This unit has been a study of the Nature of the Oppressed through literature. Their nature has been revealed to be varied and interesting. But while reading Virginia Woolf's essay, "A Room of One's Own", a question occurred to me-- for there to be a group of "oppressed" will there always be a group of oppressors? For one to be superior, must they make another inferior? This leads to an even broader question.
What is the nature of oppression?
In the case of sexism, all that is discussed in Woolf's essay reveals there is certainty that supposed male "superiority" comes at the expense of making women feel inferior. Not just inferior individually, but inferior as an entire gender. The result is systematic sexism that inhibits art and freedom, as Woolf exemplifies.
However, that is just the case in sexism. In sexism, yes, the oppressed have oppressors. My question remains though-- is this always the case?
I have reason to believe it is not.
Recently, my friend Jen took my recommendation and read my favorite book, The Giver by Lois Lowry. When she finished it, we discussed our favorite parts, and our thoughts on the ending. With my mind refreshed on the plot of my favorite novel I had a stark realization of the connection it has with this unit, and with the nature of oppression itself.
In The Giver, a dystopian society has eliminated all strong feelings, emotions, and even sexual urges. As a result, there is no hate, and there are no wars. But, additionally, there are no family ties, there is no passion or love. Every member of the society, from doctors to government officials, takes the medication that extinguishes emotions. Only two individuals feel pain, love, passion, and grief. They are the Giver and the Receiver. The Giver holds every memory of the past in his mind. What the world was like before feelings were eradicated. And when the Giver gets older, it is their duty to pass on these memories to the next generation, the Receiver.
When Jonas, the main character and the current Receiver, begins fully grasping stronger feelings, and love, he begins to realize the extent of the emotional oppression he had been facing-- and that everyone in his society continues facing, without even knowing what their lives are missing.
And, talking to Jen about the book, it hit me. In the case of the society in The Giver, there was no "oppressor", there was only the oppressed, because everyone was oppressed. This situation of oppression without an active human oppressor exists in fiction, and it is my belief it can occur, somehow, in real life as well.
