Tài liệu Nonviolence gleaned from selected works of mahatma gandhi and martin luther king, jr.

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines Non-violence Gleaned from Selected Works of Mahatma Ghandi and Martin Luther King, Jr. A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School Batangas State University Batangas City, Philippines In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy Major in English by Le Thi Thu Huong (Olivia) June 2014 i THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines NONVIOLENCE GLEANED FROM SELECTED WORKS OF MAHATMA GANDHI AND MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR ____________________ A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School Batangas State University Batangas City, Philippines ____________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in English ____________________ By Le Thi Thu Huong (Olivia) Thai Nguyen, 2014 ii THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines ơ APPROVAL SHEET This dissertation entitled NONVIOLENCE GLEANED FROM SELECTED WORKS OF MAHATMA GANDHI AND MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR prepared and submitted by MA. LE THI THU HUONG in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree doctor of Philosophy in English has been examined and is recommended for oral Examination. LUISA A. VALDEZ Adviser PANEL OF EXAMINERS Approved by the Committee on Oral Examination with a grade of _______ Accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree doctor of Philosophy in English iii THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines ABSTRACT Title: Nonviolence Gleaned From Selected Works of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr Author: MA. Le Thi Thu Huong Degree: Doctor of Philosophy Major: English Language and Literature Year: 2014 Adviser: Dr. Luisa A. Valdez Summary This study is an analysis of nonviolence gleaned in the selected works of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. and the identification of the teachings on nonviolence that maybe drawn from the analysis which shall benefit Vietnamese students. Specifically, the study sought answers to the following questions: 1. What is the historical root of nonviolence in India and America? 2. How is nonviolence dealt with in the selected works of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.? 3. What humanitarian issues are given focus on each of the selections? 4. What literary devices are used by the writers in projecting the humanitarian issues particularly nonviolence? iv THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines ơ 5. What teachings on nonviolence maybe drawn from the analysis which shall benefit Vietnamese students? This study employed the qualitative method of research in analyzing Gandhi‟s and King‟s concept of nonviolence in the representative literary works chosen. Likewise, this analysis made use of the sociological and philosophical approaches as the bases for analysis. This paper also involved content analysis, which is a systematic technique in analyzing message content and message handling. The following representative literary works were analyzed: Mahatma Gandhi‟s The Story of My Experiments with Truth, Harijan and Young India and Martin Luther King, Jr.‟s The Montgomery Bus Boycott, Letter from Birmingham Jail and I Have a Dream. These articles, letters and oratorical speeches constituted the primary and twining sources of the study. FINDINGS The results of analysis and interpretation revealed that: 1. Nonviolence originated among a few of the forest sages of India about three thousand years ago. It was recorded in the Upanishads. Buddha and the Jain Tirthankaras took it up and developed it further about 500 B. C. But it was Mahatma Ghandi who made nonviolence a resounding method in solving social and political upheavals in India. v THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines However, in the United States of America, the philosophy of nonviolence originated early in the 1800's the Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads were translated into English, crossed the seas and came to America, - a leap of 2,000 years in time and 10,000 miles in space. There Henry David Thoreau read them, made his nonviolent protest against the war by the U.S. Government against Mexico based on the said philosophy, went to jail for his principles and wrote his Essay on the Virtue of Civil Disobedience. Yet, it wasn‟t until Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. that nonviolence became a sharp sword to put a stop to social and political differences in America. 2. Mahatma Gandhi viewed nonviolence as a philosophy of life and to fully understand his philosophy of nonviolence, readers need to look closely at three basic principles that guided his life. These are ahimsa, satyagraha, and tapasya. All of these principles were deeply embedded in his religious beliefs and permeated all he did in his personal and public life. In contrast, Martin Luther King, Jr. viewed nonviolence as spiritually aggressive but not physically aggressive; designed to obtain the opponents understanding, not to humiliate them; directed at the forces of evil, not the persons caught in those forces, it avoids both physical violence and internal spiritual violence, and is based on the conviction that the world is just a place. vi THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines ơ 3. The humanitarian issues given focus on the selections of Mahatma Gandhi includes the struggle against racial inequality in South Africa; the struggle for economic justice in India; the struggle for the abolition of the caste system in India; the struggle against unfair taxes in India; the struggle against increased Salt Tariff; the struggle to correct economic injustice in India; and the struggle for India‟s independence. On the other hand, the humanitarian issues given emphasis on the selections of King includes the struggle against racial injustice and the struggle for desegregation. 4. To give meanings and a logical framework to their works through language, to enhance and give deeper meanings to the concept of nonviolence, and to motivate readers‟ imagination to visualize the characters and scenes more clearly, Gandhi and King employed literary devices in the selected literary pieces. Gandhi implanted a stirring principle through the use of repetition and religious connotations. Likewise, he reminds the people that the confinement of India is not due to British people but British colonialism. Ergo, the utilization of logos in the representative literary works was employed to promote his main idea that nonviolence is essentially an effective weapon on its own. Through these devices Gandhi depicts himself as a religious, calm and peaceful man throughout his speeches and in his letters. On the other hand, King‟s speech reflected the mood and status of the Civil Rights vii THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines Movement. His political speeches flowed with biblical imagery, religious dialogue, and spiritual references. As the movement carried on, King‟s political rhetoric became increasingly interwoven with his style of sermonic or preachyto the point where today, in hindsight, distinguishing the influences of his speeches on his sermons and his sermons on his speeches is a challenging task. 5. Both Martin Luther King and Gandhi were people who gained tremendous inspiration from their faith traditions and were able to perform tremendous feats of courage through the implementation of non-violence. Today, as a culturally diverse society, people, specifically the Vietnamese students, can glean teachings on nonviolence from their works and imbibe these nonviolent advocates‟ spirit and carry forward their legacy by practicing daily the non-violent principle. They can realize this by becoming more compassionate in their thoughts, speech, as well as their actions in dealing with people from all walks of life and nationality regardless of their age, color, gender, and faith. Conclusions Based on the findings and interpretations of the study, the following conclusions are drawn: 1. Selected works of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King through the literature to educate and guide people for their struggle to achieve the non-violent world and also helped Vietnamese students viii THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines ơ have much deeper understanding, perception and the moral, human values on the non-violent struggle as well as its major role in the maintenance to a better and equal society. 2. Nonviolence resistance is not only considered as a method of persuasion of the opponents, but also a strategy for social and political change. Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King‟s vision of a reconciled society was that of an inclusive community with a sense of responsibility to formulate equal opportunity and solidarity. 3. The Vietnamese students may glean teachings on nonviolence to become more compassionate in their thoughts, speech, as well as their actions in dealing with people from all walks of life and nationality regardless of their age, gender, and faith. Recommendations further studies From the foregoing findings and conclusions, the researcher offers the following recommendations: 1. The academic managers can utilize this study as a frame of reference when they prepare developmental priorities, programs, projects and policies in the educational institutions to ensure that the practice of nonviolence can access the academe and spawn nonviolentrelated activities in the curricula 2. College instructors of literature may use this analysis as one of their methodologies in teaching literature to raise students‟ awareness on nonviolence and develop their students‟ appreciation and sense of ix THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines value in order to guide and allow them to crystallize and synthesize what philosophy of life is best to learn and to live by. 3. Students of literature and linguistics realize the significance of nonviolence and may be inspired to treat literature as a work of art as well as inspire them to engage in literary analysis related to non-violent resistance. 4. Research the applications of this study‟s results on the issue of school violence education in Vietnam. 5. Research on non-violent struggle in a number of works of Viet Nam contemporary literature. x THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines ơ ACKNOWLEDGMENT I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the many individuals who have supported me in my studies. I wish to acknowledge first and foremost the instruction and hard work of my dissertation advisor, Dean of Colleges, Head of the Graduate School and Visiting Professor, Prof. Maluh A.Valdez. I feel truly lucky to have had the opportunity to work with her closely. It was she who first inspired and interested me in the field of literature and in her gentle way she has acted as an excellent advisor from the very beginning when I started working with her up to the present. She has always provided a helpful direction, assistance and support for my dissertation whenever I needed it. Without her guidance and support, this dissertation would have been impossible. I am also grateful to the other members of my doctoral committee from the Batagas State University, Phillipines, Prof. Matilda H.Dimaano, Prof. Amada Banaag, Prof.Lavage B. Labura for their valuable comments and suggestions. I would like to thank to Dr. Prof. Dang Kim Vui, the President of TNU, for the linkage between the Thai Nguyen University and the Batangas State University and Dr. Prof. Nguyen The Hung, Director for International Training Centre for his help so that the learners complete this course. xi THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines Many thanks should also go to other related people for their academic supports towards the end of this research, Ms. Le Quynh Anh in International Training Center, College of Agriculture and Forestry,Thai Nguyen University. I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to my family who are always there to cheer me up and stand by my side with the unquestioned support. Last, but not least, I am deeply indebted to my husband, for his patience and for his unlimited support and love. Without him, I would not have been able to complete this long journey. The Researcher xii THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines ơ TABLE OF CONTENTS Page TITLE PAGE ……………………………………………………….. i Table of Contents ……………………………….……..……........... ii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Statement of the Problem ………………….…. 1 Objectives of the study…………………………. 8 Significance of the Study …………………..….. 9 Scope and Limitation of the Study …..……… 10 CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE Conceptual Literature …………………………. 12 Research Literature ……………………………. 28 Synthesis ……………………………….………. 36 Conceptual Framework ……………………….. 39 Definition of Terms …………………………….. 47 CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Research Method ……………………………… 51 Treatment of Materials ………………………… 52 CHAPTER IV 58 DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF xiii THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines Analysis and Interpretation…………………… CHAPTER V SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Summary…………………………………….…... 166 Findings ………………………………………… 187 Conclusions …………………………………… 196 Recommendations ……………………….……. 199 BIBLIOGRAPHY CURRICULUM VITAE THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.1. BACKGROUND OF STUDY Mahatma Ghandi and Martin Luther King, Jr. are two of the world‟s most famous advocates of non-violence. Both struggled and committed themselves to create a society without the use of force. While Mahatma Ghandi never claimed to be a prophet or a philosopher, he was proud to say that the real significance of the Indian Freedom Movement was that it was waged non-violently. As for Martin Luther King, Jr., he envisioned a society in which race was not an issue in how people were treated or in how they were allowed to live their lives. His involvement on this became prominent in civil right movements that gained the respect of many political leaders and gave him the potential power to enact major change. Mahatma Ghandi adhered to non-violence not only because he believed that an unarmed people had little chance of success in an armed rebellion but also because he considered violence a clumsy weapon which created more problems than it solved. During his time, his emphasis on non-violence had a harsh or unpleasant effect both on his British and Indian critics, though for different reasons. During the 2 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines ơ Indian struggle, the British critics saw non-violence as a camouflage. They didn‟t see it as a remarkable peaceful nature of Ghandi‟s campaign. To the Indian critics, especially the radical Indian politicians, who looked up on the French and Russian Revolutions or the struggles of the Italian and Irish nationalists, Ghandi‟s campaign on non-violence was a sheer sentimentalism. That it was obvious that force will yield force, and that it was foolish to miss opportunities and sacrifice tactical gains for reasons more relevant to ethics than to politics. On the other hand, Martin Luther King, Jr had a major impact on civil rights. He played a part in many well-known civil right movements in the 1950‟s and the 1960‟s. For instance, in 1955, he became heavily involved in the Montgomery, Alabama boycott of the city buses, which was spurred by the bus company‟s insistence that African Americans should only ride in the backseats. King‟s support drew much attention to the cause and rallied many supporters even outside of the Montgomery area, which put pressure on bus companies all over the South to examine their rules, and eventually, to change them. A key part of Martin Luther King, Jr.‟s vision, aside from the quest of racial equality, was the idea of non-violence. He refused to use violence in any of his protests, and taught his followers to do the same. Based on the principle of Ghandi, this factor of King‟s beliefs and 3 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines behavior was a major influence on the society at that time. Police forces didn‟t hesitate to use violence against demonstrators and protesters, but in the face of their quiet civil resistance, the overblown physical techniques of force and brutality lost their power. Martin Luther King, Jr. was responsible for the passing of the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act for Africans, both in the mid of 1960‟s. These acts literally changed the American Law so that the African Americans could not be treated separately from the Whites. His victories in these two areas had a major impact in the United States and the world. In spite of all these resounding advocacies for non-violence, men continue to use force and violence as means to an end. Men didn‟t seem to have learned as proven by the presence of violence everywhere in the world. In today‟s world, people continue to die violent deaths. The struggle of mankind to survive almost always ends with violence. In the new era of the twenty-first century, humanity must be guided by the overriding principle that killing is never acceptable or justified--under any circumstance. Unless men realize this, unless they widely promote and deeply implant the understanding that violence can never be used to advocate one's beliefs, they will have learned nothing from the bitter lessons of the twentieth century. 4 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines ơ Perhaps the best way to understand human nature fully and to know a nation completely short of going into a formal study of psychology, sociology and history, is to study Literature. Through Literature, people learn the innermost feelings and thoughts of people – the truest and most real part of themselves. Thus, men gain an understanding not only for others, but more importantly, of themselves and of life itself. Sometimes, people may have ideas and values that they wished to pass on in order to form attitudes. At other times, it may be because they wanted to spread knowledge and information which is worth recording and remembering. In this way, truth is reserved. Today, the real struggle of the twenty-first century is neither between civilizations, nor between religions. It will be between violence and nonviolence. It will be between barbarity and civilization in the truest sense of the word. This thought was supported by Hick(1988) when he said that Gandhi was indeed a living paradox, both extraordinarily attractive and yet powerfully dominating, and in admiring him people must be aware of both sides of his character. His moral insights were so strong and uncompromising that he imposed them upon his followers by the sheer force of conviction. This force arose from the fact that Gandhi lived what