Conversation Between Four Authors
Samantha Meyer
Dr. Skebe
Introduction to Analytical Writing
October 21, 2011
Conversation Between Four Authors
A word may have a meaning in the dictionary but the way people look at something and perceive it can always be different. Oppression simply means authority or a group more powerful exercising burdensome, cruelty, and unjust manner on someone or a group of lower standing. The group or person doesn’t even have to necessarily be of lower standing it is just what the oppressor believes. The authors Gloria Anzaldua, Primo Levi, Crystos, and Franz Kafka all talk about oppression in their writings in similar and different ways. In all four writings oppression is a main topic and theme. Anzaldua, in “Borderlands” and Levi, in “On the Bottom” and also in “I walk in the history of my people” by Chrystos, all show that oppression is something that is cruel and experienced by minorities. Anzaldua explains she is oppressed for being a women, Mexican, and lesbian. Levi shows how the Jewish people and other prisoners were oppressed in the Holocaust at the camp in Auschwitz. Chrystos shows how the Native Americans had their land taken away, were tortured and killed my the white race who thought they were superior. The Native American children were taken and put into government schools that oppressed the children. In all of the writings you see oppression on gender, religion, race, ethnicity, and homosexuality. All of these would be examples of minorities. In “Before the Law” by Kafka, the countryman experiences oppression from the doorkeeper. Even though these are made up characters and not real minorities in the world it still shows oppression through out the story. The countryman wants to get through the gate but the doorkeeper will not let him. The countryman stays there all his life without ever fighting the doorkeeper to let him in, and ends up dying in front of the gate. Even though oppression may not be the purpose or their writings oppression is a topic seen
Dr. Skebe
Introduction to Analytical Writing
October 21, 2011
Conversation Between Four Authors
A word may have a meaning in the dictionary but the way people look at something and perceive it can always be different. Oppression simply means authority or a group more powerful exercising burdensome, cruelty, and unjust manner on someone or a group of lower standing. The group or person doesn’t even have to necessarily be of lower standing it is just what the oppressor believes. The authors Gloria Anzaldua, Primo Levi, Crystos, and Franz Kafka all talk about oppression in their writings in similar and different ways. In all four writings oppression is a main topic and theme. Anzaldua, in “Borderlands” and Levi, in “On the Bottom” and also in “I walk in the history of my people” by Chrystos, all show that oppression is something that is cruel and experienced by minorities. Anzaldua explains she is oppressed for being a women, Mexican, and lesbian. Levi shows how the Jewish people and other prisoners were oppressed in the Holocaust at the camp in Auschwitz. Chrystos shows how the Native Americans had their land taken away, were tortured and killed my the white race who thought they were superior. The Native American children were taken and put into government schools that oppressed the children. In all of the writings you see oppression on gender, religion, race, ethnicity, and homosexuality. All of these would be examples of minorities. In “Before the Law” by Kafka, the countryman experiences oppression from the doorkeeper. Even though these are made up characters and not real minorities in the world it still shows oppression through out the story. The countryman wants to get through the gate but the doorkeeper will not let him. The countryman stays there all his life without ever fighting the doorkeeper to let him in, and ends up dying in front of the gate. Even though oppression may not be the purpose or their writings oppression is a topic seen