Have you ever wondered why Patrick Dempsey’s death in “Grey’s Anatomy” hit you so hard?

Or why you get emotional at the end of “Saving Private Ryan,” no matter how many times you have watched it?

There may be an answer for that.

Naturally, humans are both empathetic and sympathetic.

Empathy is feeling for someone because you have been in their position; whereas, sympathy is when you have not been in their situation but you still feel for them.

So when you are watching a show or reading a book it is easy to get caught up in the characters, especially if you binge watch shows on Netflix like I do.

Many people have different theories as to why we get emotional when a fictional character dies, gets sick, or has to endure some kind of traumatic event.

Seniors Jordan Gohs and Kelsie Rose are avid “Grey’s Anatomy” watchers and definitely have favorite characters to whom they get attached.

Rose said, “When you watch a show for so many years, you start to feel like you actually know them.”

Gohs agreed.

“It’s even harder when the characters are written well because you can physically feel for them,” she said.

Another theory was stated by senior Brennen Colley.

Colley feels that when you are watching the show, you start to want to become some of the characters.

You get attached and maybe even a little jealous at times, so when they experience a tough loss, it hits you harder than when the same thing happens to one of the less-likable characters.

Senior Liam Grathoff thinks that the scariest part is when characters die unexpectedly because he feels that could happen to anyone at any time.

“Car accidents and other things of that nature happen to people every day,” Grathoff said. “So when we see it in movies, it hits home.”

On the other hand, senior Tyler Phipps does not get emotionally attached to characters.

Phipps said, “I know they’re not real so why get worked up about it? It’s all fake.”

He does not understand why some people do get so hurt when something tragic happens to one of their favorite characters.

I feel that empathy and sympathy play large parts in why we get distressed over characters.

When watching movies like “Marley & Me,” it’s hard not to get attached to the dog. Most people have pets and many people have experienced the loss of an animal.

You feel empathy for Marley’s family because you were once in their position. Even if you have not experienced a loss like that, you still are able to sympathize with a family who lost their furry friend.

Since there is a slim chance any of us have experienced our vampire boyfriend breaking up with us and moving away, we can still feel sorry for Bella Swan in Stephanie Meyer’s book “New Moon.”

When reading this book you know that you have not had to experience a situation like this. But you cannot help feeling sympathetic for Bella, thus resulting in a few tears shed into your book.

Overall, there may be no true answer as to why some are affected in some ways or why some are not affected at all.

The answer essentially comes down to your own experiences and values.