To Kill A Mockingbird Empathy

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.

Empathy is steadily mixed into the conversations and words of many characters in the book. For example, Atticus is one of the most notably empathetic characters. His famous quote, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view...until

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.’ Scout is not the only character who uses empathy to help and understand others in the book. Helen Robinson, Tom’s wife, was jobless after the trial and, with children to feed, she desperately needed a job. So, in an effort to not let the Robinson family feel forgotten, Mr. Link Deas, Tom’s former employer, took mercy on Helen and gave her a job, even though he didn’t really need her. He just felt bad that things had turned out the way they did, thus using empathy to interpret and assist with the Robinson family’s situation