Empathy is the ability to feel and/or share another person's emotions and thoughts. Atticus stresses this notion to Scout and Jem throughout the novel. He encourages them to consider other people's perspectives on things.
At the beginning of Chapter 3, Scout gets into a fight with Walter Cunningham Jr. because she feels he got her in trouble in school. Jem breaks them up and invites Walter to have dinner with them. Some children might not...
Empathy is the ability to feel and/or share another person's emotions and thoughts. Atticus stresses this notion to Scout and Jem throughout the novel. He encourages them to consider other people's perspectives on things.
At the beginning of Chapter 3, Scout gets into a fight with Walter Cunningham Jr. because she feels he got her in trouble in school. Jem breaks them up and invites Walter to have dinner with them. Some children might not associate with Walter because he is so poor, but Jem understands how this must make Walter feel, so Jem makes it a point to be friendly towards him. To Scout's surprise, Atticus also treats Walter Jr. like an equal.
At the beginning of Chapter 22, Jem is distraught that Tom has been convicted. Jem is upset that Atticus lost. He'd also become emotionally invested in the trial, so his sadness is partially the result of his anger at the injustice and partially the result of the empathy he'd developed for Tom Robinson:
It was Jem’s turn to cry. His face was streaked with angry tears as we made our way through the cheerful crowd. “It ain’t right,” he muttered, all the way to the corner of the square where we found Atticus waiting.
At the end of Chapter 23, Scout and Jem are discussing why certain folks and certain (economic) classes are separated and don't get along. Then, Jem has a revelation. He considers Boo Radley's feelings:
Scout, I think I’m beginning to understand something. I think I’m beginning to understand why Boo Radley’s stayed shut up in the house all this time… it’s because he wants to stay inside.
No comments:
Post a Comment