The Power of Nonviolence Essay Example for Free

The Power of Nonviolence Essay â€Å"We heard that the city had decided to allow the police officials to stand by and allow the hoodlum element to come in and attack us†. The story â€Å"The Power of Nonviolence† by John Lewis takes place in the Southern United States during the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. An important theme revealed in â€Å"The Power of Nonviolence† is life can be hard but you should always keep going that is what gets you were you are. Three ways that this theme is revealed are, John Lewis and other blacks being discriminated against, John and his friends doing the sit-ins, and Nashville desegregating the lunch counters. The first way the theme is revealed is by John Lewis and other blacks being discriminated against. In the Southern States black people were discriminated against and were not allowed to eat or watch movies at the same places as white people because they were â€Å"colored†. Because of their skin they were denied the same things as white people. As shown in this quote â€Å"You bought your ticket at the same window that the white people did, but they could sit downstairs, and you had to go upstairs.† This quote supports the theme because it shows how hard life is on them and how they go on. The second way the theme is revealed is by John and his friends doing the sit-ins. Many people would go into the segregated places that served food and sit at the counters and wait to be served. Some times they wouldn’t get served at all other times they would get attacked, but they refused to fight back violently. As seen in this quote â€Å"They would sit down in a very orderly, peaceful, nonviolent fashion and wait to be served.† This quote supports the theme because they won’t back down and kept going on through hard times. The final way the theme is revealed is by Nashville desegregating the lunch counters. After months of the peaceful non violent sit-ins Nashville became the first city to desegregate its lunch counters and let blacks eat there too. As shown in this quote â€Å"And so Nashville became the first major city in the south to desegregate its downtown lunch counters and restaurants. That was the power of non violence†¦Ã¢â‚¬  this final quote reinforces the theme by showing that they got were they wanted to because they kept going on through hard times. The theme revealed in â€Å"The Power of Nonviolence† is life can be hard but you should always keep going that is what gets you were you are. Three ways that this theme was revealed were, discrimination all over the southern states, students participating in lunch counter sit-ins, and Nashville desegregating its lunch counters. Though out the story I was affected deeply by the careless discrimination and realized how horrible that it is and it let me see the light and realize what I was doing wrong and what I can do to correct it and fix the problems of discrimination.