BECOME AN EMPATHETIC READER
Empathy is the ability to put ourselves in someone else’s place, to see things as he or she sees them.
As readers, we must be empathetic if we are to truly understand the characters in the books we read. To
do this, it means you have to actually put yourself in the place of the speaker, the narrator, or the
character.
When you read, visualize yourself in the text. Make a “mind movie” in which you walk through the
setting, follow the characters, listen to them speak, and observe their actions. Even more importantly,
allow yourself to feel what the character feels. This is empathy.
Many questions on the AP Lit exam ask you to determine the attitude or the reaction of a character or
speaker to an event. If you become an empathetic reader, this task will be much easier for you.
The more you practice empathetic reading, the more you will develop a kind of “double vision,” in
which you’ll view the text from both within and without, as a critical reader who sees the parts as they
relate to the whole.
In your double vision, you’ll learn to appreciate how the writing conveys enduring and universal ideas
through the perspective of a character, narrator, or speaker.