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Kevin Chiu
Professor Adler
English 1A
23 February 2015
Reason Why We Write
Language is the most powerful way to connect and change how people view the world. In
the novel, Writing to Change the World by Mary Pipher, she writes and uses examples how
good writing develops a way to facilitate connections that gives off a mental and physical
inspiration of thinking, talking, and action itself. Throughout the novel, it provides the readers of
Piphers commentary, quotations, and advise to influence writers to develop inspiration and
motivation in writing to help society. Pipher explains a various assortment of methods of how
writing can show how they can change the world. Writers such as Martin Luther King Jr., and
Jimmy Santiago Baca used this methods to indicate their purpose. Martin Luther King Jr. who
wrote the Letter from Birmingham Jail presented a response to the criticisms from a few
Alabama clergymen for the events that happened in Birmingham. Jimmy Santiago Bacas ,A
Place To Stand is a novel where he spent most of his time on a prison in isolation, where he had
grown the ability to read and the passion for poetry. With Piphers Writing to Change the
World, readers can comprehend on how Jimmy Santiago Baca and Martin Luther King Jr. both
utilize the usage of language with emotions, tone, and their reason.
Writing to show emotion gives the reader the indication of how they can empathize or
sympathize on the given matter. Jimmy Santiago Baca gives off emotion throughout the whole
novel. In the novel, he projects his emotions through what hes has gone through, from being an

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orphan to spending most of his time in jail being illiterate. Because of what hes gone through,
his writing became the receptacle for my sorrow. I wrote even when I didnt want to, because I
knew that, if I didnt, my sorrow would come out of violence. (Baca 234) This shows that
instead of actions feeding off of emotions, it can turn into writing and become an anecdote
written in a poetic fashion, where people can empathize and sympathize on what he is feeling.
He also shows that emotions can be a direct correlation on how people can write their emotions.
Through emotions, it can be written in different tones to provide a much clearer position.
With the use of tone, it gives an attitude toward the subject or the readers. Both Martin
Luther King Jr. and Santiago Baca both utilize the use of tone to demonstrate their purpose and
show what the readers can feel. In Martin Luther Kings letter he uses various tones to argue his
position. One tone he applies is using a persuasive and reserved tone with the start of My Dear
Fellow Clergymen then responding I feel that you are men of genuine good will and that your
criticisms are sincerely set forth, I want to try to answer your statement in what I hope will be
patient and reasonable terms. (King 1) This shows a persuasive way by using words like men
of genuine good will to flatter to his reader as a way to get the attention. He uses this persuasive
method to be able to show how reserve he is by stating that he will respond with patience. Unlike
Martin Luther King, Santiago Baca uses an aggressive tone towards his hatred during his time in
prison. With this tone method, others use reason to write.
One of the reasons why we write is to change the world, and because of change, writers
need to exploit evidence to show reason. Martin Luther King Jr. writes the Letter from
Birmingham to explain why he is responding to his fellow clergymen about his actions in
Birmingham. Throughout his letter, he addresses many problems that are unjust and point out
that they need to be fixed. With reason, he uses evidence throughout history stating that, It was

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evidenced sublimely in the refusal of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to obey the laws of
Nebuchadnezzar, on the ground that a higher moral law was at stake In our own nation, the
Boston Tea Party represented a massive act of civil disobedience. (King 4) He gives this
evidence to prove a point that hes arguing. With this evidence, it gives the reader an incentive to
recognize the problems that they are facing.
Many of us write in order to do something. Whether it is just a diary, a poem, or an
essay, it gives us a motive to improve every day. Writing can turn into action, words,
conversations, thoughts, and inspiration. Through emotions, it provides the way we can feel
toward about the writers words. Tone varies in different ways, so that readers can experience
what they should be reading like. Without reason, writers wont have a purpose to advise us of
flaws in society. With writing it can change the world with inspiration.