Law And Authority In The Film The Long Walk Home

For one to follow the law or listen to authority one has to understand what law and authority really means. A law is “A binding custom or practice of a community: a rule of conduct or action prescribed or formally recognized as binding or enforced by a controlling authority (2):the whole body of such customs, practices, or rules (3)” (Webster 1) and authority “Is the power to give orders or make decisions:the power or right to direct or control someone or something” (Webster 1). To summarize this it says that a law helps govern conduct to keep a safe environment with the help of authority. But what happens when those laws goes against ones morals, religion, equality etc? Should they still abide by them? We should obey laws when they are intended to help our society but we have the right to defy them when they are just on the …show more content…
The movie took place in Montgomery, Alabama 1955. At this time Martin Luther King Jr ordered all his followers to take to place in the bus boycott. He ordered this protest because of the incident involving Rosa Parks. After she was convicted of riding in the front of the bus only intended for the whites at the time Martin Luther King asked his people to stay off all the buses. If they had to work he asked them to walk or to find a ride other than bus. The main character Odessa Cotter was a maid for a white family that lived in the suburbs. Since her only source of transportation was taken away she was forced to walk to her job; rain or shine. After working long shifts she still had to walk home and support her family. At some parts of the movie her kids would comment on how swollen her feet where. Even though she suffered extensive pain from walking she did it to prove a point. Her pain did pay off in the end because they black people were given their rights. This taught me that if you want something to change how far would you