Examples Of Compassion In To Kill A Mockingbird

One of the literary techniques that Harper Lee uses throughout the novel to deliver the theme of compassion is detail. On Scout’s first day at school, she tried to help Walter but she ended up getting scolded by her teacher which causes Walter to get bullied by Scout. In response to that, Jem “suddenly grinned at him [and said] Come on home to dinner with us, Walter” to solve the conflict (31). The detail shows that Jem is pleased to invite Walter for lunch as a way to apologize for what his sister has done to him but also because he knows that Walter doesn’t have lunch due to his family’s circumstances. During the trial, Tom makes a huge mistake by saying that he feels sorry for Mayella but it reflects negatively on him as when he “shifted …show more content…
During the house fire Lee finds multiple ways to use imagery but the most memorable and important is when Scout realizes Arthur covered her with “a brown woolen blanket around [her] shoulders squaw style” (95). This begins to show us Arthur’s sensitive side and shows he cares and has compassion for Scout. Throughout the book Lee has many unique ways that Arthur shows compassion towards the kids. Lee also makes Atticus a very compassionate person. When Atticus shot the dog, Tim Johnson, he put “the gun down when he realized he had an unfair advantage over most living things.” and was compassionate and sympathetic of the fact that God gave him a gift and he shouldn’t use it to kill. You can tell just by how Scout acts that she respects her father and like him, she feels compassion, especially for Jem. “Sometimes in the middle of a game he would sigh at length, then go off and play by himself”, even though she never really knew her mother she tried to understand that Jem felt a loss and she was compassionate and gave him his space. Lee uses imagery to show that Scout always let Jem know that she was there, always caring, always loving, and always