Blog 3

Over the course of history many people have fought for what they thought was right, and fought for what they thought would make a difference. Martin Luther King once said “Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.” He is stating that if one wants to gain there freedom it is not going to be handed over by the oppressor, it must be demanded and fought for by the oppressed. This is directly tied to MLK’s civil rights movement during the 1960’s, he lead African Americans to demand their freedoms from the oppressor. In “The Yellow Wall Paper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman the main character (narrator) suffers from temporary nervous depression and is moved into a mansion over three months with her husband. Her husband also being her physician thinks he knows what is best for her and tells her what to do constantly being the oppressor. During this time period women did not have many rights as the men ran the world and controlled what they did. She doesn’t want john to know of her writings for he may further think she is mentally unstable “I believe John is beginning to notice, I don’t like looking into his eyes.” (Gilman 326). She is very secretive about her obsession with the wallpaper and her writings. She asks john to change the room or tear down the paper but he refuses which symbolically denies her of freedom from the room. She ultimately take her own freedom when she tears down the wallpaper when john is not home and when he sees what she has done he faints, she walks over his body showing that she has gotten her freedom and overcame the oppressor. Chuck Palahniuk shows oppression in the movie Fight Club when the main character is oppressed by him having schizophrenia so himself rules him. Throughout the movie he continues to try to treat his insomnia by going to different seminars so he can sleep at night but what he doesn’t realize is when he “sleeps” at night he becomes a completely different person and in time befriends his alter ego (Tyler Durden) but on the outside he is talking to himself. Finally when he realizes that Tyler is in fact himself Tyler attempts to take over his body, in failed attempts to get rid of him he takes his freedom from himself by force by shooting himself and killing Tyler ultimately.