Essay on Oppression, Citing to Kill a Mockingbird and Night.

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Oppression has existed since humans came into existence, and perhaps even before. Since then, the strong have preyed on the weak simply because the weaker party was different and the stronger party could get away with it. Though oppression comes in many forms, the most prominent ones people see today are racial, religious, gender-based, and sexual orientation based. Oppression, as defined by Webster’s Dictionary, is “unjust or cruel exercise of authority or power”. The most prominent examples of modern oppression include the Holocaust, in which the Nazi party in Germany killed nearly six million Jewish people, and slavery in the United States, where African Americans were considered property and not people. There are many other examples of oppression worldwide, even happening today, but these two examples hit closest to home for Americans. One thing many have noticed is that when people look back on oppression, they see how horrible it is, yet when it occurs in their time and they partake in it, they see no issue, and in many cases are not even aware it is oppression. There are numerous sources to find information on oppression, more specifically oppression based on a person’s sexual orientation. These sources include Student Resources In Context, Opposing Viewpoints In Context, Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, The Huffington Post’s website, and Elie Wiesel’s Night. Although it will be difficult, humans must stop oppressing the weak simply because they are different and the oppressors can get away with it. The book To Kill a Mockingbird is a wonderful source for examples of oppression, since it is based off the narrator’s childhood. Even though the book has numerous themes throughout it, the primary one to be seen is good versus evil. Good being the people fighting racism and racial oppression, the evil being most of the town, who are racist and work to
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