Taaseen Chowdhury

Corri Ditch

Engl 115-15171

November 8, 2020

Project Text Proposal

John Lewis was an important figure in the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. In his

graphic novel, March: Book One, John Lewis illustrates his early and difficult childhood that

depicted Chicago’s abundant and harsh racism that he and others of his race had faced. The

graphic novel showed how his past experiences had eventually led him to become a part of the

Civil Rights Movement and it provides a recollection of Lewis’ involvement and actions (the sit-

ins in particular) which he had partaken in the movement. Throughout the graphic novel, we see

the hardships and suffering that participants of the Civil Rights Movement faced and the

suffering that John Lewis overcame himself. Mathieu Ricard is a Buddhist monk who was

scientifically shown through the study of his brain to have the highest capacity for happiness. He

had a promising future in biology but left that career to become a Buddhist monk. After many

years of studying with the masters of Buddhism and His Holiness The Dalai Lama, he became a

very prominent student of Buddhism. Eventually, he wrote the article “The Alchemy of

Suffering” in which he gives a brief explanation of Buddhist ideals in which struggle is

converted into motive. Mathieu Ricard believes that the key to overcome obstacles and obtain

happiness is to understand the idea of the “alchemy of suffering.” It is possible that the protestors

from the graphic novel were the embodiment of what Matthieu Ricard calls the “Four Truths of

Suffering” and they use the concept of the “alchemy of suffering”. John Lewis transforms his

suffering into a strength by willingly accepting the emotional and physical abuse which makes
him a more effective protestor. John Lewis is an effective protestor because he uses that

acceptance to continue his peaceful and silent protest, as opposed to violent reactions from

negative feelings.

Even in his childhood, John Lewis had unknowingly prepared for future hardships that he

faced during the silent protests. As a young child, John Lewis lived on a farm and he had created

a close relationship with his family’s chickens. Every day John Lewis would go to his chickens

to talk to them and interact with them and sometimes he would preach to them (Lewis 28).

However, he knew that doing this would emotionally damage him because Lewis had said “You

get emotionally attached to an animal destined for the dinner table, and you’re asking for a

broken heart.” (Lewis 29). The preaching had created a sense of justice in him which would later

be essential for his involvement in the protests and the occasional death of those chickens was

giving him more mental and emotional integrity. Matthieu Ricard’s teaching of the “fourth truths

of suffering” says to acknowledge the source of the suffering and to end the suffering by

practicing its path (Ricard 39). John Lewis’ treatment towards the chickens and how Lewis dealt

with the loss of those chickens was the utilization of Matthieu Ricard’s teaching of the “four

truths of suffering” because John Lewis acknowledged the fact that creating an emotional

attachment would create sadness and suffering because those chicken would eventually die but

he continued to create those relationships and he had faced the loss of his pet chickens multiple

times. At an early age, he gets a brief understanding of the harsh reality of the world, how the

world beats you down but you still must push forward, and that has prepared him for his future

endeavors.

John Lewis’ mindset in regards to his perception of his elementary school life was quite

beneficial for his future role in the sit-ins and was exceptional as well. John Lewis’ school bus
and school textbooks were old hand-me-downs since he went to an all-black school where little

investments were made to it simply because it was for black students and when he drove past the

white schools he noticed how they had nice looking playgrounds and the schools looked very

nice. At the very least he thought that the inside of his school was heaven because he loved the

library and the librarian in the school (Lewis 48-49). This shows John Lewis utilizing Matthieu

Ricard’s idea of the “alchemy of suffering” because John Lewis is aware that the white-student

schools are getting more attention and development but instead of showing resentment towards

white folk, he accepts the fact that he does not have the nicest textbooks or school environment

but he still cherished and found good and enjoyment; he found particular enjoyment out of his

school library. John Lewis takes the negative energy from the lack of new things that his school

has and instead finds deeper value in the resources in his school that he does have access to and

can truly appreciate it instead of holding disdain. Geraldine DeRuiter is a famous author,

speaker, and award-winning blogger who was able to change her views on how society perceives

bullying because just like Lewis she is able to step back and understand the harshness of reality.

DeRuiter in her childhood had a bully that had tormented her and she had for the longest time all

the way to her adult life thinking that the bully would get what he deserved. DeRuiter then found

out that the bully died at the tender age of 25 while she and many other victims of bullying

became successful and tended to be more successful than their bullies (DeRuiter). After delving

deeper into the life of her bully, she was able to understand why the bully was as twisted as she

thought he was. It was because the bully grew up in a terrible environment that had forged his

behavior. DeRuiter had empathized and cried for her bully. Lewis’ and DeRuiter’s mindset is an

important factor to be an effective protestor and writer because for Lewis’ sake he was strong

enough to find happiness despite the suffering and as for DeRuiter, she sought out the hidden
suffering and hypocrisy of how society treats bullies. DeRuiter used the alchemy of suffering to

empathize with her bully and try to help both victims of bullying and the bullies themselves. In

the end, it is a matter of perspective, depending on how someone perceives a situation they can

transform the feeling to give a more proper or beneficial view. The way that DeRuiter and John

Lewis use negative emotion to transform their perspective into something useful is an essential

trait that helped DeRuiter realize the hypocrisy in how society treats bullies and gave John Lewis

the rationality and patience to transform any negative feelings into motive.

John Lewis’s training for the silent protests helped him become better at transforming his

suffering into purpose. This is the point in John Lewis’s life where all his harsh past experiences

and encounters had prepared him for and would truly benefit him. John Lewis, being such an

important role, was essential for the success of the Civil right movement and as unfair of a life

that John Lewis had it was fortunate that Lewis did have that life because it molded, shaped, and

prepared him for this purpose. John Lewis and the other protestors would practice their

willpower and patience by trying to “dehumanize” one another, including things like calling each

other racial slurs, rudely throwing water in their faces, screaming at them, insulting them, and

any other sort of offense (Lewis 79-83). This also taught the protestors how to protect themselves

and other members of the protest. This made John Lewis and his fellow protestors more effective

during the actual sit-ins because they turned that abuse and treatment as fuel as to why they

needed to continue protesting. They would be victims of the abuse and then try to keep their eye

contact with the attackers to try to come into contact with their humanity and try to make them

empathize with the protestors. This nonviolent method was effective because for them to attack

back would be just embodying the people that they are opposing. So they forgave their attackers.

John Lewis’ and the protestor’s experiences in these sit-ins and their willingness to forgive their
attackers is similar to the experiences of the famous American Singer, Gloria Gaynor. In her life,

Gloria Gaynor witnessed the brutal beatdown and murder of her sister Irma because she tried to

stop that person from assaulting another person. The assailant was supposed to be jailed for 35

years but only served 15. The assailant came to Gloria Gaynor after leaving prison and

apologized to Gloria Gaynor for beating her sister to death. Most people would not forgive

someone who murders their sibling but Gloria Gaynor did (Das). It is like Gaynor said, “ I

realized that when you don't forgive, it's like taking poison and hoping the other person dies"

(Das). This willingness to forgive those who hurt them is a trait present in Gloria Gaynor and

John Lewis which had ultimately made them successful.

 Works Cited

Das, Lina. “She Did Survive; Overcoming Hardship, Gloria Gaynor Has Lived Her Disco

Anthem.” Edmonton Journal, 2017, pp. Edmonton Journal, 2017–05-02.

DeRuiter, Geraldine. “I Thought My Bully Deserved an Awful Life. But Then He Had One.”

The Washington Post, 2018, pp. The Washington Post, 2018–02-22.

Lewis, John, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell. March: Book One. Marietta, GA: Top Shelf

Productions, 2013.

Ricard, Matthieu. “Alchemy of Suffering.” Pursuing Happiness, edited by Mathew Parfitt &

Dawn Skorczewski. Bedford Spotlight, 2016, 34-42.