Paper #1 Assignment While empathy has a major subconscious impact on the effect of social interactions, the acting upon of such impulses can be perceived as emotional self gratification. The drive to understand and emulate emotions of those less fortunate, although being an impressive product of social evolution, highlights an innate desire to seek pleasure in performing acts of charity and can therefore be likened to a hedonistic pursuit. As Jeremy Rifkin states in The Empathic Civilisation, “The first drive is the drive to actually belong, it’s an empathic drive.” As a species, humankind has gone beyond the act of day-to-day survival, and that is owed to the sense of collective many feel living in a society. Empathizing creates a sense of …show more content…
Regardless of the situation, it is self-serving because of why a person is motivated to empathize and help others. For every contribution of resources made, e.g. time, money, services, there is a trade off of equal value for the contributor, that being a positive emotional response or social gain. Whether consciously or unconsciously, many perform acts of charities for moments of fulfilment and pride, which at its most basic is a form of hedonism. In times of disasters, tragedies, and accidents, people assimilate and allocate resources to helping those affected by it because they will gain just as much. Empathy is a psychobiological need to connect with others in strife, and by easing the other’s suffering, the pressure to alleviate their own feelings around the issue is resolved. In a civilization that encourages global aid, in societies that promote the “greater good”, empathy is a major force in the interactions between people, nature, and concepts. The ability to experience another’s sorrow personally as a means of connection provides complicated commentary on human nature. While an act of empathy can be considered selfless, it is the performer’s reasoning behind the action that defiles its purity through gain of social standing or psychological profit. Human nature acts solely on the basis of self-interest and empathy is merely another
The author John Steinbeck best evokes empathy and compassion in an audience with his story The Harvest Gypsies more than other authors. The authors Kevin Starr and James Weldon Johnson have evoked empathy in the audience with their stories but were not as strong. The stories that will be compared to The Harvest Gypsies are titled Lift Every Voice and Sing by Kevin Starr and Endangered Dreams by James Weldon Johnson. Comparing these stories with John Steinbeck’s story will prove how much empathy there is in the story.
Full-time writer Barbara Lazear Ascher’s 1988 essay “On Compassion” conveys her perspective about interactions between people of different social classes to reveal her opinion on the reasons for compassion and where compassion should come from. Ascher’s purpose is to have her audience question the ways that compassion can be shown and to challenge society’s fear of “raw humanity”(11). She adopts a warm but clinical tone in order to prompt her audience, the literate and the intellectually curious, to question the motives behind compassion. Ascher begins her essay by invoking the primal fear of when anyone or anything unfamiliar approaches.
Each individual is a direct result of their reaction to the cards they’ve been dealt. The sad reality is that not everyone is given the proper resources in life. And for most, they have to make the best of difficult situations. This is where empathy comes in. We have to be able to care for others even when we don’t understand their situation.
Empathy is a quality difficult to attain. Not many people can really look through the eyes of someone else most of us are sympathetic. Empathy is almost a rare feeling how often are you going to feel empathy for the syrian refugees or children in Africa? It’s hard to feel empathy for things that we haven't experienced. But in every bundle of people their is an Atticus Finch.
Empathy is the feeling someone sorrow or able to imagine being them. People shouldn’t judge someone without walking in their shoes. People shouldn’t judge people because you never know what there going threw at that moment and time. Empathy is developed by understanding someone struggle just how in the book “To Kill A Mockingbird” I can feel empathy for mayella Ewell and Boo Radley because we went through similar experiences. Mayella Ewell never knew what love was or what it was to have friends.
“A person who doesn’t understand both sides of an issue can’t relate to the side he is trying to sway, so his words will bounce off of them without leaving any impression” by Daniel Willey. There are two sides to people as well as two side to an issue. If no one understands one side to a person, then no one will ever understand why that person has done something. Sold is about a young Nepali girl who is sold off to prostitution in India. This novel is by Patricia McCormick.
Empathy. The ability to understand what someone else is going through by putting oneself in their place and situation. All throughout history, people have struggled with the concept of empathy. For example, Jews have been mistreated for hundreds of years on numerous occasions by those of an advantaged position, African Americans have been subjugated by the privileged White throughout much of American history, and this struggle is even seen today with the prejudice towards Muslims across the world. Harper Lee created a timeless piece of literature that has lived on for plenty of years because of its theme of empathy and the challenges that the characters face regarding it.
Based on this we can infer that individuals should go out of their way to help others out. Without Doc’s help, the sick people may have died. This influences the idea that individuals should help others because it would make a difference in the world. Like characterization, emotional appeal can be also used to define the role of the
In Barbara Lazear Ascher’s essay titled “On Compassion” Ascher considers the concept of compassion by utilizing her own encounters with the homeless as a vehicle to make her argument. In her argument, she interprets compassion as an abstract concept, and portrays empathy as a building block to compassion; making the argument that to be a more tolerant society one must first learn empathy in order to demonstrate true compassion. When analyzing Ascher’s rhetoric, her style, diction and rhetorical devices reveal a skeptical tone and serve a greater purpose in appealing to the reader’s sense of ethos and pathos. Namely, Ascher’s use of first-person narrative and word choice like “we” appeals to the reader’s sense of ethos, which eventually builds
Furthermore, it was interesting that empathy, or a lack of, is socialized through emulation of parental behaviour and can be seen so early in childhood. This was demonstrated by children reacting to others’ distress in the same manner to which their caregiver reacted to the child’s
Not only can we learn from the characters in To Kill a Mockingbird, but also in the poem Sympathy because we can relate to what the author is talking about. Through these examples, it is clear that authors can best create empathy in their readers by developing strong characters that go through problems that the reader can relate to or learn
Where would modern civilization be without empathy? Empathy allows us to relate to others in a way that is meaningful during tragedies. Empathy is what makes people human. Without it, humans would act in ways that are closer to zombies or robots. A scary depiction of a world without empathy is “Beggar in the Living Room,” by Bill Watkins.
By being exposed to different types of literature, I have observed they often use empathy to place the readers in each character’s shoes. By doing so, the reader will be able to understand the perspective of each character, as authors want you to. Though their perspectives are different, it is the similarities and comparisons between such that allow the readers to have a better understanding. Often these themes will show a conflict and a resolution; such as a character tolerating the judgement of society, to a resolution where the character accepts that they do not need to pay any heed to the
Poetry is an effective means used to convey a variety of emotions, from grief, to love, to empathy. This form of text relies heavily on imagery and comparison to inflict the reader with the associated feelings. As such, is displayed within Stephen Dunn 's, aptly named poem, Empathy. Quite ironically, Dunn implores strong diction to string along his cohesive plot of a man seeing the world in an emphatic light. The text starts off by establishing the military background of the main protagonist, as he awaits a call from his lover in a hotel room.
Introduction In any helping process, it should be guided by goals as they support the process ("Crafting Goals and Objectives", n.d.). Thus, as the head of the social service agency, I would work with both social workers to develop their goals. Goals