In the story, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Jem and Scout begin to understand other people’s lives. They start to realize everyone’s survival is different, and everyone deals with unlike situations, and these 2 characters begin to demonstrate lessons of empathy more and more as the book progresses, and there are many places in the book where they show this. In the text, Jem and Scout learn the importance of showing empathy toward others. Throughout the book, there are many pieces of evidence that support this idea. One example is in the text. Scout states, “Soon we were clustered around her desk, trying in our various ways to comfort her” (Lee 31). Empathy, which is the care for others’ feelings, is shown in this quote. The students …show more content…
An example of this is in the story, Calpurnia states, “There’s some folks who don’t eat like us” (Lee 27). This shows some people do not have the luxuries that some other people have. For example, eating well and having a good home life. Calpurnia makes this clear by what she states. The children have to understand that everyone is going through something, and it is better to just respect them. Jem and Scout also have to understand that some people just do not like certain things, and some just want to be left alone. Miss Maudie talks to Scout about how Boo may just not want to come out of his house, and that may just be his preference (Lee 49). This makes the children realize that everyone has different things they like, and you just have to respect what people like and do not like. It is just better to force someone to do something they may not want to do. Jem and Scout realize from their father that some children may not have the same respect from their parents as Atticus respects them. Atticus states that Ewell’s father buys himself cheap whiskey for his own satisfaction, and he does not bother to buy his children food as they starve (Lee 34). The Ewells do not have a very good home life, and the children realize that respect is the best option for this family. They should give them the respect they deserve, and not the respect they get from their parents and home