How Does Martin Luther King Have Disinterested Love

In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Lee evokes compassion in the audience to help them better understand the world and take action. In my opinion, authors can best evoke compassion or empathy in their audience by developing strong characters that experience conflicts. This can be seen in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and “Statement on the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.”. It is first shown in the book when Atticus is given Tom Robinson’s trial, and then again when Ms. Dubose overcomes her addiction to morphine. It is also proved in “Statement on the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.” when Robert F. Kennedy states that Martin Luther King, Jr. has been murdered.

In his correspondence to his fellow clergymen entitled “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” King, a promoter of peace and brotherhood, analyzes his act of non-violent resistance to clarify the necessitate of producing creative tension. King begins by elucidating the differences between just and unjust laws. According to King, unjust laws are human laws that are not harmonized with the natural laws of God that cause the degradation of personality and damage the soul. According to this ideology, King states that when injustice occurs there is a correct approach to civil disobedience. First, King expects one to collect information regarding the immoral implication of law with the intent of proving injustice. This requires one to be able to distinguish between the laws of man and the laws of good, the immoral laws and moral laws, the unjust laws and just laws. Next, negotiation is used to establish an understanding of the endured injustice; however, this purpose is not to humiliate or defeat the adversary, but to promote friendship through a form of selfless and spiritual love known as agape. As Martin Luther King Jr. points out, “It is an overflowing love which seeks noting in return. And when you come to love on this level you begin to love men not because they are likeable, not because they do things that attract us, but because God loves them and here we love the person who does the evil deed while hating the deed that the person does” (“Non-violence” 2).

King appeals to the emotions of all audiences multiple times throughout the letter. One instance in particular is a perfect example of pathos, in that it strikes fear into the heart of God-fearing church goers. “But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. . . If today's church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century” (“A Letter from Birmingham Jail” 7). Dr. King is trying to elicit a sense of urgency and fear from the audience. If they do not change their ways now, the sanctity of the church could be lost forever and would inevitably face the judgment of God. Another effective use of pathos is the use of the 2nd person throughout the letter. Through this, he is able to challenge the beliefs and values help by audience by writing phrases like, “if you were to see..”, “I doubt you…”, “If, then…”. The entire tone of the last three paragraphs are an urgent plea to “commended the Negro sit-inners and demonstrators of Birmingham for their sublime courage”, as they will be the ones “standing up for what is best in the American dream and for the most sacred values in our Judaeo-Christian

An American author once said: “Without compassion, then community, commitment, loving-kindness, human understanding, and peace all shrivel.” Compassion and love thrives as one of the most important human attribute; it stirs in people and fictional characters. In the timeless classic of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, characters display determined compassion. Atticus Finch, a peaceful and justice-seeking lawyer sides a trial and case of blunt racism for a falsely accused victim; his children see his love for all people and races. The Finch children, Scout and Jem, also have their affectionate household caregiver, Calpurnia, who acts just like a warm mother-figure they never had. As well as their cherished neighbor, Miss Maudie Atkinson,

To Kill a Mockingbird focuses on “Maycomb’s usual disease,” as a pivotal part of the book, but also shows that compassion and wisdom can exist in these most bleak areas. The prejudice and bigotry comes from the lack of knowledge of Maycomb, and their fear to change what they have grown up with. Pre-conceived ideas are the main reason that Maycomb is ignorant of black people as they are afraid what a change of those pre-conceived ideas will bring. Even so, compassion still exists, as Atticus is able to save Scout and Jem from the influence of ‘Maycomb’s usual disease.’ Wisdom is also embodied by Atticus, where his wisdom, which is not necessarily knowledge but life experience, is able to force him to do things which are right, shown in his

We have some eighty-five affiliated organizations across the South, and one of them is the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. Frequently, we share staff, educational, and financial resources with our affiliates." (pg 254-255) The reason for the acquaintance is with build up his validity as an individual from the United States of America. He is demonstrating to them that he contains the same amount of acumen regarding the matter of shamefulness and racial segregation, if not more. Martin Luther King Jr. at that point claims to feeling by demonstrating the trials his kin have experienced. He does this by utilizing lines, for example, " When you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim."(pg 258), and "when you have seen hate-filled policeman curse, kick, and even kill your black brothers and sisters.” (pg 258) In these lines he is utilizing flammable dialect like "vicious mobs" and parallelism, for example, "lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim" by utilizing this sort of dialect and sentence structure King is influencing you to imagine and feel what he needed to see his loved ones experience in those harsh circumstances. All through the entire section utilizing this sort of sentence structure and a great deal of symbolism the crowd begins to feel what it resembles to be in King 's

For example, identified as the “Beloved Community”, MLK 's conception of agape or Christian love became his ideal for the human family. Hoping for social justice and believing all members of the human family could share in agape regardless of race class, gender or nationality MLK focused all of his energies on achieving these goals through non-violent means. Although these main goals and

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses characterization to express that passion and honesty are the keys to achieving social justice. Harper Lee presents the idea that passion is revealed when someone stands up for what is right even when others think it is wrong. Atticus’s character reinforces his passion when he goes against what everyone else believes. Although Atticus knows he will not win, he does his best to defend Tom Robinson saying, “Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win” (p.101). By Atticus being passionate about standing up for what is right, he does his best to achieve social justice. Although everyone else says he should not defend Tom Robinson, Atticus explains

Nelle Harper Lee’s book To Kill a Mockingbird was published in July 1960. Since then, it has won numerous awards and has become a book read by nearly every student in America’s public schools at one point or another. Books so widely read as this have a power over the minds they touch; it is a subconscious power, something absorbed while you try not to fall asleep listening to the droning voice of the reader. No matter how little attention a student paid to the novel, the message of strength in the face of a decision between what is obviously right and what everyone else says must be, is one that lingers in their mind.

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee states "The novel is a love story pure and simple." When she says this, she does not mean true love but mostly friendship and respect, as well as love to other people. Jem and Scout are two examples of people who show their love for other people in the book.

Harper Lee, when asked about her award-winning novel, To Kill a Mockingbird (TKAM) described it as “A love story, plain and simple.” Many people may interpret love as these ancient Greek notions; Pragma- longstanding love, Ludus- playful love, or even Eros- the love for sexual desire. Agape is another ancient Greek notion meaning the love of God for man and of man for God, and one must understand Agape to understand why TKAM is a love story. In the article by Maria Popova “An Experiment in Love: Martin Luther King, Jr. on the Six Pillars of Nonviolent Resistance and the Ancient Greek Notion of ‘Agape’”, Martin Luther King Jr.(Dr. King) examines the six essential principles of his philosophy of nonviolence, debunking the misunderstandings, and how these six pillars can be used to help the movement of nonviolent resistance in the form of Agape. These six pillars associate and demonstrate that To Kill a Mockingbird is indeed a true love story.

The United States, at this time, was using Christian rhetoric to fight their enemies abroad, yet they are not taking a Christian approach at home with the Civil Rights Movement. King admits to his extreme measures while also calling on the Christian value of love to base his rebellion in religion. The principle value of love in Christianity calls for the respect of all humans, including those that do one

In the book To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee, has created a complex story about racism, prejudice and family. Many have argued about the main, underlying message,but the message that resonates with me is about the necessity of character development and change influenced by society. Harper Lee shows us this through the eyes of a young girl who doesn't know much about the world and her views are ever changing. The author’s message is delivered to us through a mixture symbols, metaphors and a wide array of diction.

Initially written as a simple love story, To Kill a Mockingbird is regarded by many to be one of the finest examples of classical American literature; it is a compassionate, dramatic, and deeply moving tale. This novel delves deep into the readers thoughts and paradigms, for it exposes such ingrained aspects of human behavior and consciousness - ideals/themes of innocence and experience, love and hatred, justice and racism, courage and cowardice, and many more. Nonetheless, at it's core To Kill a Mockingbird is, as the author Harper Lee puts it, a "love story, pure and simple". There are many diverse yet interconnected love stories in To Kill a Mockingbird. However, the most prominent one is the relationship between Atticus, a righteous

Platonic love is incredibly underrated and underappreciated. In a society where romantic love is put on a pedestal and often regarded as the ultimate goal in life, it is easy for forget the true value of platonic love. This fact may make the assertion that Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird is a love story confusing at first. The novel tells the story of Scout Finch, a six year old girl, and Jem, her nine year old brother, learning one of the most important lessons of their lives from their father’s bravery. The love story in the novel is most definitely not one of romantic love, but is instead is a love story of platonic love within the Finch family. The idea that To Kill A Mockingbird is a love story between Jem, Scout, and Atticus is proven through the children’s fear of disappointing Atticus, Atticus’s parenting style, and their willingness to make compromises with each other.