This essay examines how Martin Luther King Jr. and George Orwell each articulate a vision of an ethical society through their respective works. King's "My Pilgrimage to Nonviolence" traces his intellectual journey through Enlightenment and capitalist philosophy before arriving at Gandhian nonviolent resistance as the foundation of a truly egalitarian society. Orwell's "Shooting an Elephant," by contrast, exposes what an unethical society looks like through the oppressive, morally compromised reality of British-controlled Burma. Together, the two authors illuminate the conditions — social justice, moral clarity, and freedom from coercive pressure — that define or undermine an ethical society.
Civil rights movement leader Martin Luther King Jr. and novelist George Orwell were both known for their political discourses regarding the extent of the government's responsibility to civil society. In King's essay My Pilgrimage to Nonviolence and Orwell's Shooting an Elephant, each author contemplates the kind of ethical society that humanity should have. Their discussions center on their experiences as members of a society where civil strife and inequality were the norm — a reality that fell far short of each author's standards for an ethical, or ideal, society.
In My Pilgrimage to Nonviolence, Martin Luther King Jr. shares the path he traveled to achieve what he called his "intellectual odyssey to nonviolence." Citing famous works rooted in the Enlightenment and capitalism — including the ideas of Bentham, Mill, Rousseau, Marx, and Nietzsche — he concluded that an ethical society could not be found in the radical views of these philosophers. It was instead in the principles of Gandhi that he found his answer, writing: "The superman philosophy of Nietzsche, I found in the nonviolent resistance philosophy of Gandhi."
King's stance is that an ethical society is fundamentally an egalitarian one — a society capable of transcending the limits of a value-laden human culture, provided it already possesses a clear distinction between right and wrong actions and behavior. Nonviolent resistance, as exemplified by Gandhi's philosophy, becomes for King the practical and moral foundation upon which such a society must be built.
"Orwell exposes moral failure in colonial Burma"
Together, King and George Orwell illuminate the conditions that define — and undermine — an ethical society, approaching the question from opposite but complementary directions. King offers a positive vision grounded in egalitarianism and nonviolent resistance, while Orwell exposes the moral corruption that results when injustice and coercive social pressure replace genuine ethical reasoning. Read alongside each other, their works make a compelling case for the same underlying truth: an ethical society demands both moral clarity and the freedom to act upon it.
You’re 73% through this paper. Sign up to read the remaining 1 section.
Sign Up Now — Instant Access Already a member? Log inAlways verify citation format against your institution’s current style guide requirements.