Nixon Waterman Theme

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In Nixon Waterman’s poem “To Know All is To Forgive All” and Matt Litton’s blog about the importance of compassion, these two works delineate the common theme that compassion is only possible if a person truly knows the other person. This theme is portrayed many times in Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird when a character steps into another person's shoes and shows compassion. For instance, when Scout stands “on the Radley’s porch” she starts to visualize her and Jem’s antics from Boo’s point of view (Lee 374). This relates to the theme of the poem because while Scout stood on the porch, she looks at the “‘why’ of things”, for her and the townsfolk actions (Waterman 15). After this event, Scout starts to gain compassion for why Boo