Discrimination in The Island by Armin Greder Essay Example

In The Island Armin Greder characters are constructed to convey various ideas in relation human nature, othering, and discrimination. Through simple yet meaningful illustrations the text explains how discrimination can diminish one’s self-esteem and it explores human nature and group or mob mentalities. We also see in the text that not being open-minded and accepting can isolate a society and limit their growth and progress. The society living on The Island convey the idea that people tend to demonise people who are different and strange by creating stories and myths without understanding or communicating to the victim. Only because the stranger is different to them in some way. Then mob of men show how it is human nature to discriminate against groups or individuals that they pose as different or threatening in some way. However, in contrast to the mob the outsider shows the damaging experiences of victims of discrimination by conveying the idea that we need to be kind and open to people who are different.

The community on the Island conveys the idea that humans tend to portray individuals or groups as monsters by creating myths and legends about them without knowing the full story. It happens only because they are different. This happens on pages 19, and 20. On pages, 19 and 20, we see some illustrations pieces of text right. Each of these demonises the outsider. Firstly, we see a child looking down at his plate and in that plate is a murky image of the outsider. The mother says to her child, “He will come and eat you if you don’t finish your soup”. This warning is a direct allusion to Big Bad Wolf. It shows how people will demonise anyone and anything without knowing the full story. Finally, the teacher says that all the children and scared of the stranger, and this is quite ironic because the teacher was giving false advice to the student himself on the previous page by explaining that the outsider was a savage when the society was being savage to the outsider. Making him live in an old goat pen, giving him scraps of food, and not giving a job or a proper shelter. Therefore, the society living on the Island decide to demonise the outsider by using allusions to other folktales and teachers teaching students their views, not the full story.

Additionally, the mob of men represent the idea that it is human nature to discriminate against groups or individuals that they pose as different or threatening in some way. This is shown on pages 9 and 10 using the text. “They took him to the uninhabited part of the island, to a goat pen that had been empty for a long time.” This quote shows us how badly they villagers treat the man. They send him to an abandoned goat pen where there is no food or shelter, and trap him there like a prisoner. “The fisherman suggested that someone should give him a job so that he could earn his keep. ‘And’ he added quietly, ‘he would probably work for less pay than one of us.’”. This piece of dialogue on page 14 alludes to the black population of America where white people are more likely to get a job and higher pay. And this segregation is exactly what is happening in the picture book. The mob of men are discriminating against the outsider because he is different to them. It is shown when he is locked up in a goat pen with minimal food and no shelter, and when the outsider is given less pay. 

However, in contrast, the outsider conveys the idea that we need to be kinder and more open to people who are different than us, especially victims of discrimination. We see this on the very first page, the simplistic art shows how lonely the stranger is and the emphasis on the white proposes emptiness. He isn’t wearing any clothes which symbolises vulnerability and despair. Also, on pages 7 and 8 the man is being bullied and bossed by the villagers, as if he has no rights. On pages 13 and 14 the men are beating the outsider up without listening to what he has to say. They are yelling at him and telling him to go back to the goat pen. However, the fisherman convinces the people to let him have a job. On the next page we see all the residents reject the man. Rather than teaching the man how to sing or lift loads, everyone is rejecting him. This shows how discriminative the society is. Finally on pages 23 and 24 the man is being kicked out of the colony into the ocean. He will die there. This suffering makes the readers feel awful for the poor man. It shows how bad discrimination can be. It shows that we should be caring and more open to others. 

Moreover, in The Island characters are constructed to represent ideas using written and visual features. These ideas include that it is human nature to demonise people by forming false myths and legends about them. And, that humans tend to discriminate against groups or individuals that they pose as different. Also, we should be more open and nicer to people who are different to us. With these ideas together. Armin Greder conveys the effects of discrimination, both to an individual, and to a society.