Empathy Quotes In To Kill A Mockingbird

Ever felt the great feeling of when someone showed you empathy throughout a current situation, when they don’t even know the whole story? Did that kind action overstep racism and prejudice? In the 30’s during the Great Depression and segregation, racism and prejudice were on the rise. In To Kill a Mockingbird, basically all of the characters including Scout, Jem, Dill, Atticus, and Arthur (Boo) Radley, had their own side problems others may not have been unaware of. The author is showing, in part I, that empathy is the solution to racism and prejudice.
People are still kind and show empathy despite their circumstances. For example, when Boo Radley fixed Jem’s ripped pants by sewing them up for him. (Lee) Boo Radley, a guy who has been stuck

(Lee) Everyone knows that Atticus is a very respectable man, but representing an African American in court when he has his kids to deal with? The people of Maycomb county think there’s too much kindness shown to this man. Scout, Atticus’s daughter, knows this first hand because of the bullying she’s received at school about her father being a “nigger-lover”. Some may argue that even though Atticus is taking the case his empathy isn’t changing anyone’s perceptions of people, but that is wrong. "Scout, said Atticus, nigger-lover is just one of those terms that don't mean anything—like snot-nose. It's hard to explain—ignorant, trashy people use it when they think somebody's favoring Negroes over and above themselves. It's slipped into usage with some people like ourselves, when they want a common, ugly term to label somebody… You aren't really a nigger-lover, then, are you? I certainly am” (Lee). With this conversation, Scout realizes, by asking that question, that her father is doing something no one else in the town would dare to do. This revelation leads her to also find out that just because someone has dark skin, they are just like everyone else. Atticus, as well, knows that what he is doing is going to eventually affect his children in the right way because of how he’s going against the current popular views in society. Atticus’s empathy breaks the chains of racism against Tom Robinson

Dubose left for him after she died. To Scout and Jem, Mrs. Dubose is the cruelest lady that ever lived. To Mrs. Dubose, the Finch family is where she felt more than comfortable to nitpick their lives to the best of her ability. One day Jem gets very upset with one of her comments about his father, so he vandalizes the front of her house which results in him having to read to her everyday for a month. Him and Scout knows that she is a sick woman but have no concern for her because of how she treats them. Since Jem is struggling with keeping his innocence and childhood nature or to mature this event affects him as a character greatly. Some may disagree with this and say that before Jem fingers the petal he was upset with Mrs. Dubose for leaving the gift for him, so prejudice was not affected at all, but that is untrue. As said before, at this point in Jem’s life he’s battling with growing up. Him being upset right before fingering the petal is merely an episode of his innocence showing then leaving. In reality, after this episode Jem is informed that she was addicted to morphine. This is when Jem realizes how brave Mrs. Dubose actually is, as she chooses suffering over giving in to her morphine addiction. She then dies, but is viewed as a brave and courageous woman by the children, instead of the mean old lady. This show of empathy from Jem shows that all prejudices held against Mrs. Dubose became