by Mohammed Lodhi Hussain
Children and Minorities are frequently ostracized, silenced or repressed due to their convictions. This semester we tackled many instances of discrimination grounded in personal ideology. Societies objective has shifted to limit the sphere of influence for the minority voice. Children in the Welfare System struggle with being Accepted. They have become disenfranchised from the community and marginalized in their rights in the community. In the Lost Children of Wilder: The Epic Struggle to change Foster Care by Nina Bernstein and All My Sons by Arthur Miller we observe the protagonists struggle to find their place in society. In pursuit of identifying their place, they seek to elevate themselves from the accepted societal barriers plaguing their history.
When we discuss individualism we must be ready to garner time to address the necessity of society. Many individuals claim their independence, but how many are truly free. Society developed due to the common needs of commerce, and safety of the people in a small area. Social contracts formed to establish order, in a chaotic environment. Laws were created to reprimand, and government was formed to enforce them. What has occurred in western civilizations that there is removal of individual benefit and sincerity, towards a over-arching national benefit.
In the Lost Children of Wilder, Shirley Wilder, our protagonist, is being marginalized in by the Child Welfare System by assimilated bias that were created to limit her decision making power, thereby constricting her from enacting her undeniable rights of freedom. By institutionalizing divisions and encouraging domestic disputes that would take up an individual’s valued time, we see how personal ideologies can affect the rights of others. Because Shirley Wilder was not of a certain class or ethnic group ,she was hindered with obstacles and traps that others benefiting from the system never had to face.
In All My Sons by Arthur Miller we observe Joe Keller, the distraught father, who struggles with his duties for his family and his responsibility for the nation. In his pursuit to provide for his family he places his country and their soldiers in danger. His pursuit to perform as the father figure, led him to accumulate wealth without considering the danger he might place another families child into. The author wants the audience to comprehend the morality of individualism. When individuals in a society do alone for themselves and how a society as a whole can push that notion further, especially when moral convictions are challenged. Joe’s persona is indicative of the climate of the nation. He is capitalizing on the death of others. That seems to be the role of capitalism in our social framework. Individual wealth supercedes the rights of others. “There’s nothin’ he could do that I wouldn’t forgive. Because he’s my son …I’m his father and he’s my son, and if there’s something bigger than that I’ll put a bullet in my head!”[i] Here we see a father who is willing to remove all accepted societal constraints for the benefit of his children. At face value it might be considered a profound characteristic, however on closer inspection we see that he is promoting nationalistic ideals that seek to deny safety and rights of the community on the grounds of individuals pursuit.
Many civilizations have been sequestered by the political ideology of a nation. A goal that seeks to disenfranchised native people for the personal benefits, native Americans continue to struggle with these issues. Native Americans have been silenced by the euro centric beliefs of the modern western culture. They have been limited in their influence in American society and have been treated as second-class citizens. They suffer the highest rate per ethnic group in America for alcoholism and depression. The struggle with the notions of identity because they do not if they belong to this nation or have been herded into areas for their people. It seems society always seeks to limit new influence s upon its community and by doing so maintain some sort of order and control. “ The Ultimate goal, Walker explained, was the eventual assimilation of Indians. On the reservations, the government would subject them to a rigid reformatory discipline… Not allowed to escape work, they would be required to acquire industrial skills until at least one generation had been placed on a course of self-improvement.”[ii] (pg233)
In the American Political Party System we observe parties perpetuating draconian ideas even amidst an evolving ideological nation. Political Elitism has replaced the notion of equality. Individuals who are against rigid autocratic leadership are hindered by the policies instituted by the influential parties, Therefore limiting new groups from entering the arena.
Whether it is children, Native Americans, or political systems their commonalities are profound, they all struggle with a notion of acceptance and identity. We have created an interwoven network of dependency of personal growth by the praise we carry from society. It seems perplexing that people will equate values against a system that seeks to disavow the innate importance every sentient being. These literature pieces states the degradation of our societal constructs. Many are not content with the current state of our global relations, ignorance has replaced intelligence, and paranoia feeds the pandemonium.
Biblography
[i] All MY Sons “(p.163; p.73)
[ii] The Indian Question From Reservation to Reorganization by Ron Tockie
http://faculty.deanza.fhda.edu/corderojuanita/stories/storyReader$82