Đấu tranh phi bạo lực được thể hiện trong một số tác phẩm điển hình của mahatma gandhi và martin luther king jr

NONVIOLENCE GLEANED FROM SELECTED WORKS OF MAHATMA GANDHI AND MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.. The representative literary works analyzed were Young India, The Story of My Experiments with Trut

NONVIOLENCE GLEANED FROM SELECTED WORKS OF

MAHATMA GANDHI AND MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR

A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of Graduate School Batangas State University Batangas City, Philippines

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Major in English

By

LE THI THU HUONG

2015

ABSTRACT

OF MAHATMA GANDHI AND MARTIN LUTHER KING,

JR

Author: Le Thi Thu Huong

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

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 used the historical, sociological and philosophical approaches as the bases for analysis In particular, the sociological and historical approaches were supported by Teixeira’s Theory of Nonviolence, while the philosophical approach was supported by Holmes’ Theory of Nonviolence

This paper also involved content analysis, which is a systematic technique in analyzing message content and message handling The data analysis in this research centered on pattern seeking and the extraction of meaning from Gandhi’s and King’s selected literary narrative or image data The essential features in the treatment of materials were considered in the conduct of this study The general rules cited by Stott (2014) as regards the seven standards pieces of literature were considered in the selection of works under study

The representative literary works analyzed were Young India, The Story

of My Experiments with Truth, and Harijan by Mahatma Gandhi and Stride

Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story, Letter from Birmingham City Jail

and I Have a Dream by Martin Luther King, Jr From these literatures, readers

will be able to see in them the seeds of all these two writers’ most important

teachings The said selections were chosen because of their correlation with

the cited theme and subthemes

Findings of the study revealed that nonviolence originated among a few

of the forest sages of India about three thousand years ago, crossed the seas and came to America 2,000 years after and read by Henry David Thoreau, who was later inspired to write nonviolent protest against the war by the United States government against Mexico Both Martin Luther King and Gandhi were nonviolent advocates who gained tremendous inspiration from their faith traditions and were able to perform tremendous feats of courage through the implementation of non-violence Mahatma Gandhi viewed nonviolence as a philosophy of life while Martin Luther King, Jr viewed nonviolence as a political strategy

The representative literary works of Gandhi and King may be considered

as a socio-philosophical document showing the humanitarian issues of their times in India and America To give deeper meanings on the concept of nonviolence and a logical framework to their works through language as well

as to motivate readers’ imagination to visualize the characters and scenes more clearly, Gandhi and King employed various literary devices in the selected literary pieces The Vietnamese students can glean teachings on nonviolence from the representative literary works of Gandhi and King and

imbibe the latters’ spirit and carry forward their legacy by practicing daily the non-violent principle The new Vietnamese students are certainly at hand, with literature and thoughts intertwined through the identified literary nonviolent advocates

Dr Dang Kim Vui, the President of the Thai Nguyen University, Assoc Prof Dr Nguyen Tuan Anh, Assoc Prof Dr Dang Xuan Binh, Prof Dr Nguyen The Hung, the former Directors of the TNU International Training and Development Center, Dr Hoang Thi Bich Thao, the current Director of TNU ITDC, Mai Van Can, MAPL, the Dean and Dang Thi Thu Huong, MAPL, the Vice Dean of the Thai Nguyen University of Education, for their motivation and wisdom that helped hasten the completion of this study

Dr Maria Luisa A Valdez, the Dean of Colleges and Head of the Graduate School of the Batangas State University ARASOF Nasugbu Campus, the researcher’s dissertation adviser, for her constant encouragement, commitment, and inspiring personality which motivated the researcher towards the realization of this study

Dr Matilda H Dimaano, the Chairman of the Panel of Examiners, and

Dr Corazon B Cabrera, the former External Panelist, for their thorough dissection and candid remarks that drew up the essential and relevant dimensions in this research

Dr Amada G Banaag, Dr Felix M Panopio, and Dr Myrna G Sulit, the Members of the Panel of Examiners, for their valuable suggestions and constructive criticism which motivated her to analyze conscientiously all the inputs during the conduct of this study

Dr Remedios P Magnaye, the Recording Secretary and Ms Le Quynh Anh, the ITDC Administrative Staff, for their words of encouragement and kind gestures

The researcher’s friends, who generously gave their time, advice, and prayers

Her parents and child Lam Hoang Minh, along with her sister, Le Thi Thanh Hoa, for the the wholehearted support to her during the writing process

LE THI THU HUONG

DEDICATION

To my ever dearest son, Lam Hoang Minh

LE THI THU HUONG

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

TITLE PAGE i

APPROVAL SHEET ii

ABSTRACT iii

ACKNOWLEDGMENT vii

DEDICATION ix

TABLE OF CONTENTS x

LIST OF FIGURES xii

LIST OF MATRICES xiii

CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM Introduction 1

Statement of the Problem 9

Scope, Delimitation and Limitation of the Study 11

Significance of the Study 13

II REVIEW OF LITERATURE Conceptual Literature 16

Research Literature 50

Synthesis 57

Theoretical Framework 62

Conceptual Framework 68

Definition of Terms 69

III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND PROCEDURE Research Design 73

Treatment of Materials 74

IV ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION 80

V SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION Summary of Findings 230

Conclusions 237

Recommendations 238

BIBLIOGRAPHY 241

APPENDICES……… 250

A Summary of Selections 251

CURRICULUM VITAE ……… 262

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Title Page

1 Conceptual Paradigm of the Study ……… 67

LIST OF MATRICES

1 Matrix on the Teachings on Nonviolence

Drawn from the Analysis of the Selections

of Mahatma Gandhi……… 214

2 Matrix on the Teachings on Nonviolence

Drawn from the Analysis of the Selections

of Martin Luther King, Jr ……… 218

THE PROBLEM

Introduction

A lot of disciplines with distinctive tactics and theoretical orientations have confronted the multi-level and multi-dimensional theory of nonviolence Such confrontation is analogous to the group of blind men approaching an elephant for investigation; the disciplines being the blind men, and the huge elephant, nonviolence Relative to this, theologians, historians, anthropologists, sociologists, psychologists, and political scientists have shared their intelligent views on the topic with the people’s understanding of nonviolence and nonviolent acts

The complexity of non-nonviolence is greater than how people perceive

it Nonviolence is not the nonexistence of violence; it is an action that employs power and influence to accomplish a goal without inflicting physical injury to the persons opposed to that goal’s achievement Sometimes, nonviolence is

an ethical action grounded on a fundamental belief system that aims to fathom the truth within a conflict, trusts in non-cooperation with evil, looks at violence

as something to be evaded, and manifests a willingness to accept the weight

of suffering to break the sequence of violence The ultimate purpose of principled nonviolence is to confront prejudice so as to cause an upturn of

social justice minus the use of direct violence Nevertheless, nonviolence may

be employed as a practical approach to attain one’s goals without a principled belief structure to back it up This pragmatic nonviolence considers behavior that is nonviolent to be an effective method to determine the conflict, and uses

it in the confrontation of a conflict situation without employing direct violence Yet, it does not hold a belief system that is held by people who practice principled violence

Even with an astonishing lack of attention and broadcasting in the news,

as well as educational channels, nonviolence has been widely employed and oftentimes successfully used all throughout the last two millennia Even the twentieth century, which is described by a lot of people as one of the bloodiest times in terms of military and civilian victims of war, several nonviolent movements made their impact on history by positive ends Nonviolent activism was, on a regular basis, quite successful around the world This is evident from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) to the United States of America (USA), from the Greensboro sit-ins to the Green Movement, from Cambodia to Czechoslovakia, from the Orange Hats in Washington D.C to the Orange Revolution in Ukraine Nonviolence also dealt with many grievance issues in a range of contexts like those from dictators to democracies, from voting rights to

human rights, from safety to Salt laws The beginning of the twenty-first century sustained the momentum generated in the twentieth century

Because the twentieth century is remembered as a century where more than 100 million lives were lost in war, it has been referred to as the bloodiest century in human history The twentieth century was also the first era in human history wherein a lot of extensive nonviolent movements triumphed over oppressive regimes, every so often in the face of devastating military control Despite the fact that men have transitioned into the 21st century, fierce human fighting in Syria, Afghanistan, Ukraine, D R Congo, South Sudan, Iraq, Libya Israel/ Gaza, Pakistan, Nigeria, and in the Philippines and other nations in the Asia Pacific region get their attention and obscure the varied and countless nonviolent social movements that are happening around the world

Nonviolence has been used widely and oftentimes successfully over the last two millennia worldwide Despite the fact that many people might be more acquainted with the fighting and armed conflicts of the 20th century, the dozens of nonviolent campaigns verified the prevalence and triumph of this concept as a political tactic in a variety of locations, in a variety of contexts, and across time Political action without the use of violence has included the dynamic engagement with degrading human conditions, with the practical

objective of changing such conditions to more caring social situations

A lot of people are familiar with nonviolent struggles through the lives of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr The activism of these two individuals minus the use of violence has helped mold men’s concept of nonviolence as a political tactic and as a philosophy of life as well

As the forerunner of Satyagraha, or resistance by means of massive civil disobedience without the use of violence, Indian pro-self-government leader Mohandas Karamch and Gandhi, more universally-known as Mahatma Gandhi turned into one of the key spiritual and political leaders of his time Satyagraha continues to be one of the most powerful philosophies in independence struggles all over the world today

In 1914, Gandhi went back to India, where he reinforced the Home Rule movement, and emerged to be the leader of the Indian National Congress, campaigning for a strategy of non-violent non-cooperation to attain independence His purpose was to support poor laborers and farmers in protesting against oppressive taxation and discrimination He fought hard to liberate women, to alleviate poverty, and most of all to end racial and caste discrimination, with the final goal being self-rule for India

Shortly after his civil disobedience campaign (1919-1922), he was

imprisoned for conspiracy (1922-1924) In 1930, he directed a landmark 320 km/200 mi rally to the sea to gather salt in symbolic disobedience of the government domination After his discharge from prison (1931), he took part in the London Round Table Conference on Indian statutory reform In 1946, he made negotiations with the Cabinet Mission which endorsed the new constitutional framework After the independence (1947), he tried to put an end

to the Hindu-Muslim battle in Bengal, a strategy which led to his murder in Delhi by Nathuram Godse, a Hindu extremist

Long after his death, Gandhi's commitment to nonviolent resistance and his love for simple living - making his own clothing, eating vegetarian food and fasting for self-purification as well as a means of demonstration have been an inspiration of hope for beleaguered and marginalized people all over the world

Mahatma Gandhi wrote a lot of quotations in English in a weekly journal entitled Young India It was a Week shed that he published from 1919 to 1932 Such writings inspired many, and Gandhi used the journal as an avenue to spread his distinctive ideology and insights in terms of the use of nonviolence

in establishing movements and to encourage readers to reflect on, collaborate, and plan for India's subsequent independence from Britain

Gandhi’s autobiography, showcasing his life since early childhood all the

way through 1921, was entitled The Story of My Experiments with Truth The

said autobiography was written on a weekly basis and was published in his

journal Navjivan, from 1925 to 1929 The publishing was initiated at the

assertion of Swami Anand and other close co-workers of Gandhi, who urged him to expound on the background of his public movements In 1999, a committee of international spiritual and religious authorities regarded the book

as “one of the 100 Best Spiritual Books of the 20th Century."

Gandhi published a weekly newspaper called Harijan, in English from

1933 to 1948 Harijan, in other words, "People of God" or “Children of God”,

was likewise Gandhi's word for the untouchable caste Gandhi was imprisoned

in India for the first time for his brave articles written in Young India Despite

that, he never succumbed to any gagging instruction issued by the Government

On the other hand, one of the twentieth century’s most prominent figures named Martin Luther King, Jr., was a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and a builder

of the nonviolent civil rights campaign He was an eloquent supporter of nonviolence and an author of several books as well Being one of the most famous orators in U.S history, his sermons, writings and speeches are very inspiring and timeless

King’s book Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story is a

wide-ranging, revelatory, and intimate description of the first successful massive application of nonviolent resistance in the United States King regarded the book as the chronicle of 50,000 Negroes who knew the principles of nonviolence by heart, who learned to fight for their human rights by means of the clout of love and who, in the course, acquired a new appraisal of their personal human worth It goes back to the remarkable journey of a community, and illustrates the manner by which the twenty-six-year-old King, plus his conviction for fairness and nonviolence, helped change the nation and the world

In 1963, after King took the movement of nonviolent force into Birmingham, Alabama, he was apprehended and jailed, together with his fellow supporters for leading a demonstration march At the jail, King wrote the

Letter from Birmingham City Jail that explains and affirms his nonviolent and

straight action The document catches the flavor of the peaceful movement that carried such significant changes in the trend of social interaction in a lot of cities and towns of South America

Within the level of the Gettysburg Address of Abraham Lincoln, which

was delivered 100 years earlier, King’s I Have a Dream speech is, by far, one

of the most unforgettable in America’s history It was delivered on the stepladders of the Washington, D C Lincoln memorial in 1963, where about a quarter of a million people assembled for a March for Jobs and Freedom to convince President John F Kennedy and the Congress to issue a national civil rights bill

Nonviolence, as supported by Gandhi and King, upholds peace by reaching up to the high power party’s cooperation, friendship and understanding, instead of humiliation and defeat Nonviolence is an avenue for stirring a sense of moral shame and injustice in the high-power parties It conquers injustice by giving high-power parties the message that they will gain more by stopping oppression and injustice, than by sustaining them It is geared at creating reconciliation, redemption, and a community described by mutual benefit and equal justice Advocates of nonviolence vouch for it as providing the means of attaining peace and the defining feature of the peace achieved indivisible

The wisdom exemplified in the selection of works of Mahatma Gandhi and the selection of works of Martin Luther King, Jr may help the Vietnamese students to contemplate on their values and lives when they develop awareness of their true philosophical dimension Their works could describe

behaviors that define these students’ attitude about life in a broad spectrum and about specific actions in particular They may appropriately be regarded

as transformers of human acts, manipulating their profound motivations They are interwoven in the raw materials of the societal development of a Vietnamese student as an individual co-existing in a community of people Certainly, they provide a peaceful avenue to sustain the struggles for nation building

With these thoughts in mind, the researcher, who is an English teacher

at the 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 teachings of nonviolence that may be drawn from the analysis which shall benefit Vietnamese students

Statement of the Problem

This study is an analysis of nonviolence gleaned from the selected works of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr with the end view of identifying the teachings that may be drawn from the analysis which shall benefit Vietnamese students

Specifically, it 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 following selected works?

2.1 Mahatma Gandhi

2.1.1 Young India 2.1.2 The Story of My Experiments with Truth 2.1.3 Harijan

2.2 Martin Luther King, Jr

2.2.1 Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story

2.2.2 Letter from Birmingham City Jail 2.2.3 I Have a Dream

3 What humanitarian issues are given focus on the selections?

4 What rhetorical devices are used by writers in projecting the humanitarian issues particularly non-violence relative to:

Scope, Delimitation and Limitation of the Study

This study analyzed the philosophy of nonviolence as embodied in the selected literary pieces of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr pointing out the events and situations which show the teachings on nonviolence that maybe drawn from the analysis that may benefit the Vietnamese students Likewise, this paper tried to present the historical root of nonviolence in India and the United States; nonviolence as dealt within the selected works; the humanitarian issues given focus on each of the selections, and the rhetorical devices used by the writers in projecting the humanitarian issues particularly nonviolence

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 used the historical, sociological and philosophical approaches as the bases for analysis In particular, the sociological and historical approaches were supported by Teixeira’s Theory of Nonviolence, while the philosophical approach was supported by Holmes’ Theory of Nonviolence

This paper also involved content analysis, which is a systematic technique in analyzing message content and message handling The data

analysis in this research centered on pattern seeking and the extraction of meaning from Gandhi’s and King’s selected literary narrative or image data Much effort was focused on the task of recording texts or making notes through concepts and categories; linking and combining abstract concepts; extracting the essence; organizing meaning; writing an understanding; and drawing conclusions

The essential features in the treatment of materials were considered in the conduct of this study The general rules cited by Stott (2014) as regards the seven standards pieces of literature were considered in the selection of the works under study

The representative literary works analyzed were Young India, The Story

of My Experiments with Truth, and Harijan by Mahatma Gandhi and Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story, Letter from Birmingham City Jail and I Have a Dream by Martin Luther King, Jr From these literatures, readers

will be able to see in them the seeds of all these two writers’ most important teachings The said selections were chosen because of their correlation with the cited theme and subthemes; the humanitarian issues given focus in the selections; the rhetorical devices which helped in projecting the humanitarian issues particularly nonviolence relative to ethos, pathos and logos; and the

teachings on nonviolence that may be drawn from the analysis

These letters and oratorical speeches constituted the primary and twining sources of the study Likewise, these works have been taken up in critical analysis far less frequently than those of Gandhi’s other popular books

entitled Non-Violent Resistance, Satyagraha in South Africa: The Making of Mahatma Gandhi, The Essential Gandhi: An Anthology of His Writings on His Life, Work, and Ideas, Hind Swaraj and Other Writings, Peace: The Words and Inspiration of Mahatma Gandhi, All Men are Brothers: Autobiographical Reflections and King’s other famous speeches entitled March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Acceptance Speech at Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony, Beyond Vietnam, and I've Been To The Mountaintop

Other literary pieces of Gandhi and King which have undertones of nonviolence were not included in the study Likewise, other approaches in literary criticism that may be employed in the analysis like the Formalist Criticism, Biographical Criticism, Historical Criticism, and Psychological Criticism and other rhetorical devices that may be present in the selections were not included in the analysis

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, working professionals, media practitioners, college instructors of literature, students of literature, researchers, and future researchers

Academic Managers This dissertation will guide them in conceptualizing and implementing developmental priorities, programs, projects and policies in the educational institutions to ensure that the practice of nonviolence can access the academe

Working Professionals This study will be beneficial for them in the

sense that showcasing Mahatma Gandhi’s and Martin Luther King, Jr.’s nonviolent activism may help shape their understanding of nonviolence both

as a philosophy of life and as a political strategy and may motivate them to bring nonviolence into the mainstream of their lives, their disciplines, their workplaces

Media Practitioners The results of this study will help them make use

of a transformational strategy that incorporates educational messages on nonviolence to change the audiences’ cultural attitudes, behaviors and norms

College Instructors of Literature This study will be helpful in their

methodology in teaching literature using the appropriate literary theories and

approaches in literary analysis

Students of Literature The results of this study may help them to have

a profound outlook in life with reference to nonviolence through the lives and experiences of the writers and the characters in the selected literary pieces which in turn will make them realize the value of human beings and not adhering to humanitarian issues in relation to violence

Researcher This study may benefit the researcher through the

knowledge and skills learned from the analysis, treatment of materials and the careful investigation of both theme and form in literary genres

Other Researchers This paper may inspire them to conduct more

researches on ways that are most effective in integrating the nonviolent principles into the people’s dominant worldview to substantiate the present investigation

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter presents the review of conceptual and research literatures with the end view of identifying the constructs of the study Likewise, the synthesis of the literature reviewed, the theoretical and conceptual frameworks

as well as the conceptual and operational definitions of terms were included

Conceptual Literature

The topics discussed under the conceptual literature include the following constructs, which are utilized in the analysis and interpretation of the dissected literary pieces: literature and philosophy; humanitarian issues and nonviolence; Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr and their selected works; and historical, sociological and philosophical approaches in literary criticism and rhetorical devices

Literature and Philosophy The word literature is interwoven with a

long list of definitions that emerges from its difficult interpretation even from its etymology Nevertheless, in the strict sense, literature refers to a creative and precise written work with significance and permanent aesthetic value It must

be ingenious, it must be written, and it must contain creative values

Garcia (1998) regarded literature as the foremost among the humanities

of those instrumentalities by which man becomes more completely human As

a reflection and as an expression of life, literature stirs the student and the people in general, into becoming aware of the realm around him, at the society surrounding him, and ultimately into his or her inner self Literature familiarizes him into its own world; one which is not only enormous and without boundaries, but likewise diverse, multi-faceted, most of the time breaking into shimmering colors which mirror the ever-changing, iridescent lights of the earth Within its outskirts, this world of literature affords foretastes of success and misery; desolation and happiness Now it sparks images of tragic intensity; next it resonates bubbly, irrepressible amusement Passion and innocence flutter in succession across its extensive landscape Its magnitude embraces the ordinary as well as the transcendent It offers wisdom and pleasure as well

to every individual of every character, education, and culture

Literature concerns human beings, their everyday lives as well as their extraordinary, immense experiences In sweeping through the entire range of human experience, literature generally engulfs the significant and meaningful,

be it in the realm of the familiar or that of the rare The only requirement is that

it be important and true, not in terms of having happened but in terms of actuality Literature, as a fine art, emphasizes the provable or the unreal and the ideal as bathed with the light from another dimension, it is a requirement

that the selected experience has the clout to gain approval even from the most demanding reader Literature must be a component, as well as an instrument

in the course of refining education through a particular art

The principal purpose of literature is not the improvement of the mental aptitudes but to stimulate and sustain enjoyment and pleasure in the heart and mind It must be emphasized though, that the influence of such emotion is intertwined with the action of the intellect so much so that the pleasure thus stirred is appealing, intellectual and even spiritual

Literature puts man’s intelligence to a higher level, past the practical and the utilitarian that blend which restraints human aspirations to the ground, to the compact earth and no higher The array of thought stirred by exceptional or significant literature guides one to the unrestricted, untrammeled use of sensibility and imaginings Imaginative power is freed towards the artistic and the constructive

The humanizing role of literature heavily depends on the power to arouse an emotional response By means of literature, the emotion can involve the feelings and desires that ennoble, toughen and refine - at times that call out the idealism which is necessary for living not to be remarkably barren and uninspiring The chances for educating the emotion overflow in everyday life

and are reflected in literature In humanizing the education of man, literature

balances the intellectual and emotional components

Philosophy, on the other hand, is not a complex, impenetrable,

unfathomable discourse that is merely applied by highly placed scholars and

mad people Philosophy is not some dogmas and obscurities that cannot be

explained, packed in books that are advertisings of atheism or secularism At

first glance, philosophy can be conceptualized as a world view which is defined

as a general picture of the world and the place of man in it and those beliefs or ideas (Oladipo, 1993) Communal world view is an

unconscious mobbish coagulation of beliefs, concepts and ideas while a

philosophical world view is characterized as a compendium of beliefs,

practices, concepts and ideas that are systematic and prognostic

In the second sense, philosophy can be presented as a rational critical

discourse whose primary aim is that of self-understanding (Oladipo, 2006)

This is similar to the definition of Staniland (2000) which says that philosophy

is criticism of the ideas people live by In this aspect, philosophy is responsive

and argumentative challenging time-honored accounts of men and their

beliefs

As regards the relationship between literature and philosophy, he argues

that they are related on two general notes as both are forms of social consciousness and are constructions of language Furthermore, philosophy and literature are born out of human experiences of an individual or groups and often treat very abstract matters that arise from a reflective quest for the better understanding and tackling of problems of human existence which makes literature to be engaged as well as philosophy

Philosophy cultivates concepts and makes them clear, while literature involves these words to connect ideas, figures and moral ideologies and to broaden realities Both philosophy and literature reflect the society along with the society’s development and state The philosophy of an age describes the nature of that age and the literature of an epoch describes the complications and realities of that period Both of them mirror the views of men about realities

Philosophy is normative It dishes out standards that should normalize the thinking and conduct of men in the society Along the same line, literature possesses themes that transfer morality pedagogically

Moreover, both philosophy and literature are systematic presentations They are not merely some crisscrossed consolidation and mishmash of materials They intermingle in probing into each other’s area of discourse

More significantly, philosophy cross-examines literature by means of the device of literal criticism Literal criticism is the philosophical studies with judgments of art works and literature

Anderson (2011) stated that great literature is often deeply philosophical and great philosophy is often great literature This is exemplified in a number

of great philosophers and significantly the great philosophers people admired

have offered their materials in literary presentation like Plato’s Dialogues

Finally, for literature to take its rightful pace and fulfill its function in the society

it has to wear some sorts of philosophy (Sartreorg Website, 2014)

Humanitarian Issues and Nonviolence Events or series of events

which represents a critical threat to the health, safety, security or well-being of

a community or other large group of people, usually over a wide area is referred to as humanitarian issues or crises (Humanitarian Coalition Website, 2014) Armed wars, epidemics, starvation, natural disasters and other major tragedies may all concern or lead to a humanitarian predicament that spreads

outside the mandate or capacity of any particular agency

A humanitarian crisis is understood to be a situation in which there is an exceptional and generalized threat to human life, health or subsistence (Escolapau.uab.cat Website, 2014) These crises usually appear within the

context of an existing situation of a lack of protection where a series of existent factors like inequality, poverty, lack of access to basic services exacerbated by a natural disaster or armed conflict, multiply the destructive effects These crises may be internal or external conflicts and usually occur throughout a large land area Local, national and international responses are

pre-necessary in such events (Global Health Sciences Website, 2014)

Humanitarian catastrophes can be classified under the following headings: natural calamities such as tremors, floods, typhoons and volcanic explosions; man-made disasters like wars, train and plane crashes, fires and industrial mishaps; and complex emergencies where the outcomes of a sequence of events or causes thwart a community from gaining access to their simple necessities, such as food, housing, water, security or health care

Humanitarian crises may be natural adversities, man-made adversities

or complex emergencies In the said cases, complex tragedies emerge because of a lot of factors or events that inhibit a large group of the populace from gaining access to their basic needs, such necessities such as food, fresh

water or safe shelter

Examples of humanitarian crises include armed conflicts, epidemics, famine, natural disasters and other major emergencies All such crises may

cause, involve or lead to a humanitarian crisis (Humanitarian Workshop Flyer, 2013) Because of this, humanitarian crises are oftentimes interlocked and complex and a lot of national and international organizations play roles in the

ramifications of the incidences

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) lists categories which include different types of natural disasters, technological disasters like hazardous material spills, Chernobyl-type of nuclear accidents, chemical explosions and long-term man-made disasters related to "civil strife, civil war and international war" (IFRC Disaster Management Website, 2014) Internationally, the humanitarian response sector has tended to distinguish between natural disasters and complex emergencies which are related to armed conflict and wars (Office for the

Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Handbook for Complex Emergencies, 2014)

Humanitarian crises include the Philippines’ Fallen 44 crisis in 2015 and the super typhoon Yolanda in 2014, the West Africa Ebola outbreak in 2014, the Zamboanga City crisis in 2013, the Syrian Civil War, the Madagascar locust infestation in 2013, the Sahel drought in 2012 , the East Africa drought

in 2011, Cyclone Nargis, the Pakistan floods in 2011 and 2010, the Haiti

earthquake in 2010, the Rwanda genocide, the Sichuan earthquake in May

2008, the Iraq War, the Darfur Conflict, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Kivu Conflict, the Afghan Civil War the Sri Lankan Civil War, Hurricane Katrina

in August 2005, the Kashmir earthquake in 2005, and the Indian Ocean earthquake also known as Asian tsunami in 2004

In confronting humanitarian crises, emergency readiness plays a dire role by building national capability to lessen the cost of long-term response Nevertheless, humanitarian funding is released after a disaster and instead of making support available through a continuous preparedness scheme, isolated

‘preparedness activities’ are given priority Emergency preparedness is chiefly underfunded and available financing is complex, fragmented and unsystematic To better respond to humanitarian crises, a report by the Overseas Development Institute suggests that although there are advantages

to improving existing financing mechanisms, incremental changes will still leave gaps and a new system must be considered to save lives and aid disaster risk reduction (Kellett, and Peters, 2013)

Nonviolence, on the other hand, adheres to a principle which is also known as nonviolent resistance that rejects the use of physical violence in order to achieve social or political change (United Nations’ Website, 2014)

Often referred to as "the politics of ordinary people," this kind of social struggle has been employed by mass populations worldwide in campaigns for social justice

Nonviolence or ahimsa does not simply mean non-killing Himsa means

causing pain to or killing any life out of anger or for a selfish purpose or with

the intention of injuring it Refraining from so doing is ahimsa Ahimsa means not to injure any creature by thought, word or deed True ahimsa should mean

a complete freedom from ill-will and anger and hate and an overflowing love

for all Ahimsa is the attribute of the soul and therefore to be practiced by

everybody in all the affairs of life (Gandhi International Institute for Peace Website, 2012)

Mahatma Gandhi viewed violence pejoratively and categorized it into passive and physical violence He emphasized that the practice of passive violence is a daily affair, both consciously and unconsciously He also stressed that it ignites the fire of physical violence In the midst of hyper violence, he teaches men that the people who possess nonviolence are blessed and that they must bow in reverence to such kind of men The more adverse the circumstances around them, the more intense their longing grows for

deliverance from the bondage of flesh which is a vehicle of himsa (Gandhi,

1970) He objects to violence because it perpetuates hatred A true nonviolence activist accepts violence on himself without inflicting it on another

Gandhi understood nonviolence from its Sanskrit root ahimsa Ahimsa

is just translated to mean nonviolence in English, but it implies more than just avoidance of physical violence It implies total nonviolence, no physical

violence, and no passive violence Gandhi translates ahimsa as love He stressed that for him ahimsa means love because he believes that if one loves

somebody, and he or she respects that person, then he or she is not going to inflict any harm to that person(The New Zion Herald’s Website, 2001)

He feels that possession of arms is synonymous to cowardice or lack of courage For him, possession of arms implies an element of fear, if not cowardice but true nonviolence is impossibility without the possession of unadulterated fearlessness (Bose, 1948) In the face of violence and injustice, Gandhi considers violent resistance preferable to cowardly submission There

is hope that a violent man may someday be nonviolent, but there is no room for a coward to develop fearlessness

As the world’s pioneer in nonviolent theory and practice, Gandhi unequivocally stated that nonviolence contained a universal applicability In his letter to Daniel Oliver in Hammana Lebanon on the 11th of 1937, he said that

there is no deliverance for any people on this earth or for all the people of this earth except through truth and nonviolence in every walk of life without any exceptions (Gandhi, 2008) He promises deliverance through nonviolence for oppressed peoples without exception

On the other hand, the fundamental tenets of Dr King’s philosophy of nonviolence include: Nonviolence as a way of life for courageous people It is

an active nonviolent resistance to evil and is aggressive spiritually, mentally and emotionally; Nonviolence seeks to win friendship and understanding The end result of nonviolence is redemption and reconciliation and its purpose is the creation of the Beloved Community; Nonviolence seeks to defeat injustice not people It recognizes that evildoers are also victims and are not evil people and that the nonviolent resister seeks to defeat evil not people; Nonviolence holds that suffering can educate and transform It accepts suffering without retaliation

Unearned suffering is redemptive and has tremendous educational and transforming possibilities; Nonviolence chooses love instead of hate It resists violence of the spirit as well as the body Nonviolent love is spontaneous, unmotivated, unselfish and creative; and Nonviolence believes that the universe is on the side of justice The nonviolent resister has deep faith that