To Kill A Mockingbird was definitely worth the read. Yes I did admit that. Harper Lee does an amazing job expressing themes throughout the book. I chose empathy, and to me empathy is when we consider eachothers attitudes and situations from another viewpoint and identify another perspective to an issue. In the book, Scout learns empathy, Atticus teaches empathy and Tom needs empathy.
When Harper Lee was asked about her book, To Kill a Mockingbird (TKAM), she stated “it’s a love story, plain and simple.” Despite the lack of romance between couples, Harper Lee’s statement couldn’t have been truer. TKAM features a different type of love than most love stories, a love called agape. Agape is love for all people, and instead of typical romantic actions, it is shown by treating everyone nicely, regardless of what they do. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote six pillars of nonviolent resistance which show both how to exhibit agape and nonviolently protest.
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.
Compassion as a Person Compassion is given easier than it is earned. In Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, Mayella Ewell is a white woman who lives with seven siblings and her father. There are tell-tale signs of abuse in the Ewell household. One day, Mayella accuses Tom Robinson, a person of color, of rape.
Harry Halvorsen Mr. Kanda Survey 1 12 November 2014 To kill a mockingbird final draft In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, many characters experience empathy in different ways.. The growth of the children in the book can be compared to a kindergartner and a college student.
The concept of empathy is important to Scout’s and Jem’s and the County of Maycomb coming-of-age because they must learn that they cannot judge a person or fully understand one until they have showed some sort of empathy towards that person.
There is a Native American quote that says “Don’t judge a man until you have walked a mile in his shoes.” This quote shows a great example of empathy. Put yourself in their place and see how it feels, you don’t have to agree with, but you should understand them before you make judgements. That is empathy in a nutshell. In In To Kill a Mockingbird Empathy is an essential in the narrator Scout’s growing up or coming of age. There are countless amounts of empathy, which enforces how important empathy is.
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.
Understanding Empathy in To kill a Mockingbird After dinner Atticus & Scout go to the porch to read when Scout brings up her troubles at school. Atticus then advises Scout with a way to better understand people. Lee writes, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view–until you climb into his skin & walk around in it”(15). I believe this quote serves as a way for Scout to grow, for her to learn & understand the different levels of empathy she can share with someone. It’s also important as it speaks to the reader, we learn more on empathy through Scout as the story progresses.
Just like respect, compassion is earned and not given. In Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, A young woman named Mayella Ewell who is the daughter of an alcoholic widower lives in a small town in Alabama named Maycomb behind the town’s dump during the great depression. Tom Robinson, a black man living in the same town as Mayella, is being tried for rape after being accused by Mayella and her father Bob. Mayella’s accusation has had detrimental impacts on Tom’s family and overall life which is formed on the account of a white woman’s word versus a black man’s word.
“I want you to understand that courage isn’t a man with a gun in his hand,” (Lee 112). This is a quote spoken from a courageous man who put himself in other people’s positions and did not believe he was superior to African Americans like many in that time period. Atticus Finch is a lawyer, and also the father of Jem and Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The finches live in a small town called Maycomb during 1933, also known as the Great Depression era. Throughout the book, the town faces many racial discrimination issues, especially when an African American man named Tom Robinson is falsely accused of rape of a white female.
In society, there are very few people who have the unwavering dedication to stand up for what they believe. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, a black man was convicted and accused of a crime he didn 't commit, raping a white women, which is not in anyway tolerable in society. In Harper Lee 's To Kill A Mockingbird, the author used point of view and symbolism to acknowledge how the the several social divisions which make up much of the adult world are shown to be both irrational and extremely destructive. To begin with, the short story To Kill A Mockingbird, used point of view to show how the many social divisions in the world are irrational and destructive. Scout; a first grade student at the time, was telling the story from her point of view and what had occurred from her childhood perspective.
"Jem, 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. It 's when you know you 're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what. " This insightful statement was told by Atticus Finch to his son, Jem Finch. Many people in Maycomb had to deal with racism, hatred, and discrimination because of their skin color or because of the court case.
To Kill a Mockingbird is a book mainly about the coexistence of good and evil. The book stresses and emphasizes on the exploration of moral nature in humans. There are many themes in this novel including courage, innocence, racism, femininity, etc. However the most prevalent theme in the book is innocence. Not just innocence in itself but the danger and harm evil poses to the innocent.
In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the character Atticus possesses the most compassion out of the other characters. Atticus is a man of profession, however, his compassionate heart can not be overlooked. Atticus tells Jem to "Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." (Lee 81) to display his compassion for those who are innocent. Compassion is the concern for the suffering or misfortune of others.