nonviolence gleaned from selected works of mahatma gandhi and martin luther king, jr.

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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





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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







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ii
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









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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?




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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.




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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.




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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




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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




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viii
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 nonviolent-
related 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




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ix
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.

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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.




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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




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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 ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF
DATA
58

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Analysis and Interpretation……………………
CHAPTER V SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND
RECOMMENDATIONS


Summary…………………………………….…
166
Findings …………………………………………
187
Conclusions ……………………………………
196
Recommendations ……………………….…….
199

BIBLIOGRAPHY
CURRICULUM VITAE









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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




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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




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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.

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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




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he taught. He never taught an insight or made a moral demand that he
had not lived out in his own life. Once, when asked by a foreign visitor
what his message was, he replied “My life is my message‖. A proof that
he, indeed, taught what he preached.
Obviously, one reason why Gandhi is so important and
remembered today is that he was the first great example of a typically
modern phenomenon, the political saint as most writers call him. In
addition, Hick mentioned that before the rise of democracy, people
generally had no political power therefore, responsibility, and saintliness
typically took the form either of acts of individual charity or of a life of
secluded prayer and meditation.
Gandhi‟s thinking was ahead of his own time and stays alive

today in our time. Underlying all this is Gandhi‟s impregnable faith in the
possibility of a radically better human future if only men will learn to trust
the power of non-violent openness to others and to the deeper humanity
within us all. To most people this seems impossible. But Gandhi‟s great
legacy is that his life has certainly shown that, with true dedication, non-
violence is possible in the world as it is.
In the same premise, Martin Luther King, Jr. as an unknown
quantity was gaining fast recognition for the same reason as Ghandi. .
According to Dear (2012), certainly, no one expected him to emerge as




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a Moses-like tower of strength. No one imagined he would invoke
Gandhi‟s method of nonviolent resistance in Christian language as the
basis for the boycott. But from day one, he was a force to be reckoned
with. This is in reference to what Dr. King did during the rise of strike in
a certain bus company in Montgomery.

With the help of Bayard Rustin and Glenn Smiley of the
Fellowship of Reconciliation, Dr. King articulated a methodology of
nonviolence that still rings true. It is an ethic of nonviolent resistance
that is also a strategy of hope that can help people today in the
thousands of Montgomery-like movements around the world.
Dr. King outlined his way of nonviolence and taught these six
essential ingredients of active nonviolence until the day he died. First,
nonviolence is the way of the strong; Second, the goal of nonviolence is
redemption and reconciliation; Third, nonviolence seek to defeat evil,
not people; Fourth, nonviolence includes a willingness to accept
suffering without retaliation, to accept blows from the opponent without
striking back; Fifth, nonviolence avoids not only external physical
violence but also internal violence of spirit. It practices agape/ love in
action, and sixth, nonviolence is based on the conviction that the
universe is on the side of justice.




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The core principle explained why, for King, nonviolence was “the
morally excellent way”. As he boldly expanded his campaign from
Montgomery to Atlanta, Albany and eventually Birmingham, he
demonstrated six basic steps of nonviolent action that could be applied
to any nonviolent movement for social change. King stressed that every
campaign of nonviolence usually undergoes these basic stages toward
justice, and they are worth the reader‟s consideration: Information
gathering, education, personal commitment, negotiations, direct actions;
and reconciliation.
Dr. King‟s principle and methodology of nonviolence outlined a
path to social change that still holds true to this day.
Also, Dr. King‟s essays and speeches are characterized with of
wisdom. His writings harnesses profound emotional power for purposes
of social action. Within the pages of these works surfaces a collection of
gems, reflecting deep philosophy and unique expressions.
The wisdom embodied in the selected works of Mahatma Gandhi
and the selected works of Martin Luther King, Jr could help the
Vietnamese students re-examine their lives and values when they
become aware of their genuine philosophical dimension. Their writings
could describe habits that define the Vietnamese attitude towards life in
general and towards specific actions in particular. They may rightly be




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regarded as modifiers of human acts, influencing their deep motivations.
They are intertwined in the raw materials of the social development of a
Vietnamese student as a person existing in a community of people.
They lend support certainly to the efforts of nation building.
With these thoughts in mind, the researcher as an English
teacher at Thai Nguyen University of Education is deeply motivated to
explore and undertake an analysis of how nonviolence is reflected in the
selected works of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. and gain
honest implications on the teaching of nonviolence that may be drawn
from the analysis which shall benefit Vietnamese students.
1.2. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDIES
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 may be drawn from
the analysis which shall benefit Vietnam 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?

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4. What literary devices are used by the writers in projecting the
humanitarian issues particularly nonviolence?
5. What teachings on nonviolence maybe drawn from the analysis which
shall benefit Vietnamese students?
1.3. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The aptness of literary analysis as an essential part of a research
study is highlighted in terms of its importance to a number of individuals.
Therefore, it is vital to expound how this study is beneficial to academic
managers, college instructors of literature, students of literature and
linguistics sand other researchers.
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 nonviolent-
related activities in the curricula.
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

value in order to guide and allow them to crystallize and synthesize
what philosophy of life is best to learn and to live by.