Mockingbird Essay

mockingbird essay

Everybody has feelings of compassion. People have compassion toward different people or things everyday. People have compassion to kids that get bullied. People have compassion to meeting people who are going through hard times. People have compassion for all the people that have lost loved ones in 9/11. Compassion is a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune. Scout learns about compassion through people in different ways in To Kill a Mockingbird such as Walter Cunningham, Mrs. Dubose, and Atticus. Scout learns about compassion with Walter Cunningham. For example Walter Cunningham quarter incident in Miss Caroline’s class. Scout thinks he knows him and all and all he is a poor boy in her class. When she started to question Walter Cunningham with the syrup incident she made Walter Cunningham sad. Then Cal teaches Scout that just because someone is different doesn’t mean you can judge them. She then realizes after dinner when Calpurnia yells at her that not everybody is as fortunate as her family. Scout learns about compassion when she interacts with Mrs.Dubose. When Scout first sees Mrs. Dubose sick she says, “and for a moment I felt sorry for her she was lying under a pile of quilts and looks almost friendly” until she starts yelling. Scout and Jem think that Mrs. Dubose is just a cranky old lady that always yells at kids. So they messed up her garden with rage .Scout and Jem don’t realize or understand her until after she dies. They learned that she was a morphine addict. Scout learns compassion when realizes that strong people like Mrs. Dubose can’t handle pain anymore and turned her attention to drugs to ease the pain. At the end Scout learns that you have to be nice and compassionate to people around you even though they don’t do same thing back. They learned to be forgiving to Mrs.Dubose. Scout learns compassion from Atticus. He teaches Scout compassion when he serves as Tom Robinson’s lawyer. He defends him when nobody else does. Atticus shows compassion when he visits Mrs.Dubose. Atticus being kind to Mrs. Dubose, despite her verbal harrassment of him, and her insulting remarks.This shows how to be nice to someone who is really mean. Atticus shows compassion by making Jem read to Mrs.Dubose for punishment. Atticus teaches compassion to Scout when she was talking about what happened at school. “-until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” This taught her not judge anyone or think that you know someone until you actually know them. Atticus also taught them not to fight back to someone starting a fight until you know why they started to fight, when Jem and Scout question him about Bob Ewell’s threats. Why didn’t he fight back? “Jem…stand in Bob Ewell’s shoes for a minute. I destroyed his last shred of credibility at that trial, if he had any to begin with. The man had to have some kind of comeback… so if spitting in my face and threatening me saved Mayella Ewell one extra beating, that’s something I’ll gladly take…, understand?” This shows that he is only angry because Atticus embarrassed him at the court and he will rather make Bob take his anger out of him instead of beating Mayella up in front of the kids. He also teaches Scout that don’t judge someone until you stand in there point of view in life. “First of all…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.” This shows not to judge someone until you see things in there perspective of life. Throughout the novel Scout grows up a lot and learns to show compassion towards the people around her even if they don’t do the same back. Scout learns compassion from Walter Cunningham. Scout learns compassion from Mrs.Dubose. Mostly she learns compassion from her dad, Atticus. With Scout learning compassion through her experience shows the realism of the characters in To Kill a Mockingbird.