Throughout life one goes through significant experiences that can influence their identity or sense of self while also shaping their outlook on their role within a larger society. This has been studied and recorded for decades. While studying this, many scholars have found how an individual and a society can depend on each other. At the same time, scholars have also found that the two can live without depending on each other. Two literature pieces that can be used to study the relationship between an individual and a society are Dr. Martin Luther King Junior’s Letter From the Birmingham Jail and Nelson Mandela’s autobiography, A Long Walk to Freedom. Both pieces show how an individual can gain a sense of self from their community and how that
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A society is classified as a group of people who have the same set of values and ideals. That being said, it is very common in literature and in everyday life for an individual to diverge away from these ideals and values in order to create a sense of self. At the same time, it is possible for one to find a purpose or meaning through their community once an individual bands together with others in their society to campaign against something unjust. For example, in D Letter From Birmingham Jail, Dr. King discusses why he is in Birmingham and states, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly” (King par. 4). Dr. King lived in Georgia at this time, but because of the injustice that was occurring in Birmingham, he left to Alabama because the discrimination that was occuring in Alabama was affecting him indirectly. Thus he called on others to participate in civil disobedience with him. This protesting not …show more content…
While one individual will have the identity he grew up with, the other would have a different identity that may be seen as immoral. This can be seen in Dr. King’s letter. Dr. King writes, “...it is unfortunate that the city’s white power structure left the Negro community with no alternative [to protest]” (King par. 4). This justification from Dr. King shows that civil disobedience is occurring because the Negro community at the time, did not have a say in the community and were ultimately shunned away from speaking differently or using the same facilities as the white community. The same can be seen in Mandela’s autobiography. Because Mandela and his colleagues had a different sense of purpose or different meanings in life from those in their community, they were locked up in jail and “were pushed to their limits.” Dr. King and Mandela show how their unique and different identities conflict with the ones that are seen as normal in their
A society is classified as a group of people who have the same set of values and ideals. That being said, it is very common in literature and in everyday life for an individual to diverge away from these ideals and values in order to create a sense of self. At the same time, it is possible for one to find a purpose or meaning through their community once an individual bands together with others in their society to campaign against something unjust. For example, in D Letter From Birmingham Jail, Dr. King discusses why he is in Birmingham and states, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly” (King par. 4). Dr. King lived in Georgia at this time, but because of the injustice that was occurring in Birmingham, he left to Alabama because the discrimination that was occuring in Alabama was affecting him indirectly. Thus he called on others to participate in civil disobedience with him. This protesting not …show more content…
While one individual will have the identity he grew up with, the other would have a different identity that may be seen as immoral. This can be seen in Dr. King’s letter. Dr. King writes, “...it is unfortunate that the city’s white power structure left the Negro community with no alternative [to protest]” (King par. 4). This justification from Dr. King shows that civil disobedience is occurring because the Negro community at the time, did not have a say in the community and were ultimately shunned away from speaking differently or using the same facilities as the white community. The same can be seen in Mandela’s autobiography. Because Mandela and his colleagues had a different sense of purpose or different meanings in life from those in their community, they were locked up in jail and “were pushed to their limits.” Dr. King and Mandela show how their unique and different identities conflict with the ones that are seen as normal in their