Having read two short stories along with the letter that Martin Luther King wrote from Birmingham jail, I must admit that I have been finding the course material very intriguing so far. These texts are by no means difficult to comprehend, but they do stimulate the thinking process and resonate strongly with other texts I had read.

First of all, there is a very strong parallel that I can draw between the short story, “The Trial”, and the film, “A Time to Kill”. For those of you have not yet seen “A Time to Kill”, I would strongly recommend you all to see it, for the movie’s theme is very relatable to the material that we will be studying in this course. “A Time to Kill” focuses on social issues similar to that of “The Trial”. The film’s protagonist, Carl Lee Hailey, is a black man from Mississippi who is brought on trial after murdering two white men who sexually abused his daughter. Like Wilfred Arna in “The Trial”, Carl’s intent on committing the murders is to seek retribution for harm inflicted on a family member. While I do sympathize with the fate that both Hailey and Arna had to go through, it is nevertheless impossible to argue that their acts are justified.

“Tetanus”, although was frightening, was also an interesting story to read. The story does feature a significant amount of gruesome content, such as those physical descriptions of Cesar Diaz, or the point in the story where Diaz bites Zwilich’s finger. However, from this, I develop a sense of the message that the author is trying to convey about typical life in impoverished districts, where issues regarding drugs and violence are prevalent even among people as young as eleven. In fact, I have even read in the news before where children as young as eight have gang affiliations. After having read “Tetanus”, I do believe that the story does shed light on social problems that we do not commonly witness directly. In the end, I must agree that we are very fortunate to not have to confront such problems on a regular basis.

Regarding the letter that Martin Luther King Jr. wrote from Birmingham jail, I found various stunning features. One aspect of the letter that does particularly catch my attention is the tone that King utilizes. He is definitely very firm with his arguments, but not in a manner that is menacing nor demanding of authority. From this respect, the text itself is definitely a very close representation of King’s motives during the time of the Civil Rights Movement, which was to advocate for civil rights in a peaceful manner. Another striking feature of the letter is the fact that I never had the slightest idea before that King was ever imprisoned during his lifetime despite the peaceful nature of his assemblies. Now that I realize this, I am surely more inclined to believe that American society at the time was truly unjust and that police brutality was more of a reality than a claim.

To conclude, despite the short amount of time I have been in this class so far, I already feel that I had definitely chosen the right course and I truly look forward to upcoming course material that we will be studying.