Does writing have the power to enact social change?


Writing is the most powerful form of communication. Everything we perform or speak about has come from a piece of writing. It is a very powerful thing. People everyday writes about their opinions and their beliefs. Some pieces of writing are so amazing that they have the power to change the way people think and feel about a certain issue. Writing also has the power to influence different people into just about anything. There are so many writers today that have influenced the lives of many that if it weren’t for them, no change would have been done. It is important while reading a piece of writing to think about the influence and change it has put on the people reading.
One very important writer we know of today that changed an entire society was Martin Luther King Jr. His writing’s are still being talked about and read today and will continue for years to come. They were so powerful that this one man’s writing was able to change the issue of segregation for the United States. His writing influenced people to think about his aspects and follow him. His writing even started and entire Civil Rights Movement. One man and one man alone became a leader for millions during his life.
Another writer that was able to change society was Adolf Hitler. Although his writings were not in a positive way he was able to have millions of followers in Germany. His speeches were so powerful and persuasive he was able to turn many countries into his idea of a society. Stop and think about this. In the beginning all Hitler did was talk. He made speeches that he shared with millions of people. From this, he was able to brainwash and kill millions of people for many years before any action was taken. So before you say writing is just words on a piece of paper, remember that one mans writing turned almost an entire continent to his ruling. At first Hitler used nothing but his voice to persuade people of his perfect society. From this he gains millions of followers and supporters.
The poet June Jordan is another person who has very persuasive writings. Her one poem called the Bombing of Baghdad is talking about how she believes this war is something that can’t be won. After reading it her writing left an impact on me. She made me think of the situation in her eyes. From her writing I realized that we are merely doing what Baghdad did to the U.S. this means that this strategy is not going to change the situation. Fighting fire with fire only gets you burned. “a city of 5.5 million human beings we bombed radio towers we bombed telephone poles we bombed mosques we bombed runways we bombed tanks we bombed trucks we bombed cars we bombed bridges we bombed the darkness we bombed the sunlight we bombed them.” Isn’t this what the terrorists did to us? Did they not bomb building killing thousands of innocent people? How could anything be accomplished of we are acting as the terrorists did. This is what she is trying to tell her readers. That bombing in return for an attack will not fix the problem.
In conclusion, it is impossible to say that writing does not have an influence on the way people think. It has been proven that with persuasive writing you can make anyone believe your ideas. Even if the piece of writing has an impact on one person, the writer still made an impact and influence. If it wasn’t for these writers and speakers our world may be a very different place.

After reading “The Price of a Child” the meaning of the title changed for me into a complete new direction. When the story first starts we learn that Ginnie Pryor (whose name later changes to Mercer Gray) escapes from slavery with her two children. Although her youngest child is left behind, back in slavery. The impression I gained up until about the last page is that Mercer would never see her child again. Giving up her youngest boy was the price she had to pay to give her other two children and herself the chance at a free life. She left knowing her son was still back in the south, but this did not stop her. A part of her felt she would return to claim her son, but in the back of her mind she knew that day may never come. Mercer was going to live with this guilt for the rest of her life to see her other two children have an opportunity at freedom. This, in my opinion was the “price” of a child. This reasoning of the title has much moral to it, and has evidence.
Although once the last page of the book is read, my philosophy was completely changed. A mere one line changed my entire perception. That sentence was “Folded into a separate sheet of paper were five slightly charred one- hundred- dollar-bills: the price of a child Bennie’s age.” This line made me realize the story’s title was a misconception. In my opinion, we are supposed to think she is giving up her youngest child for her other children’s freedom and for hers. But when we reach the end of the story we are suppose to take the title literally. She was handed a ticket to happiness, which was five hundred dollar, or as she reads it, the price of getting her youngest son Bennie back into her arms and into freedom. When the title is looked at now, I realized this was literally the price of a slave child. Could you imagine having to pay to be with your own son or daughter? To us, that is preposterous, but to Mercer, it is all of her finally being free. She was not able to appreciate the full joy of being free unless her only family, her children, was there to experience it with her. All of her internal pain can now be uplifted because she finally has enough to pay for her son.