Analysis Of Leslie Jamison's Essay 'Empathy Exams'

Improved Essays
Everyone in today’s society shows emotion in different ways. We tend to see people as those that are either compassionate and caring or passive and emotionless. Throughout the essay, “The Empathy Exams” by Leslie Jamison, she mentions the topic of empathy constantly. Empathy allows one to put themselves in someone else’s shoes and acts as an emotion that most people possess, but don’t often care much to use, along with empathy there’s also the topic of sympathy which is commonly related and is often showing feelings of pity and sorrow for someone else 's misfortune. In Jamison’s essay her craving for empathy from others can be easily seen as her wanting or needing sympathy from others to help her get through her many issues. Jamison never comes to realize that her life isn’t as bad as it may seem. Throughout the essay Jamison finds a clever way to chime in and out of two different stories describing different parts of her life, along with tying them both together with the topic of empathy. Jamison’s use pathos throughout her essay allows her to manipulate the readers’ curiosity, thoughts, and feelings toward the emotional reactions of others.

Jamison constantly makes certain
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The two words sympathy and empathy are words emotions commonly used in our everyday interactions. It is easy to miscommunicate the want for empathy for the need for sympathy from another person. As we go through our lives we are all going to encounter obstacles, and whether we decide to take on these obstacles or not we are always going to need someone at are side to help us along the way. Each person is not the same, and their way of helping you may not always be what you want or expect. When going through something difficult you can always look to a person to show you sympathy but at the end of the day to be truly understood someone must first put themselves in your

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