The critical essay “Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? ” written by Marin Luther King Jr. , is an inquisitive piece who preaches the idea of a peaceful society, Martin also highlights the major issues happening and changing the world at the time. It analyzes events involving World War II and Vietnam War, and uses an example from Greek Literature to apply the concept known as “Ulysses and the Siren”; resulting in a realization that peace is the solution to chaos.
Idea Based Martin Luther King Jr. a pacifist, a preacher, a father, a husband, a son, a freedom fighter, an activist against prejudice, a genius in literature, and a dreamer . Martin was an individual full of modesty, compassion, promise, serenity, wisdom, and kindness for others. Martin was also a follower of Gandhi’s principles of nonviolence, but I was astonished when I read in the essay about his hatred towards war, describing it as so volatile and descriptive. In my honest opinion; Martin’s essay, was a very well captured piece on the importance of prospering from humanity’s humility towards the end of war.
Otherwise, suffering from the destruction of what war causes: death, and chaos. Throughout the essay, Martin is using the Vietnam War as an example for his message, presenting in a defensive tone; like a prosecutor defending his client for the righteousness of justice. The essay represented an agenda directed towards government, proposing that there was a need for change in society, and government. It starts with the introduction “A final problem that mankind……………. uman destruction”, by reading that I felt the impression of a radical idea; not presenting a negative, but a passive image of peace amongst others. Martin wrote it with emotion, it’s intention was to motivate for change .
In the essay, he lists individuals who have represented evil and destruction; Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, Julius Caesar, Charlemagne, and Napoleon. Martin describes these individuals trying to seek peaceful order, but only according to their selfish conception due to an egotistic mind. Martin analysis and mentioning of the quote, is an example of his intention for the essay; John F.
Kennedy stating, “Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind”. Martin is trying to assert, an experience of wisdom should tell us that war is obsolete. From my interpretation it defines a message that reveals human emotion with aspects of comfort and praising in the name of peace. Based from interpretation about the Vietnam War; a true assessment will soon look uneasily on the subject towards. With righteousness, it will examine capitalists investing sums of money into the most isolated and unchangeable parts of the world.
A further explanation, industrial nations only seek for profits with no concern for the social, economic, nutrition or moral impact of other countries; unjustifiable. I believe that the paraphrased statement from Martin, can be reflected with the idea of the Vietnam War; introduces the concept of why the world is driven to violence . The essential idea of the entire piece is that Martin was favoring the idea that evil was the cause of chaos, and that peace is the ultimate community of people.
The time period in which this essay was written was the 1960’s, the year 1967; in a decade bombarded by new change, foreign disputes, and marked by both a war and a movement for a better America and equality for all. From, a literary stand point; the essay presents a human message of opportunity, a world where there is peace and harmony against prejudice. In a sad conclusion, Martin was not around to see his dream come true. Rhetorical Response Martin’s essay was a well-constructed essay consisting of a moral and examples following in time order from the text.
The text “Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? ” was King’s analysis of the state of American race relations and the movement after a decade of U. S. civil rights struggles. From the thesis you can indicate that, the next phase in the movement would bring challenges, struggles involving meeting the necessary demands for a society to thrive; better jobs, higher wages, decent housing, an education equal to that of whites. He wanted to guarantee that the rights won in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 would be enforced by the federal government.
The diction of the text was eloquent; he uses elaborate words such as clarion, quagmire, brigands, calamitous, abdicate, and disarmament. He does to correspond with examples such as a quote from John F Kennedy, and characteristics of “Divine Comedy”. Marti’s Quote from John F. Kennedy is better to analyze; stating, “Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind”. An analysis of the quote is that the experience of wisdom should tell us that war is obsolete. From my interpretation it defines a message that reveals the human emotion of comfort and praise towards peace.
Martin though is trying to assess the rise of Black Nationalism and the increasing use of the slogan ‘‘Black Power’’ in the movement. The last sentence of Paragraph 9, “If modern man continues…could not imagine”, gives a representation of what will happen if we let the conception of destruction and evil cloud or minds. The essay is based from a time periods in the U. S where the culture was changing rapidly, governments fighting in the name of honor despite citizen’s outcry towards moral conduct. The essay represents this idea and advertises that peace is the ultimate weapon.
