticus and Aunt Alexandra fight again. He asks Scout not to antagonize Aunt Alexandra and explains himself by saying, “‘…he’s got a lot on his mind now, without us worrying him…It’s this Tom Robinson case that’s worryin’ him to death-’” (Pg. 156) Jem is clearly considering how Atticus is feeling with the trial right around the corner and realizes that it’s better if Scout doesn’t make Aunt Alexandra’s disapproval of Scout become Atticus’s problem. Dill displays knowledge of empathy, though it seems like it was unintentional. Scout asks Dill about why Boo Radley has never ran away from his home and Dill responds with, “‘Maybe he doesn’t have anywhere to run off to…’” (Pg. 163) This quote shows that Dill is thinking from Boo Radley’s point of view and Dill realizes that mostly everybody in Maycomb is afraid of Boo, so he can’t go anywhere else even if he wanted to. Jem and Dill learn about empathy through what’s going on in their lives and display it without really knowing that they …show more content…

When she first learns of empathy, it’s through Atticus, and it’s because she got in trouble with Miss Caroline for trying to tell her that the Cunningham’s don’t take anything from anyone. Atticus says, “‘You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view-until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.’” (Pg. 33) Atticus goes on to tell her that Miss Caroline couldn’t possibly have known that the Cunningham’s didn’t take anything from anyone and that her punishing Scout was an honest mistake. From that point forward Scout is being empathetic, whether she knows it or not. An example is when Scout is trying to talk to Mr. Cunningham and she turns to Atticus to explain that she was telling him entailments are bad. “‘Well Atticus, I was just sayin’ to Mr. Cunningham that entailments are bad an’ all that, but you said not to worry, it take a long time sometimes…that you’ll ride it out together…’” (Pg. 175) Despite that fact that Scout wasn’t speaking directly to Mr. Cunningham she was still being empathetic towards him. She must’ve assumed that Mr. Cunningham was worried about his entailment so she comforting him, even though she was speaking to Atticus. Scout learns about empathy and subconsciously starts being empathetic towards the people of

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232 Words | 1 Pages

Dills empathy matures as he faces all the injustices in the book. Dills curiosity overrides his thoughts in the beginning of the book. Jem, Scout, and Dill all want to see Arthur Radley on their next door neighbor. Arthur stabbed his father in the leg and was place in the courthouse basement. The sheriff told Mr. Radley that Arthur would die in the basement from all the mold and asbestos.

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689 Words | 3 Pages

To Kill a Mockingbird is a book that is full of life lessons. The book opens with Jean Louise Finch, better known as Scout, telling of their family history. One day, while outside playing, they find a little boy named Charles Baker Harris, also known as Dill. These three start to get into many shenanigans, including investigating the mystery of Arthur "Boo" Radley; he hasn't been seen in years. There are a lot of theories surrounding him and why he doesn't come out, but we finally find out why at the end of the book.

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493 Words | 2 Pages

Another well known lesson taught by Atticus is about empathy. Empathy is defined as: the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. This is shown in chapter three when Scout encountered some problems with her new, first grade teacher, Mrs. Caroline. The little girl was mature well beyond her years, therefore, when she was asked to read out loud, Scout read with near perfect fluency. However, the teacher was surprisingly displeased with her advanced level in literature and flow, and assuming it was Atticus who was educating his daughter, Mrs. Caroline wanted the ‘lessons’ to come to a stop.

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826 Words | 4 Pages

Jean Louise Finch (Scout) is the daughter of Atticus Finch and the sister of Jem, she is also the main character and the narrator of the story, and she grows physically and morally throughout the book in positive and negative ways. There are multiple events in the story that changes her, they develop her morality too. For example her fear of the Radleys, Atticus’ parenting and how Jem and Dill’s friendship is larger than her with them. The world of ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ was placed in the past, when there is still racism.

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702 Words | 3 Pages

Dill stood behind as Jem took the role of the risk taker. After Jem touched the Radley house they darted away. Jem helped the others escape but when he tried he lost his pants. During this time Dill I infer probably was filled with adrenaline as his young imagination is thinking of different scenarios where Boo or somebody was chasing them influencing them to run in the opposite way of the Radley house. As, Dill is faced with racial and social class issues during his lifetime it affects his view and perspective on life and the cruel era of the Great Depression and racial inequalities.

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863 Words | 4 Pages

Not long after the trial of Tom Robinson, Jem has become very easily angered by the even mention of the case. So, in chapter 24 when Scout is confused by her hypocritical teacher, she speaks to her brother about it only to end up on the front end of his rage. She was shocked by his sudden mood swing, but she understood that he was upset and connected it with her mention of the case of Ewell v. Robinson. Scout proceeds to ask her father about Jem, as she is clearly distressed about the state of her brother, and Atticus eases her fret and explains what exactly Jem is going through. While Scout doesn't quite yet grasp the idea of looking at things from another's point of view, she certainly is unknowingly feeling her brother's

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820 Words | 4 Pages

Scout repeatedly employs Atticus’ knowledge of walking around in someone else’s skin when faced with a problem that only empathy could fix. For example, Scout applies that idea to Jem when saying, “As Atticus once advised me to do, I tried to climb into Jem’s skin and walked around in it: if I had gone alone to the Radley Place at two in the morning... So I left Jem alone and tried not to bother him” (62). After Jem lost his pants under the fence at the Radley's house and had to go retrieve them, Scout uses her newfound empathy to try and understand why Jem was pensive and moody after this event. She decides to leave him alone after ‘climbing into his skin.’

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818 Words | 4 Pages

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view…until you climb into his skin and walk around in it” is one of Harper Lee’s most memorable lines from To Kill a Mockingbird (39). The reason why is because its lesson is found throughout the story in the most unexpected ways. This theory is taught to the characters Jem and Scout through others such as Boo Radley. This is why Boo is a catalyst through which Jem and Scout are able to learn empathy from the rumors circulating around him, a surprising night, and gifts.

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1066 Words | 5 Pages

The Plight of the Child The struggle of the youth in judgemental environments can be incredibly taxing. The world is a complicated place, full of opinions and hatred for ideas that are unknown. In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, the idea of a society’s effect on a child is evident through the theme of loss of innocence. More specifically, however, she highlights the contribution of adults to that theme. Adults have seen the prejudice of mankind, and because they have experienced it, they spread it as well, whether they want to or not.

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620 Words | 3 Pages

Scout and Jem realize that empathy is being able to place yourself in another’s shoes, striving to see things from their point of view, even if you don’t agree with their beliefs. He encourages his children to make better choices by forgiving the bad and respecting the good. This allows his children to idolize their father even more by recalling the important concept he had previously instilled in them To illustrate, when Scout was dropping her rescuer, Boo Radley, home, she demonstrates empathy, recalling what Atticus had taught her. Standing on his porch made Scout see the outside world from his perspective, allowing her to comprehend how lonely and foreign it must be. Additionally, Jem also demonstrates empathy several times in the novel.

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518 Words | 3 Pages

Atticus told Scout, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... until you climb into his skin and walk around in it” (39). Scout doesn’t fully grasp this concept until the end of the book, several years later, where she alludes to Atticus’ saying. The messages she and Jem received on the way helped her come to this understanding. Atticus taught them to respect their elders, no matter how cantankerous they may be. Jem ruined Mrs. Dubose’s flowers after a particularly disrespectful comment about Atticus, and he made Jem read to her.

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520 Words | 3 Pages

Throughout the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem and Scout 's perception of courage drastically changes their behavior as they mature. They learn a lot about courage throughout the novel from their father Atticus and what they learn from him influences their choices and opinions. Although Jem is older than Scout, they both experience change in their behavior. At the beginning of the novel, Jem is still a young boy. He is defiant towards Atticus, he plays all the usual childhood games with Scout and Dill, and he engages in the younger children’s obsession with Boo Radley.

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719 Words | 3 Pages

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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1279 Words | 6 Pages

This shows Scout that compassion does not always have to be mutual. By Atticus’s example, Scout can see that anything as simple as a hello and a compliment can help someone out, no matter who they may be. Atticus knows everything that Mrs. Dubose is going through with her addiction and how all she wants is to die a drug-free death. In addition, by going to see Mrs. Dubose, Jem and Scout helped her stay off morphine for longer periods of time. By them going and reading to her, she can be distracted from it, and they can

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940 Words | 4 Pages

This is different from the younger version of Jem where he would be happy and help Dill stay hidden. Scout also gains individuality a lot throughout the story. Even though she is usually with Jem or Atticus. After Tom Robinson was taken back to prison, he thought he would not be able to succeed in his second trial. He decided to climb the fence and was killed doing so.

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