The Mind Manager
Mental oppression leaves scars that may not be visible but they are very real and can cause more damage than physical abuse. It makes the victim change and become the submissive person their dictator wants them to be. The oppressor can be a single person or it could be an entire group. Either way the results are devastating. Mental oppression is something that will never disappear. It is everywhere, we read it, watch it, listen to it and live it. Oppression is part of the world in which we live. It is defined as prolonged cruel or unjust treatment or control. Oppression can be physical or mental. Physical cuts and bruises heal overtime. Mental oppression is the worst form of oppression.
A person physically oppressed, may be held down and controlled while under their oppressor’s control. People who are kidnapped for example and tied up are subjected to physical abuse. Once the ropes and chains are broken, the person is no longer held, they are free to go. Mental oppression goes on forever, its embedded into the mind. Mental oppression is hard to overcome. It causes the victim to conform. Research has proven the oppressor searches for a vulnerable victim. “It has been noted before by sociologists, for example, Jerry D. Rose (1969,D.L. Thomas,D.D. Frank, and J.M. Calonica(1972), whose research has suggested that lower status people are sensitizes to the response of the dominant group or person and more adept at taking the role of the particular other, thus gaining that perspective and seeing themselves as they are seen”(Wolf 228). The victim believes their abuser because the treatment is repeated over and over again. Oppression is a form of bulling. "Regardless of one's age, bullying can take a tremendous hit to a person's mental health, and some bullying survivors can carry the experience into adulthood," says Gary Henschen, M.D., chief medical officer for behavioral health at Magellan. "Victims are more likely to suffer from anxiety disorders and depression, and these disorders can also cause difficulties with the victims' family, friends and co-workers in their future” (Recognizing and Overcoming the Mental Health Effects of Being a Bullying Victim).
In the short story The Yellow Wallpaper the woman is mentally oppressed by her husband. The woman’s passion is writing. Her husband has her believing she is too ill to write, and she believes him. He has her under 24/7 surveillance. While he is at work, his sister is there to watch the woman. “There comes John’s sister. Such a dear girl as she is, and so careful of me! I must not let her find me writing” (Gilman 318). The woman has it embedded in her mind that she is very ill. By controlling her mind, the husband has caused his wife to start hallucinating. She believes there is a woman stuck in the yellow wallpaper trying to escape and she has to help her. She describes the woman she believes she sees “The front pattern does move-and no wonder! The woman behind shakes it!” (Gilman 325). She eventully rips down all the wallpaper to help the woman inside escape. Under her husband’s control the woman mind is rapidly going downhill. The husband John is not physically abusive but his wife is mentally losing it from his cruel seclusion treatment. This story shows the reader how unjust cruel treatment causes this woman mental harm. Sometimes mental oppression could be caused by a group as opposed to one person.
In the short story Woman of Color, the woman is cruelly oppressed by society. In her town the lighter your skin tone the higher valued you are. Moving to America people make her feel different. Society oppresses people due to their appearance. “People of color were treated as if they were inferior, prone to violence, uneducated, untrustworthy, lazy-all the “bad” adjectives we were learning in our new language” (Alvarez 187). This mental oppression went on all through this woman’s childhood. Her parents did try to shield her and her siblings from this damaging treatment even sending them to boarding school. It was too late the information was already received by the young girl’s mind. The abuse had shaped her and still disturbed her into her adulthood. “Suddenly, my foreignness was being celebrated. This reversal felt affirming but also disturbing” (Alvarez 187). The woman finally was being treated fairly, but the abuse she received as a child was embedded in her mind.
In the movie The Lion King Simba falls victim to mental oppression by his uncle Scar. The movie is a cartoon movie but the message is clear. The unjust treatment causes Simba to run away from the only life he knows. He is young and naïve, his mean uncle takes full advantage of the situation. Simba is manipulated and told he is responsible for his father’s death. His Uncle Scar said “Run away Simba far far away, and never return”(The Lion King). Simba is a victim of his Uncle Scar’s evil control. Simba is very vulnerable after just losing his Dad. Scar is a bully and mentally oppressors Simba. Simba misses out on the rest of his young life with his Mom who loves him and the rest of his community. Simba grows up but still believes he can never go back to his pride because the group will never forgive him for killing his father Mufasa, the king.
Oppression is a horrible thing. Mental oppression is everlasting and much worse than physical oppression. Physical oppression is terrible but mental oppression can never be erased the damage causes emotional damage. As long the world turns mental oppression will unfortunately exist. Physical abuse can heal with time; but the mind is molded by mental abuse. The victim can get better but the mental wounds will always be there. The quote by Steven Biko sums up Mental oppression “The most potent weapon of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.
No comments:
Post a Comment