The risks of empathy: interrogating multiculturalism's gaze

Passive empathy invoked by literary works is an inadequate vehicle for social change, as it does not foster the necessary feelings of responsibility within the reader. Testimonial reading of literary works produces semiotics of empathy, or the emphasizing of social hierarchies and power. This produces an awareness on the part of the reader not present in passive empathetic readings, which can then encourage social change.