Empathy!

Making a reader feel empathy is not an easy thing to do. Empathy is emotion, emotion creates empathy. Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. Creating empathy is what makes a book exciting, and what makes a reader want to read more. Authors try and create a feeling of empathy in their readers. They do this in a way that the reader can relate their emotions to the characters. I think a way of adding empathy into a book is through the character, the character would have to be realistic, so that we can relate. There are many ways to create empathy including adding a lot of detail, using a great amount of powerful adjectives, and even writing in ways in which the reader is able to relate and understand in how the character is feeling.

For example in The Breadwinner there were many great examples of empathy one of my favourites was: "Then, late one afternoon, Parvana came home from work to find two men gently helping her father up the steps to the apartment. He was alive. At least part of the nightmare was over." In my mind that is a good example of writing. While reading it I could picture the scene clearly in my mind. I felt empathy for Parvana after reading it.

A Responsibility!

Parvana was tired of all of the pain and blood. She wanted to be in a classroom with all of her friends, talking about their homework and games. She's tired of it all.

I think to being Parvana's shoes would be a hard and stressful thing. I would be getting up early in the mornings, having to dress up as a boy, and then off to work. At work I would be selling things that were too expensive for even my family to purchase. Pushing my way throughout the crowds hoping no one would notice that I am a girl, thinking to myself what could happen if I were to get caught. Would I get killed? Would they beat me? What would happen. Dragging myself through the streets wondering what the next day would bring, would the Taliban take over my family, would they destroy my home? What would happen? Hearing screams of horror as I worked, watching people being hurt, some of their body parts being chopped right off, would be a terrible experience. I would be the one that my family relied on to get them what they needed, and help to not make them starve to death. I think that would be such a tough thing to do, just knowing that everything is totally unpredictable and that anything could happen. I don't think I would be able to cope in such a situation. Parvana lives a tough life, a true living horror.