Two ways that citizens react to systems of oppression in the novel Forbidden City by William Bell are by being a bystander or upstander. A system of oppression is defined as intuitions that describe what is the norm in society. Such behavior is used to maintain an imbalance of power within the community being oppressed. When oppression occurs in a region, there is said to be four roles within the oppressed community. Those who are members of the group exploiting people, or victims, are the oppressors. Among the victims are upstanders and bystanders. Citizens represent the role of a bystander by passively watching oppression, afraid that if they take action, they will also be subject to the “bullying”. An upstander shows that he or she
Ashley Sanchez 29659103 Analysis Essay Oppression is defined by the act of subjugating a people and state through means of force- a universal theme explored in both Hobson’s Choice by Harold Brighouse and Letter from Birmingham Jail written by Martin Luther King Jr (Webster). How can one achieve what they term as the ‘good life’ under oppression and is it necessarily worth the consequences that can result from said search? Hobson’s Choice explores the difficulty of finding a good life under the oppression of a father, and how that quest can result in a happier life. Letter from Birmingham Jail tackles a more defined term of subjugation and the danger of finding a ‘good life’ compared to safety and unhappiness under oppression. Ultimately, the search for a good life is derived from the struggle of rising above one’s oppressor, with the personal satisfaction of searching for the good life outweighing the consequences that may arise.
He talks about three possible ways to fight against oppression. He suggests the nonviolent way as the best option for oppressed in order to resist.
When there is any amount of accepted cruelty being enacted upon a people, change and development occurs immediately so that balance is restored or created. In the novel, the society had conformed to rules and beliefs regarding the value of an individual, “You did what you had to do [and you succeeded]” (Bradbury 145). The people had been forced to act and live in a way that is seen as cruel to us, but normal to them. However, the found order and internal stability of the novel’s setting is admirable to society today in the here and now. Certain examples of changing an entire civilization’s culture regarding the treatment of others in the real-world are able to glorify the statements proclaimed in Fahrenheit 451. In South Africa, there had been a primarily segregative ruling system, entitled Apartheid for the majority of its recent history. However, it was immediately changed and altered once the people of the nation began to experience and realize the identified cruelty that had been placed upon the indigenous South Africans. Immediate change and reorganization of South African society and government occurred. One can presume that change and development, of any society and culture, can be linked to the cruelty, pain, and suffering that is wanted to be stopped or changed. Yet, when there is a different idea of what is wanted, and what is considered to be cruel, a unique reality and set of situations occur, as presented in Ray Bradbury’s
...he “oppressed” will act toward freedom and reintegration into society and will eventually succeed in gaining back their freedom, but it will not be easy. To make steps in the right direction and to determine the right choice, one must take into account the impact silence or non-silence makes on the system as a whole; the better choice does not add to the mass incarceration.
“The conversion of assets into power generates a variety of sanctions, rewards, and instruments to penalize those who resist, to reward those who assist, to remove those who block, and to provide facilities for those who implement a collectively-set course of action.” (Etzioni 357). Amitai Etzioni is an Israeli-American philosopher, his work is mostly encapsulated in the field of socioeconomics. More specifically though, his work in communitarianism is significant. Communitarianism is the philosophy where there is a notional connection between the individual and the community. The subject of communitarianism is ever so present in the novel Invisible Man and is clearly evident when the narrator’s identity is reflected through his interactions with his surrounding community. In the ocular lenses of the narrator, the world is a secular and unequal place in all aspects. It is rigged for those
Just like in the novel prejudice changed many people’s lives, “They would swagger and pick on outsiders and persecute anyone who didn’t speak as they did” (9). When you do not get to know people, it feels unjust to treat them as if they did something terrible when in reality they did not. Unfortunately, things like that still happen. Not too long ago there has been news on policemen acting violently towards people of particular races because they might be afraid or prejudice against them. America is a great free country, but there are things that still need to improve and that is an aspect of our lives that are still connected to the time in history illustrated in the novel. Finally, just like Jeanne and her family, many people are still being sent to concentration camps in modern day. “Gaps showed between the planks, and as the weeks passed and the green wood dried out, the gaps widened. Knotholes gaped in the uncovered floor”(15). In different countries people are still put into camps like this, most likely in the same terrible
Within the first paragraphs of Ralph Ellison’s “Invisible Man”, the narrator, or more commonly known as the “invisible man” (3), invites us into his past, bracing us for the rollercoaster ride of a lifetime he has survived. However, we as readers quickly grasp the literary lens outlined by Thomas Foster’s “How to Read Literature like a Professor” within the story, creating an in depth tale of an oppressed man’s troubled life, rather than shallowly glancing at his existence like a stale article in a local newspaper. Themes such as location and vision, whether symbolic or literal, play substantial roles throughout the entirety of “The Invisible Man”, returning us to specific chapters in Foster’s book focusing on the quest, the geography, and the true vision.
Researchers have studied the bystander affect for many years now and have found out a few reasons why it happens. The bystander affect is important in night because of how people act in groups. Germans watched the Jews go by and didn’t say anything some even threw bread at them (night). Night shows that the more people that are around the less likely people are to help. Kitty was killed in front of 30 some people and no one did anything to help (the death of kitty Genovese.) During her murder people sat and watched out there window thinking someone else had called or helped her. Also, the bystander affect was shown in knight because as the Jews were being mass murdered not one person stood up to try and help until it was too late. Likewise,
The use of participatory techniques by Americans disempowered in the political and working system in the United States to make their voices hear and express their concerns. The language of the disempowered conceal institutional forms to make understood the discrimination and inequality that they are facing in the workplace by powerful companies or corporations and to stop the improper destruction of the environmental through unsuitable modernization projects where capitalists would be the survivors. The disempowered use elections and interest group lobbying in order to make their voices hear and bring about political change. Providing evidences from articles such as: “Protest and Disruption: The Political of Outsiders” by Greenberg, and “Detroit: I Do Mind Dying,” Chapters:1-2 by Dan Georgakas. We are going to explore the “outside the system” of the disempowered that those authors provide in the process to protect themselves and their interests.
People from different social classes lead different lives and treated differently by others. Society never promotes equality but categorizes them. In Bastard Out of Carolina, unfair treatment provokes characters who are in the bottom of the society and destroy them mentally. The author, Dorothy Allison tells in the novel of how anger could build up from the social inequities and personal insecurity that possibly burns one's true identity.
Days without food, nights without shelter and clothes without buttons are reality for homeless people around the world. Many are incapable of escaping their poverty and can not seem to find a way out of their bleak oppression. The few that do escape often help each other find a way to make their lives better and do not forget how to maintain friendships. George Orwell’s novel, Down and Out in Paris and London, displays the ability of those in poverty to escape their horrific lot in life through friendships and connections. The common goal of shelter and freedom from oppression bonds many of the lower class. Many in poverty work together to find the best means to achieve their common goal through locating employment and safe places to sleep. Orwell tries to display the lower classes sense of friendship and commitment though his interactions with the people he meets while in poverty. The individuals he describes have the same dismal prospects and must try to find a way to overcome poverty. It is the common goal of freedom from oppression that bonds many of the lower class to work together to break free. Orwell’s experience in poverty helps him gain a strong understanding of class structure and the separation of the classes. The realization that many in poverty do not deserve to be oppressed causes Orwell to take political action and to search for a way to help those in oppression. With Orwell’s strong examples of the lower class working together, he tries to display his belief that a socialistic society can solve the separation of classes.
From the child in Omelas to a slaving factory worker, those who struggle from oppression have channeled their worth and refuse to remain pushed to the side and neglected.
Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, tells of a manmade monster’s journey through 18th century Europe and his struggle against humanity. Throughout his life, he is constantly attacked and isolated based upon his appearance. Although he at first attempts to fit in, it is to no avail — society continues to discriminate and assault him, labeling him an “other.” Specifically in Frankenstein, an “other” is an individual completely isolated from, and attacked by, society in which every action is deemed unacceptable. They are abandoned and forced into a war against the majority, most often society itself, with no way out. This vicious Cycle of Oppression begins with escalating aggression, leading towards expected treatment and segregation, finally resulting in complete external oppression. Continued external aggression soon engrains the idea of self-oppression within the “other.” Individuals and groups create an “other” through the Cycle of Oppression, first by isolating an individual from society and then installing a sense of internal oppression. Shelley gives us Justine and the monster to guide us through the Cycle of Oppression and fathom what it means to be an “other.”
Bystander effect, (Darley & Latane, 1970) refers to decrease in helping response when there are bystanders around relative to no bystanders. Referring to previous study stating that there are some cases of which group size may promote helping instead of hindering it (Fischer et al., 2011). Researchers then speculate the possibility of positive influences from bystanders by taking public self-awareness into consideration. Researchers proposed that high public self-awareness would reverse the bystander effect in this study with 2 independent variables which are bystander and presence on the forum. They are defined as number of bystanders (absent vs present) and salience of name (salient vs non-salient) respectively. 86 students are randomly assigned to one of the four conditions in the experiment. Response of participants in the online forum is the operational definition for the dependent variable of helping behavior. The result shows that number of response increases with respect to increase in bystanders when public self-awareness is enhanced by using accountability cue (Bommel et al., 2012). Participants were asked to rate how notable they were from their view afterwards as a manipulation check.
The inability to progress in society due to racial tension is an enormous historical issue minorities faced. Not only did it leave them without jobs or houses, but also with little sense of where they fit in with those held at a higher standard. In Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison describes the struggle of obtaining equality by showing how a discriminatory society causes a nondiscriminatory society to become blind to oppression. This is made possible when the more accepting community unknowingly begins to follow the deceitful actions of the more powerful, prejudiced group.