Reading Comprehension Passage 1 - GRE Verbal Reasoning

Direction

Martin Luther King’s active career extended from 1957 to 1968. During this brief career he led numerous protest demonstrations in the South as well as in the North of the USA. He challenged the moral complacency of America and fought for the rights of the Negroes. He hated the eye-for-an-eye method like Gandhiji and fought with the weapon of non-violence – “a weapon”, said King, “that cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals.” And he raised a vast army. It was an army that would move but not maul. It was an army to storm bastions of hatred, to lay siege to the fortress of segregation, to surround symbols of discrimination. It was an army whose allegiance was to God and whose strategy and intelligence were the eloquently simple dictates of conscience. His creed of nonviolence was criticized and challenged by ‘Black Power’ militants who would not renounce the use of violence to achieve their goals. Nevertheless, his faith in non-violence never wavered.

Maul while moving.
To remove hatred, segregation and discrimination from the society through non-violent moves.
Use swords to achieve their goals.
Use violent methods to fight their causes.
Make an army that fought using swords.

Solution

The passage given discusses the path adopted by Martin Luther King in order to fight for the rights of the Negroes. He belonged to Mahatma Gandhi’s line of leaders who used no violent methods and wanted to make the society a better place to live in. The sentence in the passage ‘an army to storm bastions of hatred, to lay siege to the fortress of segregation, to surround symbols of discrimination’, is a metaphorical reference to his methodology, and makes us conclude that out of the given list of options, option ‘B’ is the correct answer.

Solution

Martin Luther King’s struggle was to lead the Negroes towards a life of freedom that was not influenced by the American policies and culture. He had no problems with their political and governing systems, but wanted them to delimit themselves to their country only. He wanted to achieve freedom for them and that too strictly by non-violent means. The fourth option given to us is the most appropriate answer in this context.

Appreciated and keenly followed by the militants of America.
Disliked by the ‘White Power’ militants of America.
Criticized and challenged by ‘Black Power’ militants, who followed violent means.
Followed by ‘Black Power’ militants, who appreciated them.
Hated and condemned by the ‘Black Power’ militants, yet followed by them.

Solution

The passage given to us also throws light on the fact that the non-violent methods of Martin Luther King were opposed by the “Black Power” militants of Africa who were also fighting for the cause of the Negroes but were using violent methods. Thus, from all the options given to us, the third option, ‘Criticized and challenged by ‘Black Power’ militants, who followed violent means’ is the only correct answer.

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