Why Is Compassion Important In To Kill A Mockingbird

Sympathy isn’t always showing pity, you have two choices, you can feel for someone and you can feel with someone. Share how you would feel in the same situation as them, share that common feeling or share an understanding. Throughout To Kill A Mockingbird, sympathy is portrayed by the author through the characters. No matter racial tensions, class, or morals, the main characters make an impact by doing so with one another. Sympathy is taught by Atticus to Jem and Scout throughout the novel. Sympathy is apparent in Jem with Mrs. Dubose, a lady perceived newly as a hero by ending a life changing addiction before she died. Finally, sympathy is apparent is Scout through Boo Radley, the effect greatly changing her views on not to judge someone based on what they were told by someone else, or in other words: not to judge a book by it’s cover. Throughout the topic discussed in the 1930’s it seems as though there was more time to sympathize with someone. Sympathy was not an act of carrying that is only expressed in such time of need and sorrow like the great depression, however today we lack the courtesy for others to sympathize with them. Atticus tells scout, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view- until you climb into his skin and walk around in it. (Lee 39)” In order to sympathize with

1) Atticus is an empathetic person who tries to make sure people are treated equally, and in the case of his children, that people should grow up and make a positive difference. Atticus shows his empathy by telling Scout to try to understand what Miss Caroline is going through. Harper Lee is trying to show that with empathy, everyone benefits, and there would be less hate and injustice. Atticus says, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” (Lee 39). Atticus is telling Scout to look at the world through Miss Caroline’s eyes, to see why Miss Caroline reacts the way that she does. Atticus believes that if Scout can see how scared Miss Caroline is, with teaching a new school in a new way, then Scout can understand what makes Miss Caroline act the way that she does. When Scout asks Atticus why he is angering the town by defending Tom Robinson, he says that he must, or else he would no longer be reputable. Atticus says, “Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win.” (Lee 101) Atticus leads by example, and that if he did not hold himself to the same standard that he wants Scout and Jem to be at, then he is no better than the rest of the town. He knows that he is going to lose, but wants to show his children that it is important to do the right thing no matter the consequences or result, and

Philosopher Albert Schweitzer explains, “The purpose of human life is to serve, and show compassion and the will to help others”(BrainyQoute.com) In order to follow the purpose of life you have to teach the purpose of life. Compassion is meant to be shared and spread throughout the whole world. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Atticus takes this moral upon himself, and teaches Jem and Scout about compassion in Maycomb. Throughout the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee deeply develops her theme that compassion is understanding someone else’s perspective and following your own belief even if it contradicts the way of society.

Katniss makes friends with someone who needs her help, in the Hunger Games where they are fighting until death. The opinion of these characters makes compassion extremely important in writing. It is necessary that an author present characters in light that makes them like-able or relatable, so that their book is received well by readers. Not only is compassion a powerful force in the news media and the general public, it is also an important aspect of writing, whether it us fiction or non-fiction. It has great influence over readers.

The other person was selfless by seeing other people in worse conditions than himself and stepping aside, even though he had wounds that could be fatal. Both of these scenarios describe why the world would be a better place if more people had compassion. An example of a situation without compassion is when Atticus is asking questions to a girl who has been abused by her father and lived a horrible life. “Suddenly Mayella became articulate.

Atticus once said, “You never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them” (Lee 279). This is a statement you must understand to have compassion. In To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, she demonstrates the effects of compassion through many examples. Atticus Finch, for example, was the moral compass of the story leading many of the other characters to be more understanding and compassionate.

Scout comes home, frustrated about her first day at school. Scout’s positive expectations of school were crushed when Miss Caroline tells her to stop reading because she has been taught incorrectly. After school Scout explains her day at school to Atticus, and her teacher’s cluelessness and unreasonability. Scouts most valuable lesson from her first day of school comes from her father, where she learns to try to see situations from the others point of view. Ironically, Atticus teaches more to Scout and Jem, than their teacher, Miss Caroline,

"Compassion isn't some kind of self-improvement, project or idea that we're trying to live up to, having compassion starts and ends with having compassion for all those unwanted parts of ourselves, all those imperfections that we don't even want to look at". This quote demonstrates an idea that we need to have compassion for imperfections of our society or ourselves even though they are unwanted and undesirable. We need compassion for everything, not only what we want. In the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, there is a character named Mayella Ewell, who entraps other character named Tom Robinson and eventually leads him to death. She seems as an unforgivable and vicious character, however, we need to show compassion to her because she is same as us, but she just doesn't have the environment where you can develop the ethical values. In this following essay, I will demonstrate why Mayella Ewell deserves compassion in spite of her misconducts.

Being at the top of the social hierarchy has been a must for every American of past generations, but can lead to fatal damages for some trying to obtain that goal and a cause to ruin people’s lives. In a remarkably triumphant story on compassion, Harper Lee explored the horrors of racial prejudice in the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Set in the 1930’s, the poor town of Maycomb, Alabama has been hit by the depression hard, which created a vast, complex social pyramid, with distinct families and lifestyles. At the Finch household, composed of a little nine year old girl, Scout, a twelve year old boy Jem, and their father Atticus, proceed through a whirlwind of events throughout the next few years. Atticus, a lawyer who is a hardworking, honest man at the top of the social hierarchy of Maycomb, has to defend a colored man by the name of Tom Robinson. This happened to be very unusual for the time period, as the family has to transcend through the struggles in a racial prejudice town and learn the raw nature of the worst in humans, thus trying to overcome these events through compassion. The author utilizes metaphor, characterization, and mood to describe the situation of Maycomb, it soon then becomes very clear that the dangers of ruining innocence can lead to a vast road of horrors and evils.

Another example

In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, there were many instances where essential people show compassion. Showing compassion for people of different races was hard to find because society functioned with racism all around it. Atticus Finch, a man

How can a story brimming with racism and resentment also be filled with compassion? Although the world is filled with people who do appalling things, there are still some out there who practice generosity and lead by example. In To Kill a Mockingbird, these people are characters like Scout, Atticus, or Tom. Throughout the novel, these characters and more take action to show humanity in circumstances that they don’t have to, and add a layer of compassion to the theme. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, the actions of Maycomb County citizens during the harsh times of the 1930’s show that any given person, regardless of race or societal status, should be worthy of compassion. These principles are demonstrated in the story by the Cunninghams, Boo Radley, and Tom Robinson.

To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel which deals with many themes; the most dominant of these is empathy, as it is crucial in the relationships between characters as well as in their learning experiences. The way Scout finally learns how to use empathy to see things from Boo Radley’s point of view was very moving to the reader, and the reader can

As a result of Atticus's decision, Jem and Scout get into a number of fights with classmates and their cousin when they taunt them and call Atticus a "nigger lover." Life seems to be full of lesson for Scout and Jem. For example, when a rabid dog chases Scout, she discovers that her father, whom she previously thought too old to do anything, does possess some talents. Atticus turns out be a crack shot, killing the dog in one shot at a great distance. Another time the children learn to be tolerant of people who have problems even though they say mean things. A neighbor, Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose, derides Atticus and spreads lies about him, and screams insults at the children when they pass by. Jem gets very angry at her and cuts off her flowers from her bushes. Instead of siding with Jem, Atticus feels that what he did is wrong and as punishment, Jem has to read out loud to her every day to take her mind off her predicament. Atticus holds this old woman up as an example of true courage as she

Introduction: “ You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view” Scout doesn't understand that yet. Until the ending of the book she learns that speech Atticus gave her.