William Penn once wrote “ No pain, no palm; no thorns, no throne, no gall, no glory; no cross, and no crown.” This quote strongly relates to Etheridge Knight’s Hard Rock Returns to Prison from the Hospital for the Criminal Insane, for the main character of Knight’s Hard Rock too is faced with the struggle between his desire for elevated status among his admirers and defiance of the norms of the society. During the …showed first 75 words of 1098 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1098 total…the life of one of the America’s greatest leaders to ever live. Knight forms an interesting and appealing parallel between Hard Rock, an individual with great merit and history of insane violence, to that of Martin Luther King who cherished the idea of nonviolent demonstrations. Both individuals are caught up in a society that rejects their freewill of thought and desires, but are driven by the will to succeed in their goal for freedom.