Master Blog - Oppression, Chaos, Order

 Since the earliest of human beginnings, oppression in some form has existed, as a hierarchical society with leaders almost always has an inherent imbalance of power. Through The Lord of the Flies, Indian Education, and How to be an Antiracist, the authors show and suggest that social order and chaos are governed by oppression, which is evident through the various interactions people have with each other and themselves.

Oppression within society is often hierarchical and characterized by the imbalance of power. Within The Lord of the Flies, this is demonstrated with Jack. While Ralph draws his power from the support of the people, Jack leads with tyrannical power through intimidation and threats. Jack routinely devalues the opinions and thoughts of others, elevating himself. For example, in The Lord of the Flies, as the symbol of intelligence and reason, Piggy is routinely ignored and mistreated by Jack; “You’re always scared. Yah - Fatty!” As Piggy feels self conscious about his size, this is a point that Jack routinely attacks. With the emphasis Golding places on the physical attribute of Piggy (overweight, asthma, poor eyesight) compared to the physical attributes of Jack (blonde, fit), Golding draws an allegory to the interactions of these two classes within society. Jack is what is conceived as desirable within society, while Piggy is undesirable. As the book progresses, Jack routine deprecation of Piggy’s ideas make Piggy less prone to speak. If we take a step back from this situation and imagined this society without an external oppressive force, represented by Jack, regularly silencing or ignoring the suggestions and ideas of the unheard, represented by Piggy, the society that they functioned in would shift a lot more toward equilibrium and equal distribution of power. This movement toward overall societal chaos is facilitated by the oppressive interactions between different classes and shows the tight correlations it has with a harmonious society. Aside from The Lord of the Flies, this idea of oppresion’s role in society and chaos is not alone in literature. Indian Education shows a similar idea. Although told in a different format, the author (coming from the perspective of the oppressed) faces a lot of external adversity as well. Portrayed clearly in his interaction with his missionary teacher, her clear disrespect and almost contempt for his culture makes him question his identity and role in his community from a young age. Later, when his art is being censored, he shows the long lasting effects of lifelong racism on him, saying that he, “...waited for the punishment to end. I’m still waiting.” The perpetual effects of these forms of oppression manifest themselves in bitterness within the author, as he is not always the kindest in his interactions with others, particularly with the white girl’s struggle with anorexia. In these exchanges, interlaced with traces of hostility, the relational strain and tension are clearly seen. This tense relationship and cyclical environment of oppression leads and places many of the author’s counterparts on the path of eternal chaos. They graduate without being able to read and regularly go to taverns. As a result of this oppression, the community the author is born and raised in lacks societal order and its adverse effects rebound on society as a whole, by furthering the institutionalized racism that many choose to ignore.

A similar idea is also present as Golding and Kendi present the role of internal and interpersonal oppression within society. In The Lord of the Flies, Simon often feels the need to silence himself and his thoughts instead of sharing, although he is the first to recognize that the “beast” is really the internal evil of themselves. His clarity of thought and intelligence are inadequately suppressed and prematurely cut off, by himself. Shown particularly clearly in his hallucination of the Lord of the Flies, we see that Simon oppresses his own thoughts and ideas and has internalized the disregard society holds for people like him. He devalues himself and his worth, and hurts himself and others, as the lack of his opinion leaves them unenlightened. In the same way, Kendi shows this as well. Through excerpts of his past speech, we see that he has taken the influences of society to heart, and now exerts these ideas among his community. His oppression of his own people and clear belief of his own racist ideas show that beyond external forces, intercommunity and internalized ideas also tip the balance of societal order toward chaos.

Literature and the real human events from which it was based have shown that oppression tips the social order of a society towards chaos and digression. Whether through external forces of oppression that silence the unheard or censorship and racism that affects a lifetime, to internal devaluing and rebounding oppression towards one’s own community, the negative shift that these forces exert are painstakingly clear. Harmony to dissonance. Order to chaos.