Many historical events, acts of injustice, and moral dilemmas plagued the United States in the 1900s. During this era, the ruling social class held control over minority groups, and many ostracized members of society fought for equality. Some individuals employed the use of literature as a social commentary in their fight against injustice. “The Hanging of the Mouse,” by Elizabeth Bishop, “The One Who Walk Away from Omelas,” by Ursula Le Guin, and “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” by Martin Luther King evoke emotions and appeal to the society’s sense of justice. The stories portray the theme of injustice and criticize the moral life of the American society.
The writers employ different strategies to convey their ideas; however, each storyline relates to the concept of law and disorder and show connection in relation to characters, figures, and colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts. The writers employ the use of literary to express feelings and to reflect of happenings of a particular era. The written compositions are based on sufferings, and each storyline address the immoralities of society. In each work of literature, the author speaks about exploitation of the underprivileged.
In the story, “The Hanging of the Mouse,” the executioner is a raccoon. The author uses this animal to assume that role as raccoons, like executioners, have black masks. A praying mantis was in charge of the religious ceremonies, because prayer is linked to religion. The soldiers were large brown beetles because of their armor-like shells. The writer portrayed the mouse to be very remorseful of what he had done when the mouse hung his head and cried with sorrow as he was taken to the noose. In the third paragraph, the author states that during the mouse’s walk of shame, the animals in the crowd tipped their heads back and sniffed the air with pleasure (Barnet, Burto, & Cain, 2014). The author gives this description in the story because