How Is There Empathy In To Kill A Mockingbird

In Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, stereotypes and rumors lead people to be less compassionate towards others. For instance, family names, town gossip and prejudice prompt people, like Jem, to act unsympathetic. I can connect this to typical high school life, where may people experience pre-judgment and sexism but also to society’s current need for a better understanding of empathy. A character in Harper Lee’s novel that could use Atticus’ advice of stepping into someone else’s skin and considering other’s perspectives is Jem Finch. Jem could use this advice when he is fearful of Bob Ewell. Jem is afraid of the threats Bob has made towards Atticus and he questions why Atticus doesn’t do anything to stop it. Atticus says, “Jem, see if

Boo Radley reminded me of a character in another book called, Love Stargirl. The character, Betty Lou had agoraphobia meaning that she was afraid to leave her house. Betty Lou describes her experience saying, “I’d like to tell you I fought valiantly with myself, that I tried really hard to step over the threshold into the backyard. But I didn’t fight. I knew I wasn’t going to do it. I closed the door and I haven’t opened it since” (12). She explains to Stargirl that she just didn’t want to leave her house and that was that, just like Boo Radley. Gossip that she was crazy circulated the town but, rather than believing it, Stargirl decided to find out Betty’s story for herself. She went and knocked on her door, only to find she was a perfectly normal lady with a phobia. If Jem had done this, maybe he’d find out the reality of Boo’s life. Another connection I made was to society’s idea of empathy. We have a hard time putting ourselves in other’s shoes. “Instead of silence or helpfulness, social media pukes out virtue-signaling and vicarious “enjoyment” (in a psychoanalytic sense) of a terrible tragedy by people thousands of miles away, for whom the event is just a meme they will participate in for a couple of days, then let fade into their timeline.” says Rurik Bradbury in an article for Washington Post. Rather than trying to help people nowadays, many mindlessly post statuses or tweets saying things like, #prayforparis. Truly, if we considered how victims of incidents like terrorist attacks or refugees felt we’d be doing more to help them, like donating money or more importantly, our time. To summarize, Stargirl used Atticus’ words to step into Betty Lou’s shoes and in the world, we need to step into other’s shoes and make a true, substantial difference rather than mindlessly using social media to show our so-called