tain, it seems quite clear that as global warming,
overpopulation, and general environmental degrada-
tion continue, themes of nature will play increasingly
important roles not only in the literature we study
but also for the planet on which we live.
See also Atwood, Margaret: surFacinG;
Bradbury, Ray: Martian chronicLes, the;
Cather, Willa: My Ántonia; o pioneers!;
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor: “Rime of the
Ancient Mariner, The”; Crane, Stephen: open
boat, the; Dante Alighieri: divine coMedy,
the; Dickinson, Emily: poems; Dinesen, Isak:
out oF aFrica; Emerson, Ralph Waldo: “Self-
Reliance”; Forster, E. M.: rooM with a view,
a; Frost, Robert: poems; Harte, Bret: “Luck
of Roaring Camp, The”; Hemingway, Ernest:
oLd Man and the sea, the; Jefferson, Thomas:
notes on the state oF virGinia; Keats, John:
poems; Kingsolver, Barbara: bean trees, the;
Lewis, C. S.: Lion, the witch, and the ward-
robe, the; McCarthy, Cormac: aLL the pretty
horses; Shakespeare, William: MidsuMMer
niGht’s dreaM, a; Steinbeck, John: pearL,
the; red pony, the; Wilde, Oscar: picture oF
dorian Gray, the.
FURTHER READING
Anderson, Lorraine, Scott Slovic, and John P. O’Grady.
Literature and the Environment: A Reader on Nature
and Culture. New York: Longman, 1998.
Keegan, Bridget, and James M. McKuzick, eds. Litera-
ture and Nature: Four Centuries of Nature Writing.
Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2000.
David Visser
oppression
As a concept frequently found in historical and soci-
ological texts, oppression is typically defined in terms
of a dominant group subjugating another minority
group. In Race and Ethnic Relations (1985), Martin
N. Marger explains that a sociological minority and
a mathematical minority are not the same. Mathe-
matically, a group can be the majority and yet still be
victims of an oppression imposed by a more power-
ful yet numerically smaller dominant group. He goes
on to delineate the qualities of oppressed minorities
by detailing how they receive differential treatment,
as they are not afforded the same rights and privi-
leges as the dominant group. Additionally, Marger
notes that minority groups are socially denied, have
differential power, and are treated categorically (all
members are defined by group status as opposed to
individually) (37–38). Also, dominant groups can
be distinguished culturally, economically, and politi-
cally (41). With this diversity in mind, the theme of
oppression would include all of the “-isms” we have
come to identify with prejudice. It can be based on
race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, political or
national affiliation, age, physical or mental disability,
religion, and other factors.
In his authoritative The Pedagogy of the Oppressed
(1970), Paulo Friere identifies several characteristics
of oppressive societies. For example, oppressors
often refer to the oppressed in nonhuman terms.
Correspondingly, oppression is against the ideals
of humanity because it prevents people within the
oppressed group from being fully human (43). In
her article “Oppression,” Marilyn Frye expands on
this: “The experience of oppressed people is that the
living of one’s life is confined and shaped by forces
and barriers which are not accidental or occasional
and hence avoidable, but are systematically related
to each other in such a way as to catch one between
and among them and restrict or penalize motion
in any direction” (40). This definition helps bring
about a distinction between injustice and oppres-
sion. Whereas injustice can occur at any level, the
more specific concept of oppression involves a
systemic structure that shapes and restricts the life
of an oppressed population. In Privilege, Power,
and Difference, Allan G. Johnson describes the two
sides of the oppressive society as the privileged and
the oppressed. This terminology implies that the
members who are receiving the benefits of the soci-
etal structure may not be actively oppressive toward
others. Sometimes one is a member of a privileged
group without feeling particularly dominant. How-
ever, membership in the majority group opens doors
for members while membership in oppressed groups
tends to shut doors.
Interestingly, Friere asserts that the oppressed,
rather than standing up against all tyranny, often
become “sub-oppressors” against others within their
minority group (45). This can be seen in Alice76 oppression