Theme Of Empathy In To Kill A Mockingbird

Learning empathy is one of the major parts of growing up. It’s a way of seeing the world through the eyes of other people and understanding their point of view. Empathy is one of the main themes in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, in which a girl named Scout grows up in a small southern town. Scout discovers a lot of things as she matures, including the needless cruelty of the world and that everything isn’t always what it seems at first. She also figures out the concept of empathy for herself. The novel is full of moments when characters “crawl inside other people’s skin and walk around a bit” and look at things from someone else’s perspective.
At first, Scout and Jem don’t understand empathy at all. They hate Mrs. Dubose, who is always mean to them for seemingly no reason. Atticus, however, goes out of his way to be nice to her. He knows that Mrs. Dubose is suffering from an addiction to morphine, and tries his best to be as kind to her as possible. By looking at things from her perspective, Atticus realized that she was going through difficulties. He could withstand her verbal abuse because he respected the fact that she was trying to break her addiction before she died. As cruel as she seemed, Atticus said “She was the bravest person I ever knew.” (pg. 149). Atticus was able to see why Mrs. Dubose
It shows the personality of the characters in a more profound way, and displays how Scout grows up throughout the novel. When she finally understands empathy, she becomes more compassionate and understands people on a much deeper level. Empathy is important in general. It helps us comprehend the reason why people act the way they do. If everyone understood empathy, people would get along better because they could see the other person’s side of things. Having empathy for others is a sign of maturity, and people would be much more compassionate if they just stepped inside each other’s shoes and walked around a