When there is oppression, a form of injustice, in the world, what would be a better way to react? The two main ways people respond to systems of oppression are by being an upstander or a bystander. In William Bell’s Forbidden City, the government oppresses its citizens. Oppressors are people who oppress and favor one group of people above the other, and victims are the people being oppressed. Bystanders are people who do nothing as they see poeple being oppressed. An example would be the narrator from Maurice Ogden’s Hangman. On the other hand, upstanders stand up for the cause they believe in, like the French woman in the movie Pigeon.
Bystanders are people who stand by and do nothing as they see others being oppressed.