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Jem and Scout reside in the quiet and small county of Maycomb, Mississippi. Like any other child, the two siblings enjoy playing outdoors. Over the course of time life experiences have big influences on the maturation of Jem and Scout mentally, emotionally as well as physically too. Jem changes from a young boy to a young man. Scout enters the story as an innocent young girl only to re-emerge as a young woman.…
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To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is set in an old Alabama town when racism was prevalent. I believe that Harper Lee illustrates numerous examples of empathy throughout her novel using Atticus and the kids. Atticus Finch, having a strong character and a sense of equality treats everyone equally, no matter the skin color. He emphasizes for everyone: Mrs. Dubose and even the Ewell’s. He teaches this to the kids, and they inherit the trait quickly. After all, if Atticus wasn’t equal to everyone, what would be the need to write a novel with no…
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The remarks about Atticus helping Toim Robinson were arising from all over Maycomb County. Family, adults and even children who repeat whatever their parents say talk about Atticus in a poor manner. For instance, in the process of Francis aggravating Scout, he explains to her that Aunt Alexandria had said that Atticus was, “ruinin’ the family”, because he’s turned into a “nigger-lover”, and therefore they’ll, “never be able to walk the streets of Maycomb County”. If the people of Maycomb County put themselves in Tom Robinson’s shoes and showed empathy towards him, then the community wouldn’t shame him as much as they do now. In addition, in this particular case, empathy for Tom Robinson wouldn’t only justify and clarify the prejudices people have towards him, it would also stop the rants against Atticus Finch, because since Tom Robinson is being represented in court by Atticus, he often gets kicked out of the…
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An example of a character pitying Tom Robinson is Mr. B. B. Underwood, who, when referring to Tom Robinson, claimed that it is a “sin to kill cripples” and said that Tom Robinson’s death was like “senseless slaughter of songbirds by hunters and children.” Scout comments that Atticus “had no case” for Tom Robinson because in the “secret courts of men’s hearts” prejudice against and presumptions about blacks overruled reason and apathy in the men of the court. Another example of characters influencing the reader’s reaction is when Atticus informed Scout and Calpurnia that Tom Robinson had been killed and the reader learns that Tom Robinson had a family. Lee included Robinson’s family to make him more human and relatable, creating a stronger bond between the character and the reader. This “bond” is what makes the situation so powerful; by learning of Robinson’s death, the reader feels like they learned that somebody familiar died. This incurs a more vigorous reaction from the reader and in turn makes the story especially…
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While the children in To Kill a Mockingbird show empathy, many adults do as well. Miss. Maudie and Atticus are two adults that are advocates of empathy and kindness in Maycomb. “His colored friends for one thing, and the people like us. People like Judge Taylor. People like…
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Atticus Finch is one of the ‘mockingbirds’ due to his strong sense of morality, respect, and willingness to help people over his own convenience. Atticus’s ability to empathize with others is clear when Jem and Scout intrude into Boo Radley’s confinement out of curiosity. He reasons that “what…
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Boo’s signs of generosity are displayed in several ways. Atticus says, “Someday, maybe, Scout can thank him for covering her up.” “Thank who”? “Boo Radley. You were so busy looking at the fire you didn’t know it when he put the blanket around you (96).” Boo shows a generous side of him that cares about others in this scene. Near the end of the novel, Scout says, “Mr. Ewell was tryin’ to squeeze me to death, I reckon…then somebody yanked Mr. Ewell down (361).” Boo’s pure generosity in his heart causes him to save Jem and Scout from being killed by Mr.Ewell. Tom Robinson’s signs of generosity are displayed through his actions towards Mayella, Tom’s accuser. When Tom is asked if he is paid by Mayella for his services, he replies, “No suh, not after she offered me a nickel the first time. I was glad to do it, Mr. Ewell didn’t seem to help her none, and neither did the chillun, and I knowed she didn’t have no nickels to spare (256).” Tom helped Mayella out of true compassion and generosity without expecting anything in return. Another similarity is that Boo Radley and Tom Robinson are both unfairly judged because of their “differences” from the people of Maycomb. Boo Radley is a man who prefers to live in isolation and never be seen outside of his house. Since the people of the town see that he is different than them, they create the…
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One of To Kill a Mockingbird’s themes, if not the largest, is empathy. Every character has empathy at some point in the book. Some characters have more empathy than others, such as Miss Maudie, Jem, and Atticus. Miss Maudie not only teaches, but shows the children the ways of empathy. Jem did not have a big heart at first, but as the plot went along, he had the most empathy next to Atticus. Atticus is by far the most empathetic character in the book leading by example. The book also has others. Empathy is all…
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The story takes place in a town called Maycomb, Alabama, in the 1930s. Despite the whites treating the African Americans like subordinates, the townsfolk treat each other like family, with the exception of the Ewell family. In the beginning of the book Harper Lee illustrates empathy is learned through each character passing it on to each other as if it were a tradition. In one of the scenes where Scout(Jean Louise Finch) our protagonist has a confrontation with her teacher Miss Caroline , Atticus gives her the most important advice. Atticus promptly tells scout can get better along if she can view though Miss Caroline point of view: “‘first of all, if you can learn a simple trick, scout, you’ll get along alot better with all kinds of folks.…
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There are many interesting types of parenting styles in Harper Lee’s, To Kill a Mockingbird.…
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In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee illustrates determination through Atticus Finch’s ability to do what is right at all costs because he wants to set good examples. First of all, Atticus defends those who aren’t able to speak for themselves or for those who aren’t understood. Evidence of this assertion from the book is, “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.”- (pg. 39) Atticus defended Miss Caroline when Scout told him about Burris Ewell; Atticus told Scout to look at things from Miss Caroline’s perspective. Atticus knew that people shouldn’t tease Arthur Radley, so Atticus made sure his children didn’t make fun of Arthur. Atticus defended Mrs. Dubose and explained to Jem how she was the bravest person he ever knew. Second of all, Atticus accepts the trial of Tom Robinson even though the town is against him. Evidence of this second assertion is, “This case, Tom Robinson’s case, is something that goes to the essence of a man’s conscience-Scout, I couldn’t go to church and worship God if I didn’t try to help that man.”- (pg. 139) Although Atticus knew that Tom Robinson was going to be guilty, Atticus still wanted to defend him. If Atticus couldn’t hold up his head in town, Atticus couldn’t represent this county in the legislature. He couldn’t even tell Scout or Jem not to do something again because Atticus could never ask them to mind him again. The town was against Atticus for defending a black man, but Atticus didn’t cave into the negative comments they were saying about him. When taking the case of Tom Robinson, Atticus took the responsibilities of protecting Tom. One of the times when Atticus protected Tom was when Atticus sat outside the jail late at night with a gun to protect Tom. Last of all, Atticus makes wise choices in regards to his children. Here are two evidences of this last assertion. “You might hear some ugly talk about it at school, but do one…
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In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout learns valuable lessons on the evil of prejudice present in her Southern town of Maycomb, on the true nature of courage, and on the dangers of judging others before "...climbing into their skin and walking around in it." Set in the mid 1930s, Scout Finch is a young girl living with her older brother, Jem, and her lawyer father. Being a kid, Scout has the simple duties of a minor, to have fun and to stay out of trouble. But along the way, she also learns many important things. Although the majority of her hometown is prejudiced, Scout's innocent mind remains non prejudice and caring of others. To her, all is equal, so therefore, should be treated equal. There is no doubt that Scout's character is one whom is an individual, someone whom will stick to her own perspective no matter how cruel and racist other people can be. In her adult world, Scout learns to treat all people fairly with dignity and respect.…
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Everyone makes judgments about others, there is no way around it, what a person should work on though is not to “snap” judge other people. To Kill a Mockingbird by Haper Lee demonstrates how being quick to judge is wrong. To Kill a Mockingbird is globally known, winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and selling over fifteen million copies. To Kill a Mockingbird shows how judging a person before you get to know them generates a hateful, prejudice environment based on false pretenses.…
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Mockingbirds are birds that does one thing; Making music for us to enjoy and nothing else to harm us. In the remarkable novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the mockingbird is used as symbolism for real people. Including the human mockingbirds, the novel represents other pieces of the prejudice such as racism and hypocrisy. In the little town of Maycomb in its 1930¡¯s, the prejudice was an accepted concept for every individual and Atticus even called it a ¡®disease¡¯ of the town. This time-honored perception, prejudice, was very distinctly shown in the novel from its characters and the society. Prejudice does not seem like a such a big deal in the novel as it actually is now…
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In “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Atticus Finch included many themes in his closing speech to the jury. Some of the themes were loneliness, racism, human nature, and equality. The theme loneliness was demonstrated in the speech when Atticus attacked Mayella’s loneliness and blamed her for her child – like decision to accuse Tom Robinson for her unhappiness. “She did something every child has done – she tried to put the evidence of her offence away from her. But in this case she was no child hiding stolen contraband: she struck out at her victim …” Another theme of Atticus’s speech was racism, which was shown when the jury did not believe the word of Tom Robinson, a black man, over the word of “white trash” like the Ewells. Atticus attempted his point that Tom had been exploited and unjustly accused. “And so a quiet, respectable, humble Negro who had the unmitigated temerity to ‘feel sorry' for a white woman has had to put his word against two white people's.” Racism was also demonstrated throughout the story by how Tom Robinson was convicted purely because he was a black man and his accuser was white. The evidence was so powerfully in his favor, that race was clearly the single defining factor in the jury's decision. Human nature was one of the themes shown in Atticus’s speech. It was shown when Atticus reminded the jury that not all Negroes lie, not all are immoral, and not all can be trusted around women – black or white, and that blackness does not necessarily associate to evil. “… some Negroes lie, some Negroes are immoral, some Negro men are not to be trusted around women – black or white …” Atticus then further appealed to the jury the honest of nature. “… this is a truth that applies to the human race and to no particular race of men. There is not a person in this courtroom who has never told a lie, who has never done an immoral thing, and there is no man living who has never looked upon a woman without desire.” Lastly,…
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