Strive for Liberty Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the famous activists who became the most visible spokesperson, once had mentioned, “We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed”. King wants the individuals to struggle for the freedom of others and their own as well, not to wait for someone to give away the rights that a human should have, individuals, have to beg, strive, and struggle for it in order to live a happy life with basic human rights. This concept of the people struggling for human rights have been addressed in the speech of Martin Luther King Jr. called “I have a dream”, plus in the novel of Ray Bradbury titled Fahrenheit 451 and in the memoir of Azar Nafisi titled “Reading Lolita in Tehran”.
There are a group of individuals who argue that struggling for manifesting freedom is a waste of time because the government gives all the rights that individuals deserve and need to live their life. However, on the other hand, others have opposed the argument since they believe that there has been struggling for freedom because the government have rejected those people from giving the rights that they deserve and should have. To obtain liberty individuals have manifested the strive for freedom by fighting for others rights, exploring for the censored knowledge, and standing upon the segregation.
Apparently, King had illustrated in “I have a dream”, his desire to speak for liberty for the people’s freedom and their independence to live their life freely and happily together living in diverse society. In his speech, he said, “And when this happens, and when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will …say..
.’Free at last. Free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last'”(King 51). This dialogue clarifies that King wanted the freedom and he strives plus struggles for it in order for the upcoming generations to have it. Also, it clarifies that he wanted everyone to have the basic human rights in order to make their life better.
This point is significant since it reinforces the idea of human manifesting for the liberty of others by standing for other beliefs and rights like a buttress to support them. Following, Guy Montag in Fahrenheit 451 manifests the struggle for the liberty by hunting for the quality and dumbing down of a society of knowledge which is censored by the government. Later in the novel, Faber notes in a conversation with Montag, ” We have everything to be happy, but we aren’t happy.
Something’s missing…I thought books might help”, Faber then continues this conversation with Montag pointing out that, “‘It’s not books you need, it’s some of the things that once were in books, the right to carry out actions based on what we learn’ from books” (Bradbury 78-81). The dialogue illustrates Montag wanted to be satisfied with his life which is the reason he was hunting for the information from the books he had never read in his life before, with the help of Faber.
Moreover, since the government has forbidden the books in the society and censored the real information, it has led to a common reason of why people lack the power of knowledge to know what is right or wrong. Probably there will be more than one individual seeking for the light of the knowledge to live their life happily. Furthermore, this tells that the desire to obtain the freedom of to live without any censorship has made individuals leads to manifest like a rail to know what is rights by going against the authorities.Lastly, Nafisi in “Reading Lolita from Tehran” was a great promoter of equality between all, she raised her voice for the freedom when she discussed the unfair segregation of women in Iran. The text directly states, “Toyota patrols, four gun-carrying men, and women…Patrol the street to make sure women like Sanaz wear their veils properly, do not wear makeup, anddo not walk in public with men.
If a woman gets on the bus, the seating is segregated. She must enter through the rear door and sit in the back of the seats, allocated to women”(Nafisi 82). In this quote, Nafisi has addressed the rules of Iran’s government of women what they should do and not do.
Since men get more opportunities plus fewer restrictions than women, it is not equal or unfair to the women. This point is insightful since individual’s desire for freedom has led them to manifest against the discrimination of the people and separation between those who are different from another. Others suggest that there is no need to strive for freedom since the government has already provided all of the rights that a human needs. On the other hand, the truth remains the same that if people already have the rights that they should have then why some of the individuals have the desire to obtain freedom, why those individuals have been struggling to gain what they deserve without any strives or else they know they have to survive without any freedom to just get rid of their life. For instance, Sanaz in “Reading Lolita in Tehran”, ” Does she compare her own situation with her mother when she was the same age? Is she angry that women of her mother’s generation could walk the street freely, enjoy the company of the opposite sexe.
t.c.” (Nafisi 83). In the text, Nafisi is demonstrating the freedom that Sanaz mother had, but Sanaz did not in that time period. She did not have a choice to be free like a bird because in Iran women were treated unfairly or not equal to the men.
This is a perfect example of individuals surviving instead of standing and stepping against the authorities to get their freedom that they should have. Which reinforces the idea of how the government is not giving the rights that citizens should have, which is the reason why some individuals stand for human rights. In the end, as it follows it is easy to recognize that generation by generation whenever somebody has stood up against human rights and snatch them from individuals, individuals have manifested a great desire to obtain liberty, what they deserve in my different ways.
For instance, King who illustrates a great desire for freedom by becoming a leader and raised his voice for the freedom plus equality for others, Montag who had searched for the quality of information in the books by going against the authorities policies and when the Irani teacher Nafisi demonstrated her desire by speaking against the segregation of the sex, giving the rights to women like Sanaz to live their life freely and fairly like men. There are many more individuals who had stopped others from snatching the human rights, even though they had to strive for it, they had done it which leaves an impact on others heart. It explained that strives and struggles which leave an impression do not disappear since those oral plus written stories are coming on from those generation to generation today and will be taught to the upcoming generation. As we all know that we have all the rights we need right now since our forefathers had fought and strived for it, because of their hard work, we should not waste those.
However, we should take advantage of fulfilling our dreams and learn something from them in order to make others lives better. Probably in today’s world, there will be people who do not have those rights in other countries and need your help, stand to speak for them to get their rights, like your forefathers. Be part of that difference that makes others life better.
