To Kill a Mockingbird, clearly demonstrates the importance of empathy, or understanding someone's feelings. The novel also includes many characters whose appearance leads to incorrect judgement. All over the world appearance belies the truth. When assumptions are made from initial appearance it's unfair and very untruthful.
Dolphus Raymond a character from To Kill a Mockingbird, is a white man with many black girlfriends and mulatto children. He is wealthy and spends most of his time with the black citizens of Maycomb. Mr. Raymond drinks Coca-Cola out of a brown paper bag to make people assume he's drinking liquor. That way people have an explanation as to why he lives life with black people. Clearly Mr. Raymond's appearance leads to judgement,
There are some people in this world that can truly understand, or try to understand people and their feelings. They can relate to them on some sort of level. Then there's is plenty of people in this world who have no empathy at all. They don’t feel for people or even try to understand. That's exactly why everyone should read To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The book is about a little girl named Scout and her older brother Jem, who is going through some changes as they grow older in the racist south where their father, a lawyer has a case about a black man raping a white woman. Over the course of the book, both characters grow in great measures. Their father is always teaching them in little ways what’s right/wrong, and what’s good/bad.
The novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is set in Alabama in the 1930s, and concerns itself primarily with the interrelated themes of prejudice and empathy. These themes are explored as the story follows Scout Finch as she learns lessons in empathy, ultimately rejecting prejudice. While all characters in Lee’s novel learn from their experiences, not all are able to grow in the same manner as Scout. The idea of a positive role model, typified by the character of Atticus Finch, and the ramifications of its absence, is a concept that Lee places much emphasis on. The isolated setting is also pivotal in the development of characters. Lee uses the contrast between characters that learn lessons in empathy and compassion, and characters that cling to the ideals of a small town, to explore factors that nurture or diminish prejudice.
To Kill a Mockingbird is regarded as a classic, also due to the timeless moral values it holds dear. The words of others should not dictate personal values, using educated thought is crucial before acting and finally, statements should not always be acknowledged as truth until you are able to authenticate them for yourself.
In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird, empathy is demonstrated throughout the novel. Empathy can be defined as the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. Atticus tries to explain to Jem and Scout about what he experiences and the things that are happening in Maycomb County. Several characters learn empathy and understand how they feel about certain things and understand the experiences of others. This plays a major role in the novel.
Have American’s lost the ability to show empathy? Although a novice reader may struggle to see how a book written over 50 years ago bears any connection to our modern world, Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird could not be any more relevant. The citizens of fictional Maycomb County acknowledge their flawed legal system and unfair social castes as unfortunate truths of life, of which all you can do is accept it as fact. The sole exception is lawyer Atticus Finch, who is in charge of defending the accused in court. After seeing all too many men receive a sentence simply because of the color of their skin, Atticus embarks on a quest to teach Jem and Scout, his children, that prejudice can be fought. By understanding and exposing ourselves to different people, we can free ourselves from prejudice.
As the novel comes to a close the depth of Holden Caulfield’s character advances. As Holden comes to terms with his emotions and learns how to deal with them effectively. At the same time, he learns about others’ sentiments and how to react to their emotions. When talking to his sister, Phoebe, Holden withdraws from the conversation as it progresses into more emotional depth than he is comfortable with. Aware that his sister “gets very emotional” Holden shy’s away from the conversation as, at this point in time, Holden has not prepared himself to cope with her emotions (Salinger 182). His unwillingness is due to Holden’s inability to endure his own feelings, let alone the emotions of another person. Later in the novel, Holden insinuates
My attitude to racism has developed in the course of the narrative. Mr Dolphus Raymond continues to elaborate on my feelings while he talks to Scout and Dill during the court case. He is a sinful man according to the community as he is has fathered mixed children. To contemplate this felony he pretended to be a drunk: "Secretly, Miss Finch, I'm not much of a drinker, but you see they could never, never understand that I live like I do because that is the way I want to live.
Afghanistan was a war country where people got attacked by the talibans. In the kite runner a novel by Khaled Hosseini Afghanistan, was a dangerous country. It's the story about a relationship About 2 boys called Hassan and Amir that at this time in the book they were victims and innocents and don't deserve a punishment on the story. People gain empathy when others need the help, when they lose someone, when there's a bond between people and are demonstrating when others have help us we want to help them.
Nobel Peace Prize winner, Desmond Tutu, once said “frequently people think compassion and love are merely sentimental. No! They are very demanding. If you are going to be compassionate, be prepared for action” (values.com). When one thinks of compassion, sympathy and sorrow come to mind. However, compassion also is accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering. This can be accomplished by standing up for what one believes is right. Throughout the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee deeply develops her theme that compassion is understanding someone else’s perspective and using this compassion to stand up against society.
Raymond. Mr. Raymond drinks with a plastic bag to hide from his wife and his chances. “He’s got Co-Cola bottle full of whiskey in there.”(pg. 214). He’s purposely gets drunk just to hide his personality because he is afraid he will lose his friendship and love from his wife and friends. Mr. Raymond acts like he is drunk so he can hide his personal lifestyle from his friends and his wife. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Mr. Raymond explains that he feels he has to give the population some reason for his odd behavior. He acts friendly toward black people. Mr. Raymond believes it 's easier for people to handle strangeness when they have a reason to explain it. He thinks children that haven 't lost the instinct that tells them that it 's wrong for white people to give hell to black people without consideration for basic humanity of humankind. Mr. Raymond tells the children because they are not racist and they will understand. Mr. Raymond is unlike most people in Maycomb because he is not a racist. Since people have a hard time believing he could love a Negro wife and half-breed children, he lets the town believe he is
Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings with others. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, there are many characters who showed the quality of empathy. A few examples who undoubtedly showed empathy were the main characters Jem, Atticus, and the narrator Scout Finch. These characters learned and demonstrated compassion throughout the book.
Do you not believe we need more compassion and tolerance in the world? Why can we not be like Atticus, Jem or Scout from To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee? These characters show great compassion and tolerance throughout the novel despite the society they live in. They have the courage to stand up for what they believe in.
The author George Elliot once said “don’t judge a book by its cover.” Appearance can be very misleading, and you shouldn't prejudge the worth or value of something by its outward appearance alone. This philosophical idea has been included in many works of literature, including the timeless classic To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee. The novel takes place in the town of Maycomb, Alabama during the 1930s. Many citizens of Maycomb tend to make judgements based on outward appearances alone. In the novel, Lee uses minor characters such as Boo Radley, Mrs. Dubose, and Tom Robinson to convey the book’s theme of prejudice.
Mr. Dolphus Raymond is another character who suffered from Maycomb’s racism. He was a respected, wealthy member of the community, but then he chose to live with the black community. This was considered a felony by the inhabitants of Maycomb. He knew they would never be able to understand his choice, so he made it easier for them by pretending to be the town drunk.
To Kill A Mockingbird embodies those very words in every aspect and exemplifies them through its three main characters: Atticus, Scout, and Jem. Yet, with racism and discrimination seemingly making its way back into the twenty first century with increased shootings of African American males and Donald Trump making an effort to export all Muslims out of America etc., the lessons of compassion, understanding and forgiveness shown in To Kill A Mockingbird could be of great use in today’s society. To Kill A Mockingbird demonstrates the value of compassion and understanding through one, Atticus and his taking of Tom Robinson's trial, two, Atticus and his relationship with Scout, and finally, with Atticus and Mrs. Dubose. To start, for most people, the second they learned of Tom Robinson’s accused crime, they knew his fate had most likely already been decided, jail it would be for Mr Robinson, yet Atticus Finch embraced the challenge and took on his case.