The Power of Words
“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.). Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. motivated and pushed people to stop segregation, and took action to do so himself. He had a certain way of pushing people to support this wonderous cause- through words. He wrote many letters, speeches, and articles that had caused people to open their eyes to the horrible restrictions of segregation as well as racism. Martin Luther King Jr is only one of the many people that have used words to inspire change and have shown how powerful words can really be to a community, to the nation, and to the world. Several very influential …show more content…
In the story “Traveling”, Grace Paley tells a story about her family supporting the black community and going against the laws of segregation, as well as the effects of doing so. In one part of the story, she was on the bus where she saw a black woman with a baby. She recognised that the woman was exhausted and in need of a seat. When she offered her seat the woman refused as it was socially unacceptable for a white person to give their seat to a black person at the time. Grace had thought the least she could do was hold the baby to take a little weight off of the mother. When that had happened, everyone on the bus stared at her like she was crazy. “I closed my eyes for a couple of minutes, but suddenly opened them to look up into the face of a white man talking. In a loud voice he addressed me: ‘Lady, I wouldn’t of touched that thing with a meat hook.’”(Paley 337). Imagine if someone told you they wouldn’t even touch you with a meat hook because you were different in a way you couldn't control. “Traveling” is only one of the eye opening stories that shows readers just how bad the problem of racism and discrimination truly was at the time. The book To Kill A Mockingbird also mentions the power of words. Tom Robinson, who was a black man falsely accused of raping a white woman who goes by the name Mayella Ewell, was being held in the Town’s jail. Later one day, a lynch mob had come to the jail to kill Tom Robinson, only to find Tom’s lawyer, Atticus Finch, sitting at the jail. Atticus’ children had been hiding in the corner the whole time, curious as to why their father left the house so late. Scout then jumped out of hiding to spot a familiar face in the lynch mob, her friends father Mr. Cunningham. She started to talk to Mr. Cunningham about how great his son was (Lee 174). This caused Mr. Cunningham to
“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.). Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. motivated and pushed people to stop segregation, and took action to do so himself. He had a certain way of pushing people to support this wonderous cause- through words. He wrote many letters, speeches, and articles that had caused people to open their eyes to the horrible restrictions of segregation as well as racism. Martin Luther King Jr is only one of the many people that have used words to inspire change and have shown how powerful words can really be to a community, to the nation, and to the world. Several very influential …show more content…
In the story “Traveling”, Grace Paley tells a story about her family supporting the black community and going against the laws of segregation, as well as the effects of doing so. In one part of the story, she was on the bus where she saw a black woman with a baby. She recognised that the woman was exhausted and in need of a seat. When she offered her seat the woman refused as it was socially unacceptable for a white person to give their seat to a black person at the time. Grace had thought the least she could do was hold the baby to take a little weight off of the mother. When that had happened, everyone on the bus stared at her like she was crazy. “I closed my eyes for a couple of minutes, but suddenly opened them to look up into the face of a white man talking. In a loud voice he addressed me: ‘Lady, I wouldn’t of touched that thing with a meat hook.’”(Paley 337). Imagine if someone told you they wouldn’t even touch you with a meat hook because you were different in a way you couldn't control. “Traveling” is only one of the eye opening stories that shows readers just how bad the problem of racism and discrimination truly was at the time. The book To Kill A Mockingbird also mentions the power of words. Tom Robinson, who was a black man falsely accused of raping a white woman who goes by the name Mayella Ewell, was being held in the Town’s jail. Later one day, a lynch mob had come to the jail to kill Tom Robinson, only to find Tom’s lawyer, Atticus Finch, sitting at the jail. Atticus’ children had been hiding in the corner the whole time, curious as to why their father left the house so late. Scout then jumped out of hiding to spot a familiar face in the lynch mob, her friends father Mr. Cunningham. She started to talk to Mr. Cunningham about how great his son was (Lee 174). This caused Mr. Cunningham to