Empathy is challenging to give or have when one has not taken the time to think about the different situations each person has experienced in their lifetime. In Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, she demonstrates how fully knowing a person can be difficult to do, especially when untruthful statements block the real facts about that person. Through the use of the characters Scout Finch and Dolphus Raymond, Lee portrays that empathy and understanding who someone is, is not easy to do until one puts themselves into another point of view.
Harper Lee uses Scout’s thoughts to display that Scout had to actually stand on Boo Radley’s porch to see what the world seemed like in his eyes. At the beginning of the story, all Scout knew about Boo …show more content…
When Jem and Scout are talking, Jem tells her what he has heard about Dolphus without knowing all of the real facts: “They said it was because she found out about his colored woman, he reckoned he could keep her and get married too. He’s sorta been drunk ever since” (Lee 163). Lee’s description of Dolphus from Jem’s point of view creates the fact that even kids assume that he is a drunk because he is married to a black woman. Later on in the story during the trial, Jem, Scout, and Dill end up talking to Dolphus for the first time and Scout ended up wanting to keep talking: “Between two fires, I could not decide which I wanted to jump into: Mr. Raymond or the 5th Judicial Circuit Court” (Lee 201). Lee displays a change of thought in only a few kids who took the time and trusted a man who was helpful but hid behind the debauched rumors. Scout, Jem, and Dill finally discovered that Dolphus let the people keep talking about him because people will judge him more if he was not thought to be drunk all the time. Also, in this time of importance for the Finch family, the trial, Scout ends up considering if she wants to talk to a misunderstood but wise man that the town dislikes, or something significant to her father. Back in the 30’s when To Kill a Mockingbird took place, people did not have social …show more content…
Harper Lee has numerous example of when someone thinks they understand who another person is, when in actuality, there is more truth or secrets that are unknown. No one can immediately see the situations everyone else has been in, which makes it puzzling to see in a new
Harper Lee uses Scout’s thoughts to display that Scout had to actually stand on Boo Radley’s porch to see what the world seemed like in his eyes. At the beginning of the story, all Scout knew about Boo …show more content…
When Jem and Scout are talking, Jem tells her what he has heard about Dolphus without knowing all of the real facts: “They said it was because she found out about his colored woman, he reckoned he could keep her and get married too. He’s sorta been drunk ever since” (Lee 163). Lee’s description of Dolphus from Jem’s point of view creates the fact that even kids assume that he is a drunk because he is married to a black woman. Later on in the story during the trial, Jem, Scout, and Dill end up talking to Dolphus for the first time and Scout ended up wanting to keep talking: “Between two fires, I could not decide which I wanted to jump into: Mr. Raymond or the 5th Judicial Circuit Court” (Lee 201). Lee displays a change of thought in only a few kids who took the time and trusted a man who was helpful but hid behind the debauched rumors. Scout, Jem, and Dill finally discovered that Dolphus let the people keep talking about him because people will judge him more if he was not thought to be drunk all the time. Also, in this time of importance for the Finch family, the trial, Scout ends up considering if she wants to talk to a misunderstood but wise man that the town dislikes, or something significant to her father. Back in the 30’s when To Kill a Mockingbird took place, people did not have social …show more content…
Harper Lee has numerous example of when someone thinks they understand who another person is, when in actuality, there is more truth or secrets that are unknown. No one can immediately see the situations everyone else has been in, which makes it puzzling to see in a new