Throughout human history, oppression has been the cause for great uprisings, change, growth, and evolvement. Through recordings of both fictional and nonfictional experiences times of oppression can be analyzed for similar patterns and sequences of events that ultimately lead to the denouncement of the oppression. In Geraldine Brooks Year of Wonders, Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees, and Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games, each civilization or fraction of the civilization is under some configuration of oppression which alters the main characters lives drastically. Anna, the main character and narrator in the Year of Wonders, has been devastated by the plague as it took all of her family and close friends away from her, causing first isolation
…show more content…
As part of human instinct is to rely on others full humanity cannot be reached through complete isolation or individualism which each character experiments with throughout each novel. In the Year of Wonders Anna lost her entire family to the plague and shortly after the death of her last son she fell into a state of isolation, she states “it was as if a deep fog had settled on me and everything around me, and I groped my way from one chore to the next without really seeing anything clearly” (Brooks 86). During Anna’s time of isolation, as demonstrated by this quote, she merely survived and contributed very little to society therefore, allowing for no advancements or a full and functional society to be established. During times of oppression people can often fall into a similar states in the beginning of their journey for liberation before they come to the realization that they cannot go on forever in isolation. Once this realization has taken place it is then that the importance of fellowship and solidarity becomes clear. During the games in Suzanne Collins novel Katniss originally is isolated and focused solely on proving and keeping herself alive however, after she began to loose hope she turned to Rue, another tribute who reached out and saved her life, for fellowship. Katniss declares “Rue has decided to trust me wholeheartedly. I know this because as soon as the anthem finished she snuggles up against me and falls asleep” (Collins 208). Through the struggle for survival the two girls build a strong bond which provides each of them with a reason to persevere through the oppression they are being held in. This even continues as Rue is dying as their last conversation consist of “‘You have to win,’ she says, ‘I’m going to. Going to win for both of us now’” (Collins 233). The fellowship established in a time of
As part of human instinct is to rely on others full humanity cannot be reached through complete isolation or individualism which each character experiments with throughout each novel. In the Year of Wonders Anna lost her entire family to the plague and shortly after the death of her last son she fell into a state of isolation, she states “it was as if a deep fog had settled on me and everything around me, and I groped my way from one chore to the next without really seeing anything clearly” (Brooks 86). During Anna’s time of isolation, as demonstrated by this quote, she merely survived and contributed very little to society therefore, allowing for no advancements or a full and functional society to be established. During times of oppression people can often fall into a similar states in the beginning of their journey for liberation before they come to the realization that they cannot go on forever in isolation. Once this realization has taken place it is then that the importance of fellowship and solidarity becomes clear. During the games in Suzanne Collins novel Katniss originally is isolated and focused solely on proving and keeping herself alive however, after she began to loose hope she turned to Rue, another tribute who reached out and saved her life, for fellowship. Katniss declares “Rue has decided to trust me wholeheartedly. I know this because as soon as the anthem finished she snuggles up against me and falls asleep” (Collins 208). Through the struggle for survival the two girls build a strong bond which provides each of them with a reason to persevere through the oppression they are being held in. This even continues as Rue is dying as their last conversation consist of “‘You have to win,’ she says, ‘I’m going to. Going to win for both of us now’” (Collins 233). The fellowship established in a time of