Question

Compare and Contrast

Answer 1

Passage 1

There are some things so precious, so eternally true, that they're worth dying for. And if a man happens to be 36-years-old, as I happen to be, some great truth stands before the door of his life—some great opportunity to stand up for that which is right.

A man might be afraid his home will get bombed, or he's afraid that he will lose his job, or he's afraid that he will get shot, or beat down by state troopers, and he may go on and live until he's 80. He's just as dead at 36 as he would be at 80.

A man dies when he refuses to stand up for that which is right. A man dies when he refuses to stand up for justice. A man dies when he refuses to take a stand for that which is true.

So we're going to stand up right here in Alabama, amid the billy-clubs. We're going to stand up amid police dogs, if they have them. We're going to stand up amid tear gas! We're going to stand up amid anything they can muster up, letting the world know that we are determined to be free!
from a speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. http://www.etsu.edu/cas/history/docs/mlkselma.htm

Passage 2

"It is something, Cassie. White is something just like black is something. Everybody born on this earth is something and nobody, no matter what color, is better than anybody else."

"Then how come Mr. Simms don't know that?"

"Because he's one of those people who has to believe that white people are better than black people to make himself feel big.… You see, Cassie, many years ago when our people were first brought from Africa in chains to work as slaves in this country—"

"Like Big Ma's papa and mama?"

Mama nodded. "Yes, baby, except they were born right here in Mississippi. But their grandparents were born in Africa, and when they came there were some white people who thought it was wrong for any people to be slaves; so the people who needed slaves to work in their fields and the people who were making money bringing slaves from Africa preached that black people weren't really people like white people were, so slavery was all right.

"They also said that slavery was good for us because it taught us to be good Christians…." She sighed deeply, her voice fading in to a distant whisper.… But even teaching us Christianity didn't make us stop wanting to be free, and many slaves ran away."


Passage 1 is from a speech by Martin Luther King, given in 1960. Passage 2 is from a novel. Both of these passages are about the theme of

A. the struggle for freedom.
B. freedom of religion.
C. the Civil Rights battle in Alabama.
D. slavery in the South.