Savagery in Oppression
Writer, George R. R. Martin once said, “There is a savage beast in every man and when you hand that man a sword or spear and send him forth to war, the beast stirs.”. In every person there is a dark void in them where savageness resides and when oppression joins savagery in the void, the brutality in anyone comes out. Although oppression may cause different reactions from people, for most it can cause savagery to emerge from even the best people leading to their ultimate self- destruction by leading them to kill, lose control, and destruct. When a once happy young maiden suddenly kills her husband in his sleep, what is the source of this dramatic act of savagery? ? In Susan Glaspell's short story, “A Jury of Her Peers”,
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It finds a way into each and every person no matter who they are and what they have been through. In “The Child by Tiger”, a short story by Thomas Wolfe, the author portrays a scorn man stuck in oppression finally snapping after holding it in for too long. The story takes place in a time of such extreme segregation that some people such children can’t even recognize the treatment. The story is centered around an African American man named Dick Prosser who was in the army and a great soldier. But his career could go nowhere because he was African American, he could not be a general no matter how great his aim was with a rifle. Instead after his discharge, Dick went and became the man servant in a prestigious white family, the Sheppertons in a small town. There he helped drive the around, cut wood, and anything else they needed. In the family, everyone loved him thinking he could do no wrong but outside, he was greeted with harsh treatment from even the most disrespected person in town, Lon Everett, the drunk who “swung viciously, clumsily, at the Negro, smashed him in the face” (p. 103) after crashing into Dick’s car. Lon Everett’s actions were followed by silence from everyone proving that even the most disgusting person in the town had a higher status than an African American in their society. The people were virtually completely ignorant to the way Dick was treated. The kids thought that Dick only “ …show more content…
Usually the thing possess what you once had, wish you had, or wanted to still have. In Graham Greene's short story, The Destructors, he projects how even the most innocent of people- children can become savage and and target to destruct because of oppression. The story centers around a young 12 year old boy named Trevor who was living in a post war depression. He wanted to fit in with the poor kids but "There was his name (and they substituted the initial because otherwise they had no excuse not to laugh at it), the fact that his father, a former architect and present clerk, had "come down in the world"." (pg. 1). Never could he truly fit in with them because of his background and this causes the oppression to rise in him. If it hadn’t been for the war, he wouldn't have to have been trying to get these boy to like him. He lost everything in the war and then it motivates him to try to get used to his new environment. One day he talks to the kids who are assembled together in the gang and say ""It's a beautiful house," and still watching the ground, meeting no one's eyes" (pg. 3). He plans to destroy the house until it no longer exists like his old life. As the gang sets out to completely eliminate the house, Trevor shows a different, dark side of him that states, "We are going to destroy this house. There won't be anything left when we're finished." (pg. 10). The
Dick assumed Grandison would never leave slavery by choice and if he would not leave, then Dick would never get the woman to marry him. This mentality led Dick to leave Grandison behind without any warning. Meanwhile, Grandison grew the mentality that he was trusted enough to get away with escaping the plantation with his family. Therefore, after Dick left Grandison behind, “Four weeks later, Grandison, tattered and worn out, appears back at the plantation, having escaped from freedom and seeking his former slave status. Colonel Owens thinks this is further vindication of the southern way of life and another indication that slaves prefer to remain as dependents of kindly masters” (Howard).
In the Axworthy Lecture, Cornel West discusses what it means to be human and have traits such as integrity, honesty, decency, and virtue, despite your humanity being rendered invisible. In America, the word justice has been altered to benefit the oppressor, rather than the oppressed. Incidentally, West states that in order to resolve justice, love needs to be implemented, publically, privately and tenderly within the system. Historically, American societies have imposed a form of “death” upon minorities, comprising of categories that include social, civic and spiritual assassination. Furthermore, West suggests that the identity of the oppressed is not defined by their features, but by the scars they have inherited.
“You’re only a man! You’ve not our gifts! I can tell you! Why, a woman can think of a hundred different things at once, all them contradictory! —Georgette Heyer.
In Truman Capote’s “In Cold Blood,” Dick and Perry have murdered the Clutter family and are on their way to Mexico. In this passage, Dick makes an astounding statement. In the passage, Dick claims that he’s “a normal” but that is far from the truth. He is a conniving, manipulative son of a bitch who thinks he’s normal in comparison to Perry.
He sees African American youths finding the points of confinement put on them by a supremacist society at the exact instant when they are finding their capacities. The narrator talks about his association with his more youthful sibling, Sonny. That relationship has traveled
Abuse is a way of controlling someone. Minnie Wright was not always a quiet women. She used to be beautiful; she used to sing. She used to be happy. Minnie Wright, in Susan Glaspell’s
In the midst of all of this he finds a balance by focusing on what really matters. At the same time this keeps him focused on his main goal which is education. Education will be his family's way out of poverty. Through seeing his younger brother that is unemployed and will be having a child soon he looks beyond this and is genuinely proud of where he comes from. He realizes how strong his family is when he seems them fighting through poverty and making things.
He is portrayed as a mastermind in the cold-blooded killing of the Clutters family, a man with little respect for the lives of others, which can be seen through Dick’s expression before the murder of the Clutters when he converses Perry, “We’re gonna go in there and splatter those walls with hair” (Capote 234). This sudden tone shift enables Capote to depict Dick as a cruel and immoral character. Dick’s lack of empathy and concern for other people beside himself allow him to commit crimes without remorse, which is in contrast to Perry’s moral contemplation after each bad actions they committed. Moreover, Dick is represented as the true criminal with evident motives in murdering the Clutters, while Perry is seen as a vulnerable victim who depends on Dick for validation and acceptance, something in which Dick happily provides in order to manipulate Perry, as Capote writes, “Dick became convinced that Perry was that rarity, ‘a natural born killer,’—absolutely sane but conscienceless, and capable of dealing with or without motive, the coldest-blooded deathblows. It was Dick's theory that such a gift could, under his supervision, be profitably exploited” (Capote 205).
Dick did not have any second thoughts about the murder. He had firmly wanted to walk-in and kill the Clutter family despite their innocence. Dick viewed the Clutters’ as an opportunity that was going to make him rich. There was not any
Him and his gang would do all sorts of Relates to the prompt because: he joined the gang so he didn’t feel lonely. By him joining the gang, his future was destroyed. An example about when my cousin lived in Colombia, she grew up in the middle/poor class. Many of the women there were prostitutes. They were very beautiful, had money, didn’t need an education.
He doesn’t fit into their society and has no way of knowing how to fit in. He has no companion, except his mom, and was prone to anger and indiscriminate violence.
The revolutionary Civil Rights leader, Martin Luther King Jr, once described discrimination as “a hellbound that gnaws at Negroes in every waking moment of their lives to remind them that the lie of their inferiority is accepted as truth in the society dominating them.” His point being that African Americans face racial discrimination on a daily basis. Brent Staples, being an African American living in America, expresses his view on the subject in his essay “Just Walk on By”, where he conveys the message of how fear is influenced by society's stereotypical and discriminating views of certain groups of people; his point is made clear through his sympathetic persona, descriptive diction, depressing tone, and many analogies. Staples sympathetic persona helps the reader feel and understand the racial problems that he experiences daily.
Trevor planned to destroy Old Misery’s house. It was implied as if the gang would do childish things in the house. When destruction started it began with childish stuff like destroying vases and china. As it progressed the destruction became worse and worse. The story states, “We’ve hardly started,” T. said.
First of all, the structure of the house, known as the “Old Misery’s,” represents the past glory of England. The elaborateness of the house is symbolic of the old class structure. Trevor, or T., describes the house to be “beautiful,” and this word worries Blackie, the initial leader of the gang, because it “[belongs] to a class world” (90). To the new generation, the class structure is an unpleasant remnant of the past.
In the play Trifles, Susan Glaspell demonstrates the injustice towards women and their very basic fundamental rights, this brings the patience of a few women to a tipping point and initiates the birth of a buried movement after centuries of reticence, during the early twentieth century in North America. It is this common memory and experiences among women, which motivated few women to rise up against the male dominated Justice System, which eventually wakes up the rest of the women in the society through time. However, ironically, this movement is accomplished in a secret way and in silence against the male dominated justice system of America, because silence itself is a very powerful tool for women; in other words concealing of knowledge helps