Martin Luther King Jr.'s Detroit speech versus Atticus Finch's closing argument

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Martin Luther King Jr’s Detroit “I Have a Dream” speech and the trial closing argument of Atticus Finch in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird? are powerful examples of writing that can sway someone reading or witnessing it to understand the plight of others. However, one occurred in real life while the other was based on someone’s interpretation and perspective of injustice and suffering. Therefore, King’s speech would be the example that would best be used to understand how to overcome racism. King’s speech was a culmination of centuries of black Americans attempting to find the kind of equality they only dreamed of whereas with Finch, he was a character that not only lost his case to save an innocent black man, but is not based on any one person. This essay will briefly help reflect that. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a religious man that spearheaded the Civil Rights Movement. His part of the movement was the most effective because he promoted non-violent resistance. “We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence.” (Grams 470) Such protesting allowed whites to see the plight of blacks without seeing them as violent animals that often plagued the image of blacks in the United States since the introduction of slavery. Such nobility within King was exemplified in the speech through the use of vivid imagery and logic that allowed anyone to see that what people of color were experiencing in the United States was unjust. This was not the case for Finch. King and Finch used pathos or ‘appeal of emotion’ to point people to a certain outcome. However, some may argue that is all Finch did whereas King appealed to logic as well or ‘logos’. One line in Finch’s speech shows this. It is as if Finch wanted to make Robinson more ‘human’, but failed because of his continued imagery of ‘the white woman’. “And so a quiet, respectable, humble Negro who had the unmitigated temerity to ‘feel sorry’ for a white woman has had to put his word against two white people.” (Lee 233) Had he focused on trying to blend both races together towards a common emotion or imagery, perhaps Finch’s character would have provided a better representation of overcoming racism. However, that was not the point of the story. Lee wrote not an autobiography, but an example of what she witnessed in her life and the very real injustices blacks faced in the United States. Therefore, Finch does not represent a hope figure, but an amalgamation of experiences in the South. In conclusion, Martin Luther King Jr. led a successful Civil Rights Movement that ended in black Americans gaining equality in the United States. What had been a time of segregation ended with a time for rejoice and hope. While both Finch and King used pathos or ‘appeal of emotion’ to reach their audience, King did so in a way that connected more with the people because of the actions that happened beforehand, like peaceful protests and government recognition. Finch on the other hand, was just a lawyer who could not convince the jury to find Tom Robinson not guilty of the crime. Ultimately Tom dies and while Bob Ewell’s credibility is destroyed, nothing was overcome in relation to the racism and prejudice of the townspeople towards Tom. King did enable the overcoming of racism as whites and blacks fought to end segregation in the country. Finch just showed the inherent injustice regarding race in the United States.