Sympathy In Andrew Jackson's 'Tears Of A Tiger'

Tears of a Tiger What is the definition of sympathy? According to Google, the definition is described as “feelings of pity and sorrow for someone else's misfortune.” We can feel this for anyone who we can see are having a troubled time. In the story, Tears of a Tiger, the author definitely makes the readers feel sympathy for the protagonist. This story is about an African American teen basketball player, named Andrew Jackson, who tries through make it through life while trying to cope with his unintentional murder of his friend Rob. Andrew or Andy, was driving under the influence with Rob and two other friends in his car, and crashed into a wall. The three escape the car but Rob was unconscious and trapped in the vehicle; none of the three

Andrew is African American and has many stereotypical moments throughout the story. An example of him experiencing it is from page 53 where he is talking to his psychologist and says, “I don’t know. I guess she just assumes I’m another stupid black kid. So it’s easier to pretend to be stupid (Lines 1&2) …The teachers ask us easier questions, if they ask us anything at all, and they expected dumb answers. (Lines 7&8)” The feeling from reading those lines is very unpleasant and hurtful. For those who have been bullied of from being an “abnormal” nationality, they’d understand what he’s going through. We see that Andy is under the stereotype of all black people being stupid and unable to give correct answers; they are not treated equally like a community should be towards each other. It does not feel right to assume someone is stupid because of who they are. It does not even feel right to be called stupid without the opportunity to prove that you aren’t. Andy gets treated unfairly and has no control over how he is thought of. It’s truly hurtful to be expected to be something you don’t like and aren’t. Readers should feel empathetic for Andrew because of how he is being racially discriminated and will always be; they should care that he gets treated in an unjust way and has

The young man is continually talking about his feelings about being depressed, empty, and having horrible feelings. He writes poetry for one assignment, and we all know that poetry can capture true pain and sadness. The poetry that Andy writes evinces that emotional torture. His poem is called “Poem of Hope” and is on page 57 stating, “It’s dark where I am. And I cannot find the light. There are shadows all around me. And my heart is full of fright. (Lines 1-4) … I cannot see the future. And I cannot change the past. But the present is so heavy. I don’t think I’m going to last. (Lines 9-12)” It is fairly evident that he is talking about how his life is dark without any light, and he’s fearful of if he can handle all of his problems because of how much it is weighing on his shoulders. He will soon explode after so much pressure and negative build up. It is a metaphorical representation of how he truly feels. Next Andrew says how he feels in another, painful way on page 123. “It was dark, so I couldn’t see, and I was under the water, so I couldn’t breathe. I tried to scream, but water got into my mouth and my throat and my chest. I was crying out for help, but my cries only made things worse. That’s how I feel tonight, Mom. That’s exactly how I feel tonight. (Lines 21-26)” The water represents the suffering that he is experiencing;