Cesar Chavez He Revealed Us The Way Analysis

Individuals can make one of two choices in times of crisis: create harm or create harmony. Many individuals had to make this choice in the events following George Floyd’s murder. Some defended Floyd and the importance of civil rights through violence as they engaged in riots, including physical confrontations and destruction of property. Meanwhile, some advocated through nonviolent tactics, consisting of peaceful protests, marches, and rallies to encourage the Black Lives Matter movement. Nonviolence is the method of solution that Cesar Chavez exactly preached. Cesar Chavez was an American civil rights activist and a farm labor leader (Cesar Chavez Foundation). In “He Showed Us the Way”, Cesar Chavez employs notable allusions, meaningful pathos,

King’s entire life was an example of power that nonviolence brings to bear in the real world…This observance of Dr. King’s death gives us the best possible opportunity to recall the principles which our struggle has grown and matured” (Chavez 1). Dr. Martin Luther King Jr had been an activist for the civil rights movement in the United States, specifically to establish equal rights for African Americans. He had done so through nonviolent methods— including marches, peaceful protests, and demonstrations. Thus, Cesar Chavez makes an allusion to Dr. King in his article to commemorate a successful activist who had achieved great progress in the battle for civil rights through nonviolent resistance. This explains the path that advocacy should follow through the struggle to amend labor laws, as Chavez is fighting for. Additionally, Chavez makes an allusion to Mahatma Gandhi to promote tactics of the policy Gandhi had founded and established. He asserts, “The boycott, as Gandhi taught, is the most nearly perfect instrument of nonviolent change, allowing masses of people to participate actively in a cause” (Chavez 9). Mahatma Gandhi was a leader and a revolutionary for civil rights that had challenged force and conflict

For example, he utilizes diction to designate violence with a negative connotation. He interprets, “… we are not blind to the feelings of frustration, impatience, and anger which seethe inside every farm worker. The burdens of generations of poverty and powerlessness lie heavy in the fields of America. If we fail, there are those who will see violence as the shortcut to change” (Chavez 7). Chavez selects words including “frustration”, “anger”, and “powerlessness” to describe violence. This makes violence appear more problematic and afflicting. These particular words communicate a bitter connotation that rejects violence as a suitable solution to conflict. Alternatively, Cesar awards a positive connotation to nonviolence through his diction. He proposes, “We are also convinced that nonviolence is more powerful than violence. Nonviolence supports you if you have a just and moral cause. Nonviolence provides the opportunity to stay on the offensive, and that is of crucial importance to win any contest” (Chavez 3). He applies words such as “powerful”, “moral”, and “opportunity” to uphold his purpose. Chavez’s diction in this quote conveys nonviolence to be both a reasonable and approachable method for solution, considering the positive outlook it holds for a society’s conflicts. Accordingly, the differentiation of connotations through particular uses of diction