Difference Between Empathy And Sympathy In Alice Walker's Everyday Use

824 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Sympathy and Empathy

Empathy versus Sympathy
Human beings surpass other animals in the ability to vicariously experience other beings feelings. Two overlapping and interchangeable terms have been developed to explain human’s capacity to experience others’ feelings- sympathy and empathy. Though convenient, the interchanging has created some confusion. Burton, in his support, points out people always confuse the word empathy with sympathy, compassion as well as pity, which are just but reactions to other people’s plight (1). This paper discusses the difference between empathy and sympathy and analyzes the story “Every day Use” from the sympathy and empathy perspective.
Burton defines empathy as the ability to not only recognize but also to share another person’s or a fictional character’s or a sentient beings’ emotions. It involves seeing a person’s situation from his or her own perspective and then sharing his or her emotions and distress (1). Chismar posits that to empathize is basically to respond to another person’ perceived state of emotion by experiencing similar feelings. Empathy, therefore, implies sharing another person’s feeling without necessary showing any affection or desire to help. For one to empathize, he or she must at least care for, be interested in or concerned about …show more content…

This story takes place in the 1960s, at a time when many black Americans were interested in discovering their heritage. In particular, the “black pride” movement encouraged African Americans to not only celebrate but also affirm their culture. Many embraced African attires, hairstyle, names and African languages. This story revolves around a woman with her two daughters- Dee, who later on changes her name to Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo, and Maggie (Walker 55). Maggie’s body bears serious scars from burning and it is hard to say if her mother is sympathizing or empathizing with

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of 'The Baby In The Well: The Case Against Empathy'

    318 Words  | 1 Pages

    In “The Baby in the Well: The Case Against Empathy” by Paul Bloom, Paul want’s his readers to understand that empathy is not very helpful unless it is fused with values and reason.

    Read More

  • Empathy In Fahrenheit 451

    1052 Words  | 3 Pages

    Empathy is used to create change in the world by reaching out to the emotions of people and attending to them. It is used to help others learn and decide on matters that would not be reasonable without feelings attached to them. Empathy helps bring together communities that would have long ago drifted apart, but instead welcomed all who were different. Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. This attribute of human-beings really allows us to not only attend to situations as if they were our own, but it allows us to feel most of what others feel because humans are very much alike in some ways. In many of the articles and novels that we have read this quarter, characters from different pieces of context have portrayed empathy whether it was toward

    Read More

  • Empathy In Barbara Lazecher And Quindlen's On Compassion

    1701 Words  | 4 Pages

    Compassion is a feeling that humans portray towards others, but you also have to act in some way to aid them and to decrease their suffering. Barbara Lazear Ascher's purpose “On Compassion” of her essay was to distinguish emotions that people feel towards homeless people. She posed the question of whether or not people feel compassion or pity towards homeless people. The thesis statement is the first sentence, which encompasses the main themes that compassions revolves around somebody’s circumstances, rather than a situation that one can dream about. In other words, it is one’s reality. Specifically, “the man’s grin is less the result of circumstance

    Read More

  • The Reflection Of Empathy, By Stephen Dunn

    755 Words  | 2 Pages

    Empathy is imperative to teach kids from a young age in order to help them recognize mental states, such as thoughts and emotions, in themselves and others. Vital lessons, such as walking in another’s shoes or looking at a situation in their perspective, apprehends the significance of the feelings of another. Our point of view must continuously be altered, recognizing the emotions and background of the individual. We must not focus all of our attention on our self-interest. In the excerpt, Empathy, written by Stephen Dunn, we analyze the process of determining the sentiment of someone.

    Read More

  • Family Heritage In Everyday Use By Alice Walker

    1011 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the short story “Everyday Use” Alice Walker portrays the difference in African American heritage between two sisters. She shows a special emphasis on a handed down tradition from generation to generation. She has two daughters which she loves very much, one who believes value is money and the other who cherishes her family heirlooms. Although the mother is not as wordly as her daughter Dee has become, her instinct in the end to side with her less fortunate daughter is her way of preserving their heritage over superficial cultural misguidance.

    Read More

  • Argument Against Empathy

    125 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the article “The Baby in the Well: The Case Against Empathy,” Paul Bloom puts forward a tendentious thesis. Empathy, according to him, is overrated. The imaginative capacity to put oneself in the place of an oppressed, afflicted, or bereaved person does not lead to rational, thoroughly-considered solutions to important problems. Indeed, it can lead to hysterical displays of ill-directed charity, the misallocation of resources, and total blindness to other significant issues. Bloom appeals to his readers’ sense of logic by using examples of environmental and geopolitical crises that require forward-thinking solutions; he suggests that, because of the need to think about the future and the big picture, a politics of empathy cannot be relied

    Read More

  • The Character of Mama in Alice Walker’s Everyday Use

    936 Words  | 2 Pages

    Regretfully, though readers can see how Mama has had a difficult time in being a single mother and raising two daughters, Dee, the oldest daughter, refuses to acknowledge this. For she instead hold the misconception that heritage is simply material or rather artificial and does not lie in ones heart. However, from Mama’s narrations, readers are aware that this cultural tradition does lie within ones heart, especially those of Mama’s and Maggie’s, and that it is the pure foundation over any external definition.

    Read More

  • Walker's Message of Personal Heritage in "Everyday Use"

    1795 Words  | 4 Pages

    Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” is a short story about a mother and two very different daughters set in rural Georgia during the late 1960’s. The plot is centered around on the two daughters, Dee and Maggie, and focusing on the differences between the two and who will gain possession of two hand-made quilts that are seen as a coveted trophy by Dee and are viewed as everyday items Maggie. The final decision of which daughter ultimately receives the quilts will be made by Momma Johnson. Momma, who is never given a first name in the story, is a strong black woman with many man-like qualities. “In real life I am a large, big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands. In the winter I wear flannel nightgowns to bed and overalls during the day.” (DiYanni 744) Momma is a tough woman and has had to be both father and mother to the daughters although the story never comments on the absence of the father. The story revolves around a visit home by Dee who has been away at college and has recently discovered the true meaning of black heritage with her adoption of ideas and practices from black power groups while simultaneously rejecting her own upbringing. Upon arriving home, Dee announces that she has changed her name to “Wangero” in defiance of her white oppressors and to embrace her newly found African heritage with a more appropriate black name. Dee and Maggie are complete opposites in appearance, education and desire to escape their childhood surroundings. Maggie has little education and no noticeable desire to improve her situation and prefers to be left alone in the shadows where she can hide her physical and emotional scars from a house fire when she was a child. Hand sewn quilts become the objects of Dee’s desires; objects ...

    Read More

  • The Relationship Between Empathy and Held Stereotypes of the Homeless

    1010 Words  | 3 Pages

    Empathy, is a self-conscious characteristic human beings hold that allows them to understand another individual’s situation and feelings (Segal, Cimino, Gerdes &Wagaman, 2013). In regard to ho...

    Read More

  • Summary: The Importance Of Relationship-Based Practice In Social Work

    1096 Words  | 3 Pages

    Ruch & Julkunen (2016) further define empathy is attempting to put ourselves in another person’s place to understand their sentiment. This gives us the ability to perceive the service users views and feelings. According to David Howe (2013) if there is no empathy this can this can make it difficult for the conversation to flow consequently the service users’ needs could be overlooked this would make it difficult to sense the service user’s emotions. However Tsang (2016) disputes that empathy can constrain the ability to understand a person or their sentiment due to language, or ethnic differences. These can be barriers making it difficult to understand the person and the empathy can be

    Read More

  • Empathy

    658 Words  | 2 Pages

    Empathy is the term used for emotional understanding. Empathy is a special skill that many characters in To Kill a Mockingbird possess or develop throughout the course of the story. Harper Lee shows the importance of empathy throughout the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Atticus being empathetic, Atticus teaching the kids to empathize or them empathizing themselves in certain situations. Empathy is truly the great gift of humanity.

    Read More

  • Racial Empathy

    976 Words  | 2 Pages

    To be able to understand how empathy works between a certain group of people, it is necessary to know what empathy means. I found an interesting definition of empathy, as a crucial component of the helping relationship, a need to understand people ' distress, and to provide supportive interpersonal communication. Empathy is the ability to recognize the emotions of others. Empathy does not mean that we live other people’ emotions, but it means that we understand other people ' emotions from our experiences. Empathy does not mean to cancel your personality, but to understand how people perceive the reality. It is the ability to read information coming through nonverbal channels. In this

    Read More

  • The Life and Writings of Alice Walker

    1448 Words  | 3 Pages

    Walker often uses the theme of preserving African-American culture. An example of her culture preservation theme is strongly shown in the short story “E...

    Read More

  • Sympathy In The Film 'A Class Divided'

    889 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many individuals mislead themselves to think their expressing empathy for someone, not realizing there really feeling sympathy. Empathy is defined in the text as, “the ability to re-create another person’s perspective, to experience the world from the others point of view()”. Sympathy differs from empathy by viewing the other person’s situation from your point of view, instead of the other persons point of view. Empathy involves three dimensions in order for a person to express it from another point of view. One dimension involves perspective taking which is an attempt to take on the viewpoint of the other person. Second, an emotional dimension that helps us get closer to experiencing others’ feelings. Finally, a third dimension is a genuine

    Read More

  • Everyday Use By Alice Walker Compare And Contrast

    595 Words  | 2 Pages

    In accordance with the definition of strange which is “unfamiliar or foreign”, Mama’s use of this word introduces the notion that blacks and whites were separated. This same idea of similarities is present in the personal experiences of Dee and Maggie. Both Maggie and Alice Walker had an equally destructive incident in their childhood. Maggie was caught in a detrimental fire that resulted in “burn scars down her arms and legs” (Walker 18). Similarly, Alice Walker was blinded in her left eye as a result of a fired BB gun (Cummings 1). Each of these events are very critical and could form new obstacles both physically and mentally. Despite facing harsh obstacles, Dee still makes impressive achievements like Walker. After Dee graduates from high school and leaves home like Walker, she adopts an African name. Sam Whiskitt, author of the African American Review, comments “Walker like Dee has an African name...the name Dee is given, Wangero, is the same name Walker herself was given when she went to Africa” (444). Walker’s character Dee in like manner, adopts the same name she did. These elements in both the characters and author’s lives show that they are parallel in some

    Read More

More about Difference Between Empathy And Sympathy In Alice Walker's Everyday Use

Open Document