Antonio Redmond English 110 The Ways to Meeting Oppression by Dr.

Martin Luther King Oppression is a heavy burden to deal with, and it can provoke strong emotions that cause people to react in various ways. Dr. Martin Luther King reflects on this in his essay The Ways to Meeting Oppression. Parallel structure and allusions are utilized to emphasize his message on how to effectively tackle oppression. In climatic order, Dr. King explains the effectiveness of each tactic to battling oppression; starting with acquiescence, then violence, and ending with the synthesizing of the two into non-violent resistance. First, King uses allusions from the Bible and other relevant works, and parallelism to illustrate the weakest approach, acquiescence. The term acquiescence means to give in, or to submit. King recognizes the simplicity of acquiescing to the current issue of racial discrimination in the 1900s. He uses the Biblical allusion of Moses who sets free the Hebrews of Egypt. King points out that the Hebrews were accustomed to their appointed place and didnt want to be rescued. Dr. King uses a Shakespearean quote to point out that the slaves just rather bear those ills.(King, 466) King quickly points out the ills of having this attitude. He uses parallel structure to explain that accepting the current system is to agree that the evils of the system are morally just. The acceptance of any unjust system is immoral and this should be frowned upon just as much as the operators of the system. King continues to elaborate on his use of parallel structure by explaining the inferior and cowardly connotations along with acquiescing; he is willing to sell the future of his children for his person and immediate safety.(King, 466) Secondly, the ineffectiveness of violence is explained through further usage of parallelism. Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and

immoral.(King, 466) Through parallelism, King describes the two main evils in using violence. It is impractical because it ultimately doesnt achieve peace, just continual chaos. Violence would only add to the level of hatred between the two races; which is why this approach is also immoral. Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love.(King, 467) Violence would physically destroy the oppressor in hate instead of mentally destroying the oppression to create a harmonious community where love is welcomed to reside. King continues the use of parallel structure by stating that It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers.(King, 467) Survivors will carry the agony of defeat and those scars from physical battle will only be dwelled upon as each generation is raised. For the victors, their future generations will be raised with a mindset that will revolve around ruthless aggression as means to achieve a goal. In the end neither side actually wins or attains the true goal in fighting oppression. Lastly, Dr. King illustrates the success of non-violent resistance with more parallelism. Non-violent resistance is created by the synthesis of acquiescence and violence. King alludes to Hegelian philosophy to explain that non-violent resistance seeks to reconcile the truths of two opposites and avoid the extremes and immortalities of both.(King, 467) This balance that Non-violent resistance creates is recognized by King through parallel structure. Non-violent resistance agrees with Acquiescence in the sense that it doesnt want to become physical with the opponent, but it also doesnt want to submit to the opponents evils, like Violence. Through this method an African American is opposing the unjust system while loving the perpetrators of the system.(King, 467) In the end, it is not a struggle between people at all, but a tension between justice and injustice.(King, 488) Ultimately King wants the reader to realize that this fight isnt with the

people that carry out the system, but with the oppression behind the corrupt system. Once that significant element is comprehended, the reader will see the cowardly shadow that lurks behind acquiescing, and the chaotic destruction that tags along with violence. Non-violent resistance is the only way to boldly and peacefully fight the harsh battles of oppression.