101Comp/cont sample essay

Strong Student

Professor Cohenour

English 101

30 November 2009[1]

[2]

            The definition of the word[3] equal is: as great as, the same as, evenly proportioned[4] or balanced.  Both Mary Wollstonecraft and Martin Luther King, Jr., were fighting for equality to be applied to the rights of Americans or women in England, respectively. King was fighting for the end of segregation in the United States. He wanted African American citizens to be given the same rights and same treatment as the white American citizens. Mary Wollstonecraft was fighting for the start of equal education for English women. She wanted women to be seen as something other than the typical homemaker and an object of pleasure for men. She wanted women to become something greater through something they had been denied for centuries.  Wollstonecraft and King had different ways on how to approach such delicate matters to a nation, but the goal was very much the same: equality for all, no matter the color or sex of the person.[5]

[6]King was an advocate of justice “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere…whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” (pp. 549)[7] He wants people to understand that injustice, the segregation of colored people, is a national disease[8] that can only be cured by the complete elimination of it. That the segregation of colored people is degrading and violates god’s natural laws.[9] He explains that just because something is a law, it does not mean that it is a just law. A law can not be something that is morally incorrect.[10]  He encourages people to take part in justice and make it happen all around them and not stay idle and wait for it to happen elsewhere. Wollstonecraft also encourages the nation, specifically men, to be just and allow women to pursue the same educational goals as men. “Let men become more chaste and modest, and if women do not grow wiser in the same ratios, it will be clear that they have weaker understandings.” (pp. 333)  She encourages educational justice by using reverse psychology[11]. Insinuating that this trial might prove men right, that if women are not as intellectual as men, which is why it makes them the weaker sex, then they have nothing to lose by allowing them the same education[12]. She also makes it clear that women are degraded by not being allowed to pursue a higher level of education which would make them independent human beings[13]. Instead, they are taught that the only way a woman can be successful in life would be through marriage. A marriage in which the highest achievement would be to serve her husband and bare children[14].   Wollstonecraft and King are both seeking ways to spark equality in hope that it can spread through out the nation and perhaps through out the world.[15]

Although Wollstonecraft and King have a similar goal in mind, their ways of approaching the issues are very different.[16] King uses a more direct approach as to how to fight injustice, whereas Wollstonecraft asks for justice disguised as a predisposed[17] outcome.  Wollstonecraft, on the one hand, is trying to negotiate equal education for women by reasoning with men[18]: “I presume that rational men will excuse me for endeavoring to persuade them to become more masculine and respectable.” (pp. 332)[19] Wollstonecraft writes why it is important to provide women with the same education as men, being that[20] they are the ones who will eventually raise the family and how can they be expected provide their children with a good education if they did not receive one themselves[21]. She gives reasons and explains why it is so important for equal education but she is not being aggressive in obtaining noticeable results. She is still kindly asking which is important to recognize because it shows the transition from asking politely to demanding what is rightfully yours.[22]  Wollstonecraft still remains calm, trying to negotiate and use reverse psychology.  Mr. King, on the other hand, is now approaching the problem with non-violent more direct-action approach. Mr. King explains that in past negotiations with leaders, there were promises that were made and later broken and that is why he is seeking alternative ways to push for change. “The purpose of our direct-action program is to create a situation so crisis packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation.” (pp. 550) The way he is creating this crisis is with sit-ins, marches and economic-withdrawals to push for negotiations that will actually be respected and seen through, not like all the other times.[23]  This is important because it shows what might be the next step for women to receive equal education.[24] If you don’t receive the rights you politely asked for, Mr. King shows that you must find other aggressive but non-violent ways to reach your goals.[25]

I his letter, Mr. King compares the situation in which the colored people were to situations other races have faced in the past.[26]  “We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was “legal” and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was “illegal.” (pp. 553) This comparison helps people understand the point he is trying to get across. It puts into perspective how segregation is immoral and the suffering it is causing to one race so that another feels superior.[27] He also talks about the white moderate Americans who are conforming with having order in the country and just letting injustice go on for the sake of having order in the nation. He points out that these moderate Americans cause the colored people more harm than the white supremacist groups because they are not taking a stance in the issue. They have a voice which is not being heard which keeps things the same, segregated.[28] Wollstonecraft in contrast does not compare the situation that the women are facing to any other event in history.  This is important because it could have made a connection maybe with a male reader or a person who is against equal education, who perhaps at some point was discriminated against. Had she done so, it could help them understand how women feel and why they need to receive the same education as men.[29]

Both Mary Wollstonecraft and Martin Luther King, Jr., were helping two minority groups obtain equal rights. King was fighting for the end of segregation in the United States, and Wollstonecraft was fighting for the start of equal education for English women.  Mr. King knew that the passive technique that he had used in the past was not working, and, therefore, different steps had to be taken. He knew that the only way the colored people could ever obtain equal rights was with taking direct non-violent action and that had to be done now, not later. Wollstonecraft is more passive in the sense that she is asking and giving reasons as to why women should be educated. She is not implying that she will organize sit-ins, marches or any economic withdrawal.[30] She is simply negotiating with men to allow women and the same education as men.[31]  Wollstonecraft and King had a similar goal, equality for all. King shows that he is an advocate who has already tried some of the steps that Wollstonecraft is now taking. Wollstonecraft shows that she has the courage to continue to fight for the education of women and knows that there is still more work to be done to achieve that goal.

Works Cited

            King Jr., Martin Luther. The Norton Reader. New York : W. W. Norton &Company, 2008.[32]

            Wollstonecraft, Mary. The Norton Reader. New York : W. W. Norton &Company, 2008.