Theme of Empathy in To Kill A Mockingbird Essay Example

Stepping into someone's shoes is the best way to connect with them. The thought of empathizing with others is an important part of To Kill A Mockingbird. During the 1930s when the book is set in, racism and discrimination toward people of color was still a big theme in society. The town of Maycomb is so diverse, with everyone living different lives; it might seem impossible to step into someone's shoes and understand what they are experiencing. In To Kill A Mockingbird author Harper Lee reveals that stepping in another's shoes is the best way to empathize with others. 

Arthur Radley is represented as a victim of false accusations and mystery. Set in a small town in Alabama, everyone is well acquainted with most people in the town except for Arthur “Boo” Radley. At the beginning of the novel, Boo Radley is described as a “Malevolent phantom” (9) by the townspeople. As the book progresses, curiosity grows about the unknown. An example of this curiosity is Dill daring Jem that he “Wouldn’t get any farther than the Radley gate” (13). Dill’s reason for daring Jem to go to the Radley place is because he is also curious and wants to invade Boo’s privacy to see if the rumors are true. Jem ends up going into their front yard, slapping the house, and leaving. This gesture shows that they are making Boo a joking matter and treating him like he’s not an actual person. Another example of Boo being mistreated is when Dill, Scout, and Jem go into his backyard. The children are all curious about what Boo looks like, and they plan to go to his back porch and look in. After getting chased out of the Radley backyard by Boo’s brother, Scout has the thought: “Every scratch of feet on gravel was Boo Radley seeking revenge” (57). Scout’s scared thought shows that it might sometimes be hard to walk in the shoes of someone else because they assume Boo is an entirely different person than he really is. Everyone making stereotypes about Boo also shows how rumors can spread very easily across the small town of Maycomb. Towards the end of the book when Boo saves Jem and Scout from Mr. Ewell, Boo begins to be seen as an actual person and not as much as a figment of the children's imagination. Scout sees him as an antisocial normal man with “Sand-stained khaki pants” (274) and a man with a face “As white as his hands” (274). Boo teaches Scout that stepping into the shoes of others is the best way to understand someone. 

Another character Scout begins to see through her own perspective is Miss Caroline Fisher. Miss Fisher is Scout’s first-grade teacher from Winston County. Throughout the day, Scout and her classmates see Miss Fisher make countless mistakes while teaching. The first mistake Miss Fisher makes is offering money to Walter Cunningham. This is a mistake because Miss Fisher didn’t know “The Cunninghams never took anything they can not pay back” (20). By tempting Walter with money that he cannot take, she is ridiculing him in front of the entire class. This is an example of the hierarchy built-in Maycomb and how it might be hard to understand everyone and everything at first. The second mistake Miss Fisher made was telling Scout that she was too literate for her age and to stop learning how to read and write with her father. This is very meaningful to Scout and causes her to complain to Atticus, leading Atticus to teach her about stepping into Miss Caroline and seeing where she comes from. Atticus mentions that she is new to town and does not understand the different attributes of every individual. This is another example of how understanding someone and stepping into their shoes can be very helpful. The last mistake Miss Fisher makes is commenting on how dirty Burris Ewell is. Miss Fisher exclaims, “It’s alive!” (25) while referring to Burris’s head. Miss Fisher is commenting on the lice living in Burris’s hair and how dirty the little boy is. Furthermore, she tells Burris, “Please bathe yourself before you come back tomorrow” (27). The problem with Miss Fisher’s comments about Burris is that in the position he is set in, he is not able to take care of himself and get the lice out of his hair. With the first day of school ended, Scout talks to Atticus about not wanting to go back because of her teacher, but Atticus continues to tell her that you have to understand both sides of the story and to understand that Miss Fisher is not acquainted with the ways of Maycomb. Scout agrees with Atticus and continues to go to school and read at home. 

The third character Scout begins to empathize with is Mrs. Dubose. Throughout the book, Scout and Jem constantly poke fun at how ill-tempered and elderly Mrs. Dubose is. It is not until Jem cuts Mrs. Dubose’s prized camellia flowers with a baton that Scout bought for him that both children learn to understand how to understand what others go through. As a punishment, Atticus and Mrs. Dubose agree to have Jem read books to Mrs. Dubose every day. Scout goes along with Jem every day to listen to Jem read and while they are still being treated badly they learn to see how good and bad can coexist in a person. An example of Mrs. Dubose's comments would be, “So you brought that dirty little sister of yours, did you?” (110). These comments were rude at first to both children, but as the days progressed they soon started understanding the personality that Mrs. Dubose upheld. After coming home after each reading session, both Jem and Scout express that they want to stop doing it, but Atticus insists that it is only fair to keep doing it. After Jem and Scout read for the last time to Mrs. Dubose, they learn a month later that she had passed away due to a long-lasting sickness. Atticus told the children that Mrs. Dubose had been a morphine addict and that she said “She was going to leave this world beholden to nothing and nobody” (115). Jems and Scout's visits would distract her from taking morphine and would help “Break herself of it before she died, and that’s what she did” (115). Scout and Jem both realize how this affected how Mrs. Dubose acted towards them, and partly forgave her. Another realization they both have is how their reading helped Mrs. Dubose breaks her long-lasting habit and dies free “As the mountain air” (115). After discussing everything, Jem and Scout both learned to not be judgmental towards people you do not know anything about. 

To conclude, in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the main idea is to understand someone before judging them. Three examples of Jem and Scout stepping into others' shoes are Arthur Radley, Miss Caroline Fisher, and Mrs. Dubose. Though it might be difficult, it is possible to walk in someone else's shoes and understand what they are going through. The value of trying to achieve this might be to better your understanding of the people around you and see what their justification for their actions is. Jem and Scout both see that you can only step into someone’s shoes to an extent because most people in the novel are varying in status and morals. Finally, Atticus’s statement relates to our society today because oftentimes people jump to being judgmental and not trying to step into the shoes of others.