Oppression In The Palace Of Versailles

Populations can endure a lot from others and become used to it as Michel Foucault said “there are forms of oppression and domination which become invisible-the new normal”. As long as there is something that is offered to them in exchange for the oppression, many will be willing to go along and make the sacrifices necessary. Oppression is more than believing one person is less than another. It is using fear of acceptance and the loss of their own life against someone to get them to agree to something. This can be seen in during many points in history. In the Palace of Versailles, those who were oppressed financially were promised to be accepted into Louis XIV’s daily life. The Indigenous of Canada were promised education for their children in the residential schools, but they instead were forced to

assimilate to the Euro-Canadian culture.

And more recently, the people of New York and the world are now more prepared for an attack on public safety because of the terrorist attack on the World’s Trade Center. Each of these events sees people using tools against a group to become oppressed.

The expenses of Versailles created oppression on the people of France financially. Life at Versailles was designed to keep France above all of the other European powers by showing off their wealth. "As king of France [Louis XIV] was the embodiment of France — and his palace was meant to display the wealth and power of his nation" (Jarus, 2018). This meant that Versailles was as lavish as possible, Louis incorporated his father's small hunting lodge into the palace and added both a north and a south wing, along with nearby buildings that housed ministries. Versailles contained many gardens, statues,

and paintings. However, in order to pay for the many lavishes that Louis XIV desired, Louis XIV constantly raised the taxes. It wasn't only those who paid taxes that were affected by Versailles expensive nature. During Louis XIV many events it was seen as rude to not be dressed in something different at each event. It was also against the dress code of these events to not be wearing French maid clothes. This caused even the wealthiest of those at Versailles to become indebted to the King. It was almost impossible to repay what you had borrowed from the state because the high interest rates that was imposed. The reason that those at Versailles could not return to their lives before they joined the court was because they had sacrificed so much already to become a part of the King's daily life. To be a part of Louis XIV's life was to be strived for at Versailles and it was to be obtained no matter how much it costs. Therefore, Louis' plan to keep the poor poor and to stop the nobles from trying to overtake him by using their want to be included, oppressed the French population financially.
Residential schools in Canada used assimilation to oppress the indigenous people. From the late 19th century to the mid-twentieth century, Indigenous children were sent to "government-sponsored religious schools established to assimilate ... into Euro-Canadian culture" (Miller, 2018). These schools were created to educate and integrate these children into society so the indigenous communities could learn to be economically self-sufficient and could religiously convert to Christianity. Daily life at the schools consisted of a half-day of being in class and the other at work. Although it was thought that this schedule was to teach the kids skills to earn a living as an adult, the work they did help run the school with minimal expenses. The education they received did nothing to help them because it was only delivered in English or French; neither language was widely spoken by Indigenous people. Not only did the students face poor education, they also received poor meals, many of which were eaten quickly. To add to the low quality diet, clothing was also inadequate. Often ill-fitting and not suited for Canada's cold climates. To add to the misery, many kids were abused; ripped away from their families, separated from their sibling, and forbidden from speaking their first language. Florence Horassi and her brother were separated upon arrival to a residential school where her brother "was just holding onto [her] hand so tight. And then the priest came, and he told [her] he's got to go this way, and then the sister came over to [her], told [her] you got to go this way, but he wouldn't let go of [her] hand. They broke [their] hands apart like that." According to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, at least 3,200 Indigenous children died in the residential schools.The hardships these children faced were put in their lives to make them assimilate the Canadian society and eliminate the indigenous culture that they grew up with. By being so oppressive on such young children, their only choices were to follow along with what they were told or try and escape. But many of those who tries the latter risked their lives in the process. So the government’s attempt to oppress the indigenous community by suppressing the influence the culture had the their youth caused great distress in the children and community that they are still recovering from.
Acts of terrorism create fear among the public, which in turn create a sense of oppression. This is seen in the aftermath of the attack on the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001. A survey done a year after the attack found that “The level of public concern was significantly higher on all measures among New York City and Long Island residents (downstate) compared to the rest of the state” (Boscarino , 2018). During the attack, many were killed, “Either they would have been burned or smothered by smoke as the inferno swept through the building, or they would have been forced by the unbearable heat to jump, or else perished as the tower collapsed” (Cooper, 2002). Those who survive to tell of the horrors they endured during the almost 2 hours between the first plane and the second tower collapse. As we learned about the fear these people faced at the moment, the population of the world becomes fearful for their life on the daily. This is what the terrorists want, for the population to always be looking twice and on edge. This creates oppression because people can no longer enjoy their life as they want, many live it as if their live could be changed at any moment. But the terrorists not only create an overall oppressive, but those who have been affected by acts of terrorism and survived must completely change their lives because of how their experiences have affected them. Because of the fear and how people have changed their lives in the aftermath of the attack of the World’s Trade Center, an oppression was created by the terrorists.
The many different tools people use to create fear and oppression in the world is limitless. Oppression occurs in many forms such as a fear for acceptance, financially, loss of a culture, or fear for one’s own life. The world must realize that oppression happens and has been happening throughout history because of the many forms it take. Many times the oppression is not blatant and one sided, it often offers something in return or could make an empty promise.