The character Meursault from the Albert Camus novel The Stranger also manipulates power to his advantage. Meursault on the other hand seems to be completely indifferent to what is going on around him.

These two men have opposite personalities and yet they both come to the same end... power. How is this possible and what does this say about the typical power theory? To answer this question I will examine the ways in which both King and Meursault understand love, justice, religion and law.

In his Letter from Birmingham Jail King expresses his love for the church, his love for freedom and his love for America. He follows the words of Jesus, who said, "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and persecute you" (479.) This approach to one's enemies is an interesting one. Rat

King divides law into two categories, those laws that are just and those that are not. (A just law being one that is morally right and an unjust law being the opposite.) "Segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages personality. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority" (476). A law that the majority makes but does not have to follow itself must be unjust. This is the case with segregation.

Meursault, at first glance, was quite the opposite of King. He seemed totally indifferent as to what was going on. They had taken his freedom and were preparing to take his life away from him. It seemed as though he held no power whatsoever in the situation. This is a point where the theoretical approach to power falls short. Meursault did not care that he was put in jail. He did not care that he was to be put to death either. His mother always told him that in the long run one gets used to anything (96). He got used to the prisoners life and even got used to the idea of being put to death in the end (154). His accusers thought they were enforcing their power over him by imprisoning and sentencing him to death. They thought that justice was being served. What is justice really though? The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines justice as the administration of what is just (proper, correct, morally or legally right.) In that respect, through Meursault's punishment, justice was served. But Meursault did not care. He knew he was guilty from the beginning. Justice meant nothing to him. By that token, justice may have been served but the state never took Meursault's power from him.

After King explains why the statutes surrounding segregation are clearly unjust he lays out his plan: To break these unjust laws in order to draw attention to the injustices taking place. King understands that laws are in place to keep order in society. If one was to break the law and not accept the penalty that would create havoc. On the other hand, to break what one considers an unjust law and accept the consequences of that act is, in reality, showing great respect for the need to maintain order in society (476). Segregation was merely a tool for the powerful to remain powerful. By defying the bogus laws set forth for the Negro people, King and his followers took a measure of power back from the majority.

Whereas King had influence over his followers because they believed

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Approximate Word count = 1670
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)