Response To Oppression In 19th Century American Literature

Amina Mesic
Dr. Tuthill, Maureen
ENG 238
Final Exam, Part 2
12th December 2014
Response to Oppression in 19th Century American Literature
Every single day some people face discrimination, cruelty and unfairness. The oppressive systems and even more oppressive social norms constantly put burden on so many groups who sometimes do not have a choice or are not strong enough to fight against the grievance of the time and environment they live in. Throughout history, these groups needed strong, inspired, influential individuals to set an example, to encourage and motivate the resistance. These individuals left a mark through their works awakening the rebellious spirit in those who suffered the cruelty of the oppressive systems. The writers who marked
Both strongly support the revolution, the complete abolishment of the government that rules viciously. In “Civil Disobedience”, Thoreau points out that the government should not exist to intrude upon our lives or to misuse the power given to it. Rather, it should ensure that everybody is treated equally, that everybody has the same right on freedom. He encourages the civil society to rebel reminding it on the right of revolution. He believes that the citizens need to act in order to change the oppressive rule and abolish the government that lacks the moral principles, fairness and justice saying how: “…when a sixth of population of a nation which has undertaken to be the refuge of liberty are slaves, and a whole country is unjustly overrun and conquered by a foreign army, and subjected to military law, I think that is not too soon for honest men to rebel and revolutionize” (1859). Douglass similarly suggests and encourages the rebellion in “The Heroic Slave”. He shows the world that the opposition is important and can bring the prominent results. The slaves in the story fought for their freedom and their escape symbolizes the importance and effectiveness of being actively engaged in fight for freedom and a fair
In her poem 320, Dickinson seems to rather see the oppression as a positive intrusion into people’s life teaching us what we cannot learn any other way. She seems to suggest that we need to embrace the oppression as it gives us “Heavenly Hurt” while not leaving any scars. Dickinson compares the oppression with a “Slant of light” (2567) and “the Heft Of Cathedral Tunes” (2567). This way she implies that even though it might put some “weight” on us, the oppression is uplifting, good for us. From the first stance due to the comparison with the “Heft of Cathedral Tunes” (2567) we could assume that Dickinson is talking about the religion, the divine ruler being a form of oppression that we need to obey to, that is so important and powerful that “when it comes, the Landscape listens” (2567) and “’Shadows-hold their breath” (2567). Dickinson’s perception of oppression and her view that the individual should embrace it rather than oppose and fight against is evidently different from the views and positions of the other three writers who strongly reject the embracement of any kind of