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Vincent Li
Adler
English 1A
2 March 2015
Pipher brings a strong approach in the way writing can change the world.
There are many strategies that she describes that can be useful. Pipher defines
change writing as writing to connect like in therapy it creates the conditions that
allow people to be transformed. You see when we write it is not us trying to create
an argument against someone but it is to make them see a different point of view
which you explain in the words that you produce. In the end we can see the power
of our voices that may touch many readers as they might have the same thoughts
and feelings about something. Any type of writing can change the world. For
example, food critics giving good reviews about what they ate. Of course you would
expect the food there to be desirable since a professional food taster said
something good about it. Baca and King write in a language that is strategic and
powerful in an influential way that strikes the reader.
Bacas novel is like the writing of King. They seek change in their life which
will stop at nothing to succeed in doing so. These authors connect with everyone
and reach out to people who have the same obstacles they must face. They write to
prove something. For example, Baca presents his side of the story falling into jail
where he thought it was the end but actually it was the beginning of his life. Baca
says in his book, I culled poetry from odors, sounds, faces, and ordinary events
occurring around me. Breezes bulged me as if I were cloth; sounds nicked their

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marks on my nerves; objects made impressions on my sight as if in clay. There, in
the soft language, life centered and ground itself in me and I was flowing with the
grain of the universe. Language placed my life experiences in a new context,
freeing me for the moment to become with air as air, with clouds as clouds, from
which new associations arose to engage me in present life in a more purposeful
way. Bacas use of language makes himself feel attached to something and feel
enlightened by words. He has connected with language to send a message and
within that message is a story that can change the way you think. The connection
that Baca tells his story about his life connects with the reader as they too might
have been in the situation persuading them that there is still success to be found.
Also, Baca uses language as an escape to the world. For example he says,
Language gave me a way to keep the chaos of prison at bay and prevent it from
devouring me; it was a resource that allowed me to confront and understand my
past, even to wring from it some compelling truths, and it opened the way toward a
future that was based not on fear or bitterness or a path but on compassionate
involvement and a believe that I belonged. His use of language makes it believable
that words actually change someones life by giving his own experience in his
words. King also does this style of writing where he explains the Negro community
in a serious matter that must be changed. As for King, there was no end to his quest
for freedom; he will not accept the failure of fighting for freedom for the Negro
population by writing. King says, This Wait has almost always meant NEVER. We
must come to see. With one of our distinguished jurists, that justice too long
delayed is justice denied. This quote shows how furious he is about any longer but
not in a provocative way. He is stating his reasoning in his language which connects
to past events in a timeline. They both can connect to readers on how anyone can

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change the world they live in. They address what they have been through then talk
about the process of finding success.
When you look at Baca and King they change the world in some type of way.
For example, Baca changes his own life, King changes the Negro community, and
Pipher shows how writing can change the world with her concept. The urgency to
express that writing can change the world is inspirational. You think about it and
wonder what you can do if something must be done. Writing can find your true self
and make you understand yourself in a way you never really thought of it. Although
Baca and King found their world to be wrong, they used writing to express their
feelings about everything. The escape of ones mind is within writing where it can
be expressed to readers. King writes his letter not only to tell them what is horribly
wrong with the world but to add powerful persuasive strategies to grab the
attention of his fellow clergymen to read his letter. For example, If today I lived in a
communist country where certain principles dear to the Christian faith are
suppressed, I would openly advocate disobeying that countrys antireligious laws.
This quote by King makes his language become alive and describe even if it was
against the way he would do something which can also strike the clergymen by
implying that they do nothing even if it is wrong. Also to make them even more
weary he says, Things are different now. So often the contemporary church is a
weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. So often it is an arch defender of
the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power
structure of the average community is consoled by the churchs silentand often
even coalsanction of things as they are. From this quote you get this vibe that
King is calling them weak and cannot help the country for the greater good. The
language can also be interpreted as motivational since by calling someone weak

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they can prove themselves otherwise just like Baca on how he motivates people
that there is no end in prison it is just the beginning.
These two authors, Baca and King show how language is so much more than
words. They are like mind games changing the readers mind. Pipher unites Baca
and Kings language because they show the teachings of Pipher from, Writing to
change the World. They connect with the reader, write and find their true self, and
etc.. Just as King wrong in his letter, he wrote politely with strong reasoning and
provoking them in a non-aggressive manner. Also, Baca gave hope through his
language of a new beginning from a prison where people would have never seen
someone come out and succeed. These writers have language that has a huge
impact on the community by the power of persuasion and influential strategies.
Language is only strong on the way you execute it and these writers have
demonstrated how they can write to change the world.