Martin Luther King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail

Birmingham was the segregated city in the United States. Martin Luther King held a parade without a permit, and got arrested. People have the obligation to follow the justice law but also has the right to against the unjust law. He supported the nonviolent protest.

Blacks and whites are all human being and should treated equal according what Bible said; but why whites treated blacks so bad. Martin Luther King used the point of view from the blacks and wrote this letter to speak out his mind.

The story that Martin Luther King used as a example of segregation which is a strong persuasion. The black kid wanted to go to the amusement park, but the parents only can said it's closed for colored people. The black kid also asked,"Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?" How cruel is this for a child that they can't pursue what they want!

I agree that Martin Luther King took the nonviolent action to against the segregation. If the black people still not took the action, the white people would still oppressed them.

Henry David Thoreau's "Resistance to Civil Government

Henry David Thoreau was influenced by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Thoreau spent one night in the jail because he refused to pay taxes. He also against slavery. Thoreau emphasized the importance of individualism. "I think that we should be men first, and subjects afterward." He challenged the government that people can disobey the government and don't support it."That government is best which governs not at all."

He also described the function of government. Government should control by people and has the least power. People have the right to resistance. Civil disobedience is a necessary expression of individual conscience and morality.

Emerson's the duties of the scholar

After Emerson talked about nature, mind of past, and action, he began to talk about the duties of the scholar. For example, the development of self-trust and a mind to be a repository of wisdom The scholar should be brave to go through any obstacles, so that required self-trust. Scholars should remained their own thinking, and don't distracted by the popular opinions. "They are such to become Man Thinking. They may all be comprised in self-trust. The office of the scholar is to cheer, to raise, and to guide men by showing them facts amidst appearances."

The third influence of Ralph Waldo Emerson

The third influence is action! A true scholar shouldn't stay in the house just studying and thinking, he should go out and experience to understand the world. "Action is with the scholar subordinate, but it is essential. Without it, he is not yet man. Without it, thought can never ripen into truth." The active person is richer than the scholar. "The true scholar grudges every opportunity of action past by, as a loss of power." A true scholar should use their knowledge of what they learned, and using it in the reality. Then the studying will be useful.

Ralph Waldo Emerson's second Influence

Ralph Waldo Emerson's second influence in "The American Scholar" is the mind of past. In the beginning, he talked about the books which contained the mind of past. Books can be good and can be bad. The books can hold you back from thinking, and not forward. Emerson stressed on the creativity. On the other side, books can help scholars form new ideas, and books can kill time too. Emerson thinks that each book has its own idea, so each age should create its own books and find its own self according to nature.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Emerson was the most important philosopher in the nineteenth century. People said he was the Father of American Transcendentalism or the Father of American Literature.
In the argumentative essay "The American Scholar," he addressed to the scholars of Phi Beta Kapa Society at Cambridge. Emerson talked about that there 's something new happened in this land, and all the scholars, writers had responsibility. He wrote how should a scholar should be educated, and came u three influences: nature, past of mind, and actions.

Nature is everything, like plant is part of nature, including what's in your mind. Nature and soul are related. If you know more about nature, then you get more understanding of yourself too.

Hawthorne's Rappaccini's Daughter

In the 50 minutes American Lit. class, we "listened"the story of Rappaccini's Daughter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Beatrice was a lonely and innocent young girl who was isolated from the society by her father's stupid experiment on her. Rappaccini raised a poisonous plant and got into his daughter, Beatrice body. Her little breath can make insects or other livings died. The poison had already been in her body for years, so Beatrice died because she took the powerful antidote. To Rappaccini, the final result of his experiment was his own daughter died. I wondered is that the result that Rappaccini really want?

I was surprised by the plot of the story!Rappaccini didn't do a great job on his role of father. He hurted his own daughter because of his own fervor of his science.