Examples Of Compassion In To Kill A Mockingbird

Kailyn Hanson
Mrs, Hewlett
English 1H-7
26 January 2023
Does Everyone Deserve compassion?
Compassion is not something that an individual needs to earn. Everyone deserves to have at least a little compassion. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Mayella Ewell, a white teenage girl, falsely accuses Tom Robinson, a black man, of rape. With this incident taking place during the 1930s the predominantly white townspeople were against Tom. What really happened was that Mayella forced Tom to kiss her because she had never experienced kindness from anyone else; however, her father Bob Ewell saw the incident as well. Her father’s best idea to cover up the situation is to accuse Tom of rape and assault. During the trial, instead of coming out with

During Tom Robinson’s trial, he went to the witness box to defend himself, and prove to the jury and the judge that he was not guilty. Atticus, Tom’s lawyer, asked him different questions about the events that transpired. When on the stand Tom answered Atticus’s question while explaining “She says she never kissed a grown man before an’ she might as well kiss a ni**er. She says what her papa do to her don’t count” (Lee 221). With Mayella getting sexually abused by her father it leaves her in a vulnerable condition. Being in that kind of condition she can not understand things the same and has rightfully earned compassion from others. Throughout the trial, Atticus tries to get Mayella to admit her father’s wrongdoings to start “Bringing attention or awareness to recognizing that there is [someone] suffering” (Jazaieri). In Atticus’s own way, he treats Mayella with compassion because he knows that she is truly suffering. He wanted her to do the right thing by proving Tom was innocent and getting her father to pay for hurting her. People who are aware of Mayella's situation with her father know that she is worthy of

One can not deny that her accusing Tom Robinson of rape was uncalled for and morally wrong. On the other hand, Mayella has never had a good life and if someone felt like “[They] can’t stand by and watch someone else suffering. [They] You are motivated to take action to stop the pain or help out.” (Yugay). If most individuals in the town thought Mayella had an equal right to compassion as anyone else, then she would be able to get off the hole her father is digging her deeper in.
Thus, Mayella’s hardships in life have allowed her to be deserving of compassion. She has had to survive her father’s physical, mental, and sexual abuse. Most often the people who are seen as evil are in need of compassion.
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