Compassion is what keeps the world turning. Without it, communication would be harder, and problems would never be solved as the people with the means to fix them would be too preoccupied with their own selfish needs. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch often encourages empathy in his two children, Scout and Jem. In the small, southern town of Maycomb, gossip runs rampant, and other situations are often not taken into consideration while the judgment is shared. Atticus attempts to not instill this habit in his children, encouraging them to always be kind and empathetic. In these cases,when someone is compassionate, conflicts are often resolved far more smoothly than if a person reacted badly. Harper Lee shows readers that compassion often ends …show more content…
Dubose is one of the worst offenders, not only voicing her grievances to Atticus's face but also to his children. She says many horrible things, but Atticus continues to be a gentleman to her. He has knowledge that his children, who blindly insult her, don't have. He knows that she’s going through a grueling withdrawal from an addictive substance, morphine. Atticus recognizes her struggle and treats her kindly in the face of her anger, complementing, “Good evening, Mrs. Dubose! You look like a picture this evening” (Lee 133). When Jem and Scout are confused because, in their minds, Mrs. Dubose is an evil harpy, Atticus explains, “She’s an old lady and she’s ill” (Lee 133). Instead of responding to her insults, Attius constantly treats her like a gentleman, stunning Mrs. Dubose to end her comments in his presence. He uses this as a teaching moment for his children. Children typically absorb certain traits from their parents. The father and son of the Finch household have demonstrated their compassion, but Scout has yet to. But with Atticus’ guidance, it is no wonder that eventually she absorbs some of his empathy. When a schoolboy insults her father, Scout is ready to respond, as she typically does, and start
To Kill a Mockingbird focuses on “Maycomb’s usual disease,” as a pivotal part of the book, but also shows that compassion and wisdom can exist in these most bleak areas. The prejudice and bigotry comes from the lack of knowledge of Maycomb, and their fear to change what they have grown up with. Pre-conceived ideas are the main reason that Maycomb is ignorant of black people as they are afraid what a change of those pre-conceived ideas will bring. Even so, compassion still exists, as Atticus is able to save Scout and Jem from the influence of ‘Maycomb’s usual disease.’ Wisdom is also embodied by Atticus, where his wisdom, which is not necessarily knowledge but life experience, is able to force him to do things which are right, shown in his reluctant shooting of the rabid dog.
There are some people in this world that can truly understand, or try to understand people and their feelings. They can relate to them on some sort of level. Then there's is plenty of people in this world who have no empathy at all. They don’t feel for people or even try to understand. That's exactly why everyone should read To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The book is about a little girl named Scout and her older brother Jem, who is going through some changes as they grow older in the racist south where their father, a lawyer has a case about a black man raping a white woman. Over the course of the book, both characters grow in great measures. Their father is always teaching them in little ways what’s right/wrong, and what’s good/bad.
Mrs. Dubose is a bitter, old lady that is extremely rude to Scout and Jem, yelling dirty thing at them everytime they pass by her house. Jem hatred for that woman was so short, that one day he grabbed Scout’s baton and lost his temper, Scout explains that “He did not begin to calm down until he had cut the tops off every camellia bush Mrs. Dubose owned…” (137). As a punishment for his sudden outrage, Mrs. Dubose asks that he read for her everyday and they learn things about her along the way. They described that “...From time to time she would open her mouth wide...cords of saliva would collect at her lips...Her mouth seemed to have private existence of its own” (143). Later on in the chapter, Atticus reveals that she was a morphine addict
Throughout the book To Kill A Mockingbird, Atticus Finch demonstrates himself as an honest lawyer, a loving father, and a symbol of righteousness through his beliefs that he instills in his children. Atticus Finch values empathy, respect, and bravery, and he proves himself as a moral compass by teaching both Jem and Scout these values in the form of life lessons.
A child’s journey to adulthood will corrupt their innocence. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the two main characters Jem and Scout are forced to grow up and face the realities of their world as their father prepared for one of the most controversial cases in his career. As the trial date gets closer and closer, Jem and Scout witnessed negative and positive things caused by the folks of Maycomb, they were not prepared for. Through all the commotion Jem and Scout learned the importance of benevolence and courage as it influenced their changing perspective on the world. The qualities Jem and Scout learn from benevolence and courage change how they see their world by showing them fairness, kindness and bravery.
Empathy is one of the greatest powers that a human being can ever hope to achieve; one person being able to understand the inner-workings of another is something truly amazing. However, empathy isn’t something that one is always naturally able to accomplish; in fact, it usually takes a long time for one to develop any empathy at all. In Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, the reader follows Scout Finch as she experiences her youth in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama. In this story, we experience her empathy for others as it increases or decreases. Though there are many examples of these alterations in Scout’s relationships, there is one that is both prominent and more complex than a few others; her relationship with her aunt, Alexandra. There are three specific instances in which we can track the progression of Scout’s empathy towards her aunt; meeting Aunt Alexandra, Scout wanting to invite Walter Cunningham over, and the assault by Bob Ewell of Scout and Jem.
Dubose was not very important in the grand scheme of things but her actions towards the children taught them a lesson. Near the end of Mrs. Dubose's life, she made Jem read to her for varied amounts of time even though Jem did not want to because he felt as though Mrs. Dubose was not a very nice person. It was told to Jem later that, “Mrs. Dubose was a morphine addict” (Lee 147), and that Jem reading to her was how, “she meant to break herself of it before she died” (Lee 148). This dishonest deception in the novel was how Jem came to realize that what his actions with Mrs. Dubose were not a punishment but a safe haven for Mrs. Dubose. She may have deceived Jem but it was for a good reason. It would have made her death a lot harder on Jem if he would have know about her addiction and how his actions were affecting
He tells Scout that “you never really understand someone until you consider their point of view” and that if she does “[she will] get along a lot better with all kinds of folks” (Lee 39). This quote shows his kindness, because it displays that he is always trying to look at the other’s points of view. This validates his kindness since he takes the effort to not offend people. In the eleventh chapter of “To Kill a Mockingbird” Mrs. Lafayette Dubose, an old lady living in the Finch’s neighborhood, insults at Scout and Jem whenever they pass by. After one of these incidents Atticus just tells her that she “[looks] like a picture” (Lee 133). Even though Mrs. Dubose is insulting his children, he replies with good manners, and compliments her. Because of Atticus’s decisions his children have an outstanding role model to look up to, which leads them to becoming more
In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird, empathy is demonstrated throughout the novel. Empathy can be defined as the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. Atticus tries to explain to Jem and Scout about what he experiences and the things that are happening in Maycomb County. Several characters learn empathy and understand how they feel about certain things and understand the experiences of others. This plays a major role in the novel.
Riddled throughout Harper Lees's To Kill A Mocking Bird, are characters of compassion. Of these characters, three stand out in particular, Atticus, Jem and Dill. Because each one demonstrated compassion when others around them did not, they display a distinct uniqueness. They did not show hate or disgust to those some would consider below them. Instead, they showed great strength through their love and sympathy towards the outcasts and victims of society. They chose to make a difference and love.
Do you not believe we need more compassion and tolerance in the world? Why can we not be like Atticus, Jem or Scout from To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee? These characters show great compassion and tolerance throughout the novel despite the society they live in. They have the courage to stand up for what they believe in.
TKM Essay “Oh, Great Spirit, keep me from judging another man until I’ve walked in his moccasins. ”-Jane Elliot. Jane Elliot was a third grade teacher who experimented on her class by separating them into brown eyes and blue eyes and then telling them one group was better than the other. The better eye colored group was discriminating, prejudiced, and judgemental against the opposite eye color.
On her inevitable death bed, Mrs. Dubose is honest with herself, and the Finch children, which leads to Scout’s realization of how she must act: “We could do nothing to please her. Lee uses Atticus’ good nature and respect for people to promote the theme; being strong in one’s beliefs and honest sets a good example for society: “‘First of all,’ he said, ‘if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view,” (Lee 39) Atticus indicates.
To Kill A Mockingbird By: Brandon, Thomas Compassion, understanding and forgiveness. "Any ordinary favour we do for someone or any compassionate reaching out may seem to be going nowhere at first, but may be planting a seed we can't see right now. Sometimes we need to just do the best we can and then trust in an unfolding we can't design or ordain. " Sharon Salzberg.
“The great gift of human beings is that we have the power of empathy.” –Meryl Streep Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. This particular skill requires one to walk around in someone else’s shoes. It is a very valuable emotional skill that develops in many characters during the course of the novel. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, empathy is consistently present whether it’s Atticus being empathetic, Atticus teaching the kids to empathize or them empathizing themselves in certain situations.