Empathy is a very important thing. In order to truly feel for people and understand what they're going through, you must have empathy. We are taught at a very young age as it will shape who we are as we continue to grow older and undergo experiences. As we grow, our sense of empathy increases. As our maturity increases as does our empathy. This not shown more so anywhere than in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Collins. The entire story is essentially structured around the idea of growth, maturity and the empathy that comes along with it. There are many characters who exhibit the theme of empathy throughout the entire book, however I have chosen to highlight 4, Tom Robinson, Atticus Finch, Jem Finch and Jean-Louise Finch or "Scout". All 4 of these characters exhibit empathy throughout the book and some of them learn it throughout the book which highlights their growth and maturity. However, there is more to the story about empathy than merely which characters exhibit it. Throughout this book Harper Lee tries to tell us something about empathy, something that is mainly represented by Tom Robinson. She's trying to tell us that empathy and feeling bad for someone can lead to a very bad outcome for you and you must be very careful to who you exhibit empathy to.
Throughout the book, the 4 characters who exhibit empathy the greatest are Tom Robinson, Atticus Finch, Jem and Scout. There are many occasions in which all of these characters exhibit maturity and empathy. One example of Tom Robinson showing empathy is when he showed empathy towards Mayella Ewell when he decided to help her repair something for free. Tom Robinson revealed during the trial that he only helped her because he felt sorry for her. In the book it directly states "Mr. Gilmer smiled grimly at the jury. "You're [Tom] a mighty good fellow, it seems – did all this for not one penny?" "Yes suh. I felt right sorry for her; she seemed to try more'n the rest of 'em-". Tom helped Mayella because he had empathy for her, Tom was always so considerate towards others. However, him being considerate led to his incarceration and then his future assassination but I will talk about that later in this paper. Another character that exhibits empathy is Atticus. To be fair, Atticus probably exerts the most amount empathy in this book. He shows empathy to every character he encounters. Even Bob Ewell who consistently tried to ruin Atticus, he even attacked Atticus' children however Atticus was not mad at him, he felt bad for him as a result of the insane amount of empathy that Atticus. "Jem, see if you can stand in Bob Ewell's shoes 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, his kind always does. So, if spitting in my face and threatening me saved Mayella Ewell one extra beating, that's something I'll gladly take," (lines 23-29, pg 249). This shows how Atticus shows an incredible amount of empathy towards Bob Ewell and his children no matter what they do to him and how they act towards him. Another time Atticus showed empathy is when the African Americans in Maycomb sent him a lot of food. He is incredibly thankful however he does not want it as he knows that times are tough. He emphasizes with the African Americans in Maycomb as they have been put in an awful position and it is hard for them to get food for themselves. Atticus knows this, he knows that it must have been financially hard for them. It." Atticus's eyes filled with tears. He did not speak for a moment. "Tell them I'm very grateful," he said. "Tell them–tell them they must never do it again. Times are too hard…." (Chapter 22). Another time Atticus exhibited empathy is when he has the children look at for Ms. Dubose. He knew that she was trying to recover from a morphine addict and he knew that Jem could help her, so he emphasized with her and told Jem to read to her no matter how mean she was to them, Atticus knew it was because she was trying to recover and get better and Jem and scout reading to her was the only way she could it. Another character that exhibits empathy is Jem. Jem shows empathy multiple times throughout the book. For example, early on in the novel, Jem stops scout from attacking Walter Cunningham Jr. He feels bad for him because he's smaller than scout and has a much harder life, so he shows compassion and empathy for Walter by inviting him to dinner. Another occasion in which Jem shows empathy is when Scout is about to smash a Rolly-Polly bug and she tells her to stop. When asked why, he states that it is because it did nothing to her. This shows how he has grown and matured and how he glows with empathy in a very similar fashion to Atticus. Finally, the fourth character that exerts empathy is Scout. As the story progresses, you see Scout grow, mature and progress as a character. This is no greater represented than when scout is standing on Boo Radley's porch and starts seeing the world from his point of view. She no longer calls him Boo, but she calls him Arthur." Boo was our neighbor. he gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a pair of good-luck pennies, and our lives. But neighbors give in return. We never put back into the tree what we took out of it: we had given him nothing, and it made me sad…. Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough" This quote perfectly represents scout's growth and she finally understands what Atticus means when he talks about not knowing a man until you walk around in his shoes. She realized that Boo only gave while they just ridiculed him, but she matured and realized what Boo truly did for them. This shows Scout's true empathetic qualities.
There is no doubt the empathy is a huge part of one of the most influential novels in the history of American Literature. Harper Lee for sure wanted to tell us something about empathy. She wants to tell us that we must be careful in who we give our empathy to. If we are not careful then the wrong people who don't deserve our empathy will twist and turn it against us and make our lives so much worse just because you wanted to help them. They want to take advantage of your kindness. There are multiple examples of this in To Kill a Mockingbird. There are many characters in this story that go through the difficulties. Two examples of empathy being taken advantage of are in the case of Tom Robinson and Atticus. Tom Robinson came into the Ewell household just to help Mayella. He didn't come for money or any ill intentions. He came because he felt bad for her and he wanted to genuinely help her. He had a great heart and felt bad for the Ewells and they took advantage of it and had him incarcerated and then eventually killed. If Tom didn't help Mayella then he would've lived on, but it was his own good heart and empathy that lead to his death. Another example of empathy being taken advantage of is when Atticus showed empathy to Bob Ewell when he spits in Atticus' face and Atticus didn't do anything. Atticus showed mercy and empathy towards Bob Ewell and he repays him by attacking the Finch children and attempts to kill them. These two examples show us that we must be wary about who we show empathy to and we must not be blind and give our kindness to people who don't deserve it and look to take advantage of us and gain from it. There are many people like Ewells in the world and we must be very careful and be able to spot them, so we don't make the same mistake that Atticus and Tom did. This book was written to warn us about people like Ewells.
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is one of the best pieces of American Literature ever written. There are many elements that play a part in this novel being so influential. From its overall story-telling to its educational factor. There are many factors however the main one is it is a classic coming of age story. This novel taught many generations about maturity and empathy and how to give it out. There are multiple examples of empathy being exhibited by all of the novel's main characters such as Atticus, Scout, Jem, and Tom Robinson. All of these characters are heroes and are empathetic people who serve as role models for everyone. However sometimes their empathy leads them to put them and their families in jeopardy and Harper Lee wants to stress that we must be careful in who give the benefit of the doubt so that we mat protect ourselves and our loved ones. This book teaches fantastic morals and great lessons for not only the maturing phase of your life but for the rest of it as well.