Letter from Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Letter from Birmingham Jail is an open letter written by Martin Luther King, an American civil rights leader. It is a planned non-violent protest conducted by the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights and King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference against racial segregation by Birmingham's city government and downtown retailers. The most famous statement in this letter is "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

1. King indicated he came here because injustice was there.He wanted to spread the justice just like the Apostle Paul spread the love. In his opinion, everywhere in the world should have the justice.

“Just as the prophets of the eighth century B.C. left their villages and carried their "thus saith the Lord" far beyond the boundaries of their home towns, and just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco Roman world, so am I compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town. Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid.”

2. King indicated the four basic steps of the nonviolent campaign. The fourth step, direct action always after the a series plans. Thus, we could see how cogitative King is. 

“In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self purification; and direct action.”

3. King talked about the just and unjust law in this city. In his opinion, an unjust law is no law at all, and it is just a tool to torture the black people. He hoped that the black people could have the same rights in the society.

“A just law is a man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law….Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust.”

4. King also discussed about the extremist. He was not disappointed about being a extremist, but what he cared was what a extremist they would like to be. He did not want people to be the extremist serving animosity but love.

Was not Jesus an extremist for love: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." Was not Amos an extremist for justice: "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream." Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel: "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." Was not Martin Luther an extremist: "Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God."

The Lesson of the Hour by Frederick Douglas

Frederick Douglas was an American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman. He educated himself to read and write, and became a famous speaker for the black people.

In the Lesson of the Hour, Frederick Douglas criticized the treatment to the black people at that time. He especially focused on the lynching to the “Negros” which was really common in the south of America. He pointed that the reason why it happened was because of the big population of “Negros” who came from Africa. In the speech he indicated that the government should have take action for the equality and freedom of the black people.

In my opinion, Douglas wanted the black people to take part in the politics through his speech. Compared to Booker T Washington whose aim was to get the support from the white people to provide the vocational education and workplace but not to join the politics, Douglas’s thought was more progressive and important for the black to get the equal rights.

Although I could not fully understand what he said in the speech since my English is my second language, I tried to follow and I felt the passion and strong desire of freedom of an abolitionist leader. I think I could comprehend more if I have the text version.

"Atlanta Compromise" by Booker T. Washington

Altalnta Compromise is written by Booker T. Washington. Booker T. Washington was an American educator, author, orator and political leader. His father was a white slave owner, his mother was a balck slave. Although he was born at a black woman family, he was still the dominant figure in the African American community in the United States from 1890 to 1915. His famous work is Up from slavery which is a biography of himself.

Basically, in the speech of Atlanta Compromise, he wanted to get the support of the white race in order to have vocational education for the balck people. With the education, the black people could learn the simple techniques to do basic things. Thus, they could be able to survive in the society. At the same time, he also wanted the white people to provide the opportunities for the balck people in the work place. He wished all the people could be equal to each other, and it would be much easier for the black to earn the money. However, he thought the balck people should not ask to be put into the potical world.

It is absolutely correct to change the situation of the balck slave in the society at that time. Their social position must be improved immediately. They should be treated as the white people, and have the equal rights before the law. However, in my opinion, they must have the chance to take part into the political world. As we know, the leader of the politics could easily change the policy in the society. If the black people did not join the politics, they would have no chance to improve their position effectively. They must need the help from the politians, otherwise, they would still be in the bottom of the social class. Therfore, it is essential for the black people to have the exactly same rights as the white people do, and then, they could achieve the final success.

Naturalism Project 2

Our group did the presentation today. I was very nervous before since it was my first time to have a presentation in the English class. Anyway, I think we did a good job in the class and define the naturalism clearly by the previous effort.

It is really a good topic for us to discuss about the naturalism in different aspects, such as art, science or literature. We discussed the different naturalist views of the four writers. It was so interesting that although the four writers lived in the same time period (19th century), they have different opinion of naturalism. The writer I was working on was Frank Norris. He was deeply influenced by Emile Zola who is considered as the father of naturalism. In his book “McTeague” which I mainly talked today, I think he indicated the two points in his view of naturalism. The first one is people could not control the hereditary factors by themselves; the other one is the nature has a dramatic impact on people. When I concluded these two naturalist opinions, I really agreed with Frank Norris. A person was born in nature, grew in nature, and died in nature. In the other words, the circumstance will determine thought of human. I know it is hard to explain well, but I think I got the concept of his naturalist idea.

Naturalism Project 1

I am sorry that I forgot to post blogs every day. However, I was working on the presentation during these days.

Our group includes three smart and beautiful girls and one stupid guy. We are going to talk about the naturalism by analyzing the works of four different naturalist writers in 19th century. We will use the Google Doc power point to help us show the four writers’ opinions of naturalism to the class.

The writer I am working on is Frank Norris which is considered as the most important naturalist writer in American history. During the presentation, I am going to introduce his background. Also, I will talk about his views to Realism, Romanticism and Naturalism, which are strongly related to each other. Then, mainly, I will discuss about his most famous book “McTeague” which I read before, and pick some quotations in the beginning, middle, and end of the book to demonstrate his naturalist views.

Hopefully, we could do a good job in on Thursday.

Realism and Naturalism An Episode of War

We discussed about the Realism and Naturalism during the class. I did not post this, because I still need some time to understand the story, and the Realism and Naturalism.

Naturalism started around 1890 and remains huge in American literature for the next twenty years. Naturalism is an outgrowth of realism. Like realism, it wants to present an almost photographically accurate version of “real” life.

Realism is a literary style originated from the journalism. It tried hard to present the world as it really is. The realists usually use the simple things draw from everyday life to fill their work.

The article “Episode of War”, written by Stephen Crane is a good example of Realism and Naturalism. This short story describes the beliefs and settings in which people seem to be helpless. Through the story, the author indicates that people’s situation is depended on their personal decisions or environment.

The story mainly has three part, Lieutenant got a gunshot, the way to the hospital, and the amputation of his arm.

At the first part of the story, the Lieutenant got a gunshot on his arm.I consider it as a expression of Naturalism since he could not do anything to stop that and he was affected only by the environment.

The Realism is apparent during the second part of the story. On the way to the hospital, the author describes what he saw. Although the Lieutenant could have a higher position, he still had to experience the pain from the wound.

Also, at the end of the story, the choice of the Lieutenant is a truly example of Realism. He could choose if he listen to the doctor or not. However, he did not have a chance, and that resulted in the amputation of his arm.

In my opinion. the naturalism is more related to environment while the realism is related to other people. Because I think the naturalists consider the whole thing, the whole nature, affect more than the single one individual (realism).

Daisy Miller

We talked about Daisy Miller in the class, and here are the two questions we need to answer during the weekend.

1. Describe Daisy Miller.

Daisy Miller is a young and wealthy girl from New York, America. She travels around Europe with her mother and her young brother. In this book, she shows some really interesting traits. On one hand, she is active, independent, and not shy or timid to speak to strangers. On the other hand, she does not have any talent in social conversation. She is shallow and ignorant. She likes to attract others’ attention, and she is tiresome sometimes and. Her characters make her an atypical person, and it is difficult for her to fit the society at that time. However, in my opinion, she might just be a normal person at present, and more easily to fit into the modern society.

2. Why is Daisy Miller looked down on by the European family?

The Winterbourne family is the typical upper class family in Europe. I believe they really care about the behavior of a woman. In their opinion, a good woman should be polite, decorous and have social grace or conversational talent. However, Daisy Miller is definitely not a good example. She is shallow and ignorant. She even thinks Winterbourne might know an Englishwoman she met on the train because they both live in Europe. Additional, the cultural difference between the Miller’s family and Winterbourne’s family is huge. Although they both rich and share some similarities, the enormous distinction still make them disapprove to each other. Therefore, the cultural background, the behavior and the thought of Daisy Miller are the major reasons that why European family look down on her.