The problems society might face daily could be the cause of people coming together to understand other situations and relate to them. Empathy has many aspects on how it can be shown towards others. Being an empathetic person means you can understand the way another person might be feeling, and why they might feel that way. Texts such as “Night” and “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time' help build empathy toward situations that are different than their own by, understanding, realizing, and imagining how one must feel. Building empathy on the other hand is also important because not everyone knows the differences between sympathy and empathy, and not everyone has had the same life experiences or problems as everyone else
In the novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time helps build Empathy by telling us about Christopher’s struggles of dealing with autism, and how it can differ from things we might face. Humans suffer in many different ways when they lose someone, but others might not understand suffering or know how to show the pain they’re going through. The only thing we might think of doing when we find out someone has passed is crying but for Christopher is different ‘What kind of heart attack?’ (Haddon 27). It is a natural response to pain, it causes a response to what is happening. Christopher found out who had killed the dog and showed his raw reaction “[He] couldn’t live in the house with father anymore because it was dangerous.”(Haddon 128). Christopher doesn’t understand why his father did what he did, and his lack of understanding of others makes him assume things that are out of context. The need to understand why he rushed to conclusions is because he thinks his father is capable of killing him too.
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The text Night builds empathy from the very beginning by telling his story and how he was able to stay alive during the holocaust. Seeing how people were burned alive, and how people would do nothing but stand there as if they weren’t real people. Having to forget and see certain things no one should ever see caused them to lose “The instincts of self-preservation, of self-defense, of pride, had all deserted [them]” (Wiesel 36). There are things that a human physically cannot handle because it is inhumane and is understandable why they began to lose themselves because of the pain. To feel lost and unheard was known Elie and others declared, ‘For God’s sake, where is God?’ (Wiesel 65). Elie also felt as if “[His] soul had been invaded and devoured” (Wiesel 37). Their emotions and pain can be heard through Elie’s words and how much they just wanted to give up. Many of them did because of how badly they were treated.
Being an empathetic person isn’t always common. Sometimes people act as if they are sympathetic to people’s situations and understand what they are going through. Having a society that is capable of understanding others' situations is only something we can “imagine”(Suttie 21). Take Christopher as an example, his father has to always approach him in a certain manner. Otherwise, he would act out because of having Autism “ But father wouldn’t let go, and he was shouting. And [he] hit him again”(Haddon 83). Christopher’s father had lost self-control because he didn’t know what to do to make him understand. It is understandable too because everyone has had a time in their life in which it is difficult to maintain a positive attitude towards everything. Autism in Christopher’s case is a disability that the author claims, “changes how the brain works” (Nelson 4). Understanding the daily struggles that one must go through is important so that isolation within them doesn’t happen.
Feeling sorry is not the same thing as understanding what another might feel. Keep in mind that Empathy means “To feel with them, to care about their well-being, and to act with compassion” (Suttie 2). Sympathy on the other hand means to feel sorry for someone because that’s how society nowadays connects. Take Christopher for an example he has autism, “Children with autism are in their world and don’t like being touched” (Nelson 15). Many people because of that treat children with autism differently since they believe that they aren’t “normal” people. That’s the problem with society the only way for people to relate is by feeling sorry, and that is not the case. Feeling sorry for someone only makes one feel better to pretend as if they have done something good.
In conclusion, these texts help us build empathy and understand situations that are different than our own by understanding, realizing, and imagining how one must feel. Also building empathy is good to a certain extent because some might not know the difference in how one can communicate to others because of different experiences that one must face throughout life. Remember empathy and sympathy are not the same thing which is why certain situations should be approached more carefully.
Works Cited
- Haddon, Mark. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. New York: Vintage, 2003. Print.
- Nelson, Bryn. “Autism Unlocked.” Science News for Students, 1 Feb. 2019, https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/autism-unlocked.
- Suttie, Jill. “Why the World Needs an Empathy Revolution.” Greater Good, 1 Feb. 2019, https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/why_the_world_needs_an_empathy_revolution.
- Wiesel, Elie, Wiesel, Marion.Night. New York: Hill And Wang, 2006. Print.
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