Do Two Wrongs Make A Right? Throughout the course of history, countless civil and human rights advocates have stood up for what they felt was right. Gandhi proved to the world that injustice could be fought without violent protest. King united the African American community against racial discrimination, by proclaiming his dream of living in a world where one is not judged by the color of their skin, “but by the content of their character” (King). And finally, Wells taught us how a pen and paper could lead a mass crusade against the lynching of the people in her generation. In each of these circumstances, these extraordinary people have fought societal injustice by means of moral civil disobedience. Although this method seems to foster the …show more content…
In The White Tiger, Balram is characteristically different from most of the other Indians in his caste. At school one day, an inspector came to his school to observe class. He started asking the class questions, and as Balram knew all of the answers (unlike the rest of the class) he stopped and told him, “The White Tiger, that’s what you are in this jungle” (Adiga 30). In other words, Balram was different from the other students in the class. The White Tiger is a metaphor which describes Balram’s individuality, because any “white tiger” would stick out in a typical crowd of regular tigers. Balram sticks out in a crowd of regular Indians. As the novel progresses, more of this individuality starts to penetrate and he prays for the time where he can embrace it. As Sara Schotland explains it, “The tiger metaphor is the key to Balram’s character: he is absolutely unwilling to remain in the cage to which he is assigned by family, caste, and society” (Schotland). This quest for self expression which Balram undergoes, is not typically found in people of his kind, further validating that he is indeed “The White …show more content…
Americans often overlook societies different than their own because they simply don’t apply to them. But The White Tiger “presents the crude, dark and naked facts about India and takes our attention from one side where India is an emerging economic giant to another side, the dark side” (Sheikh). It is important for a World Literature student to understand, that certain places around the world are much different than the United States, so taking the time to read and gain insight about these places can give the student a fresh perspective on the
The history of The Black Civil Rights Movement in the United States is a fascinating account of a group of human beings, forcibly taken from their homeland, brought to a strange new continent, and forced to endure countless inhuman atrocities. Forced into a life of involuntary servitude to white slave owners, African Americans were to face an uphill battle for many years to come. Who would face that battle? To say the fight for black civil rights "was a grassroots movement of ordinary people who accomplished extraordinary things" would be an understatement. Countless people made it their life's work to see the progression of civil rights in America. People like W.E.B. DuBois, Marcus Garvey, A Phillip Randolph, Eleanor Roosevelt, and many others contributed to the fight although it would take ordinary people as well to lead the way in the fight for civil rights. This paper will focus on two people whose intelligence and bravery influenced future generations of civil rights organizers and crusaders. Ida B.Wells and Mary Mcleod Bethune were two African American women whose tenacity and influence would define the term "ordinary to extraordinary".
History has encountered many different individuals whom have each impacted the 21 in one way or another; two important men whom have revolted against the government in order to achieve justice are Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther King Jr. Both men impacted numerous individuals with their powerful words, their words carried the ability to inspire both men and women to do right by their morality and not follow unjust laws. “On the Duty of Civil Disobedience” by David Henry Thoreau along with King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, allow the audience to understand what it means to protest for what is moral.
Martin Luther King and Henry David Thoreau each write exemplary persuasive essays that depict social injustice and discuss civil disobedience, which is the refusal to comply with the law in order to prove a point. In his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” King speaks to a specific audience: the African Americans, and discusses why he feels they should bring an end to segregation. Thoreau on the other hand, in “Civil Disobedience,” speaks to a broader, non-addressed audience as he largely expresses his feelings towards what he feels is an unjust government. Both essays however, focus on the mutual topics of morality and justice and use these topics to inform and motivate their audience to, at times, defy the government in order to establish the necessary justice.
Imagery is used by the poet to express her poetic concern. The poem "The Tiger" is completely an extended metaphor. As the central metaphor, the tiger symbolizes the poet's creativity and potential. However, such an image is expressed in a restricted way as the tiger is "behind the black bars of the page" which represents the poet's poetic inspirations that is also trapped under the fixed attitudes of society.
Justice is often misconceived as injustice, and thus some essential matters that require more legal attentions than the others are neglected; ergo, some individuals aim to change that. The principles of civil disobedience, which are advocated in both “Civil Disobedience” by Henry David Thoreau and “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King Jr. to the society, is present up to this time in the U.S. for that purpose.
Ida B. Wells and James Baldwin were two activists who suggested strategies that advocated for social change. Although they were active during different centuries, they both utilized their writing, describing their experiences to promote equality in the communities they were a part of. Highlighting Wells’ and Baldwin’s experiences and arguments is important to discuss because they were key figures during the fight for civil rights. Although both civil rights activists utilized their creative writing ability to fight for justice, their writing types transcended different outcomes. In other words, Wells and Baldwin describes their encounters with racism and discrimination in several ways.
“As long as the world shall last there will be wrongs, and if no man rebelled, those wrongs would last forever,” Clarence Darrow a young lawyer who has fought on the affirmative and opposing sides of some of the most controversial issues of civil disobedience. Even though Darrow defended those that were arrested during anti-war movements he also supported allied involvement in WWI. Another example of civil disobedience in which Darrow supported was the American Underground Railroad, but Darrow is not the only important figure within the vastly growing act of civil disobedience. Harriet Tubman, one of the largest heard names in the underground railway helped lead toward the abolition of slavery here in the United States. Civil disobedience is even one of the reasons that we have the freedoms this country was f...
Throughout the realm of morality, there are three dominant theories that have prevailed: moral relativism, deontology, and utilitarianism. The esteemed Martin Luther King Jr. was a prominent leader of the Civil Rights Movement and well renowned for his tendencies to promote nonviolence. He frequently encouraged other blacks to adhere to his path of nonviolence during this time of oppression. Through careful observation of King’s texts, it is quite evident that he conforms to deontology in his early efforts for racial quality and, in the latter part of the Civil Rights Movement, he blatantly expresses a utilitarian approach. Based upon this identification, it is further discernible that Martin Luther King Jr. would, if need be, conform to and support the Just War Theory if nonviolent attempts proved fruitless.
Throughout the entire novel, Balram does not exhibit intellectual empathy because he is too concerned with his own self-interest to notice the needs of the others around him. Intellectual empathy is the ability to see the world through the eyes of others in an effort t to better understand them. The novel demonstrates that in order to become successful, one must ignore the needs of others; and Balram’s willingness to neglect and ignore others and their viewpoints allows him to do just
Likewise, violent protests raise awareness in a negative and oftentimes irrational light. Following the tragic shooting of Michael Brown in the fall of 2014***, countless riots shed light on a new twist on a century-old issue; race in America. The man shot was an African-American, unarmed, young adult. He was shot by a white police officer who believed the young man to be a threat to his safety. His death became the catalyst for the modern Black Lives Matter movement’s stance on equality in American justice systems. While the movement places an emphasis on a need for change, much like Martin Luther King did in the 1960’s, the mass riots from Ferguson, Missouri to Baltimore, Maryland contradict civil disobedience. The riots caused hundreds of vandalisms, countless injuries of police officers in both cities, and created fear for the movement. Awareness for the issues were raised because of this movement, but the violent initial spark of it derailed the solid proof of the need for change. This further proves the necessity that civil disobedience is on a free society; peaceable expression of views has a heavier weight when it comes to altering the course of a
Despite the belief that fighting with violence is effective, civil disobedience has been tried throughout history and been successful. Fighting violence with violence leaves no oppertunity for peace to work. By refusing to fight back violently, Martin Luther King Jr. took a race of people, taught them the value of their voice, and they earned the right to vote. Henry David Thoreau presented his doctrine that no man should cooperate with laws that are unjust, but, he must be willing to accept the punishment society sets for breaking those laws, and hundreds of years later, people are still inspired by his words. Mohandas K. Gandhi lead an entire country to its freedom, using only his morals and faith to guide him, as well as those who followed him, proving that one man can make a difference. Civil disobedience is the single tool that any person can use to fight for what they want, and they will be heard. After centuries of questioning it, it appears that the pen truly is mightier than the sword.
... world that Balram lives in is harsh and cruel, mainly because of the Rooster Coop. The Rooster Coop kept Balram from discovering his own potential in life, until finally he realized that he could leave the Coop. The fear and hatred the poor felt kept them in line, and kept others around them from becoming White Tigers. If the people of India were to realize that they were in a Rooster Coop, India’s slums would most likely disappear, and the poor of India would finally realize their true potential. The government would be forced to fulfill its promises and the rich would no longer rule India. Adiga has a lot of agility. Balram was a very dutiful servant. Balram repulsed the whore. He went through a period of florescence. This is an odd genre. Balram was their chaperon. Mrs. Pinky was quite in fashion. Balram uses a lot of sarcasm. In Mythology there are Centaurs.
More than any section thus far, chapter 32 through chapter 36 of Ida B. Wells’ Crusade for Justice invokes a call to action, urging the reader to move—not through explicit “you” commands, but rather through the apathy of others in the face of Wells’ constant action. The set-up takes place after the Chicago Tribune publishes a series of articles that support the segregation of Chicago schools, Mr. Barnett asking Wells, “What can we do?” To this she replies, “That is exactly what we should find out . . . There must always be a remedy for wrong and injustice if we only know how to find it” (274-75). This statement on injustice is a through line of Wells’ beliefs, but cynicism could easily dismiss the notion if Wells’ life didn’t continually reinforce
In Avarind Adiga’s novel, the White Tiger, Balram’s final goal is to move from the darkness to the light, however, he fails to realize that even the light is darkness. Balram wishes to escape the darkness to the light so that he can escape poverty and create a better life for himself. He hopes to create a better life in the light is where the rich are able to live carefree lives, and be ignorant of the consequences of their actions. Light offers hope for a better life, but once the poor who were living in the darkness make it to the light, their lives are as bad, if not worse than as it was in the darkness. The black river – the Mother Ganga, is darkness itself, filling the country with darkness, extinguishing the light. Light cannot exist
He is a very dark and cynical character that shows no remorse or sympathetic emotions. Balram is also a character that shows great determination. Throughout the novel, he continues educating himself to move up the social ladder. He starts as a very intelligent