Examples Of Empathy In To Kill A Mockingbird

Another well known lesson taught by Atticus is about empathy. Empathy is defined as: the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. This is shown in chapter three when Scout encountered some problems with her new, first grade teacher, Mrs. Caroline. The little girl was mature well beyond her years, therefore, when she was asked to read out loud, Scout read with near perfect fluency. However, the teacher was surprisingly displeased with her advanced level in literature and flow, and assuming it was Atticus who was educating his daughter, Mrs. Caroline wanted the ‘lessons’ to come to a stop. This aggravated Scout tremendously and defeated her excitement for school and as the day continued, both did not get along. As Scout came

until you climb into his skin and walk around in it” (39). This quote is one of the most impactful ones throughout the story. Atticus displays that instead of automatically feeling rage towards the person, you should consider the other person’s point of view and understand their emotions. Atticus teaches another lesson about empathy, but this time, it was to Scout's brother, Jem. Mr. Finch was defending, Tom Robinson, the defendant, who was accused of raping a white woman by Bob Ewell and his daughter Mayella. In Maycomb, during the years of the 1930’s, accusations like that were extremely common. It is rare to see a black man’s attorney genuinely try to plead not guilty, most of them force the defendant to plead guilty and go to jail. Atticus willingly created a testimony with evidence that showed that Mayella’s bruises came from her abusive and alcoholic father. Although the verdict was guilty, the whole town viewed Mr. Ewell as an abusive man with no morals. Because of this, he wanted to gain retribution on anyone who was involved in exposing his wrongdoings to the whole town by following them and unexpectedly striking on