The Exploration of Marginalized Voices in Literature Essay Example

The world has experienced struggles with the oppression of minority groups since the dawn of time. The books Lord of the Flies, Little Fires Everywhere, Night, and Persepolis explore the different ways in which people’s voices are marginalized. Whether it is because of their class, age, or belief, all of these novels examine what is essentially the silencing of minority groups at the hands of a popular leader or group. On both a small and large scale, society seems to listen to well-supported people instead of those who may be in the right. In the stories of Lord of the Flies, Little Fires Everywhere, Night, and Persepolis, readers can see voices marginalized when people are disregarded due to a biased belief because of their social class, history, beliefs, or age before they have a chance to tell their story. 

Social classes have significant power when determining whose voices are heard and whose are marginalized, which can be seen through the works of Little Fires Everywhere and Persepolis. In Celeste Ng’s, Little Fires Everywhere, the town of Shaker Heights was built to draw attention to the rich and hide the less privileged. Vulnerable people are tucked away from public view and don’t have a lot of say in important town matters. In the center of this novel, a custody battle unfolds regarding the care of the baby May Ling Chow or Mirabelle McCullough, depending on whose side you’re on. Many people in Shaker Heights believe the baby should be cared for by her wealthy adoptive parents, the McCulloughs, but on the other side of the debate is her birth mother, Bebe Chow. Bebe’s past has not been an easy one, yet all she wants is to provide for her baby. Despite her tragic story, most of the town sides with the McCulloughs because they believe their wealth and popularity will provide a better life for the baby. It also becomes apparent that the news doesn’t have the same respect for Bebe as they do for McCulloughs and are overly focused on exploiting her story for profit. Even though Bebe was represented by a lawyer, she was still treated with disdain by the community since she was perceived as hopeless and waging an uphill battle. This causes the town to side with the McCulloughs in the battle because they are only hearing the inflated version of Bebe’s story that the news is providing. Bebe’s situation shows a voice being disparaged just because she is vulnerable and lacks resources.  

The influence of social classes can also be seen in Iranian culture in Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis. Satrapi grew up with a maid, named Mehri, who fell in love with their neighbor. Once Satrapi’s father hears about this budding romance he explains to Mehri that it is forbidden and that, “in this country you must stay within your own social class” (37). The freedom to socialize or love those in another class was frowned upon in Iran. This system silenced Mehri’s right to expression due to her social standings. Another example of the lower social classes being exploited in Persepolis is displayed when the poor children were given keys before being sent into war. They were told the keys would open the gates of heaven, and that they were much better off there since their lower class lives didn’t amount to anything (99). This grouped together all of the poor teenagers and marginalized their ability to speak out about their cruel fate. This marginalization was possible because the people of Iran didn’t think it was important to listen to those of poorer social standings purely because of a biased belief that stemmed from hate. 

In addition, oppressors marginalized the voices of minorities by taking away their art to diminish their voices, thus erasing their past. This is evident in the memoir Night by Elie Wiesel, which examines his time in Auschwitz, a German concentration camp. In the book, one of the Jewish prisoners, Juliek, managed to keep his violin while in the camp but was restricted to only playing certain music. Jewish people were banned from playing German music because they weren’t considered to be pure Germans, so he wasn’t allowed to play music composed by Beethoven. Yet, as an act of defiance, Juliek played Beethoven's Violin Concerto as his last act before death (95). The very fact that he wasn’t allowed to play the songs of his home shows how his ability to express himself was diminished by the Nazi forces. He did this because he was trying to show his resistance to the German soldiers and express the idea that his history and culture could not be taken away just because he was Jewish. 

We also see the removal of art in the supplementary resource of Woman in Gold. In this movie, the main character, Maria Altmann, is fighting to get ownership of artwork that was taken from her family during a Nazi raid in World War II. The Nazis took all of her family’s valuables to further degrade them by robbing them of their past. Still, Maria refused to have her family and history erased and entered a court battle to try and regain her property. Maria explains that this is a personal issue for her because, “When people see the famous portrait, they see a masterpiece by one of Austria's finest artists. But, I see a picture of my Aunt”. By explaining her ties to the situation, Maria helped create a story that others could empathize with and support, which is very important when fighting against marginalization. The idea behind marginalizing voices is to take an individual's personal experiences away and diminish them to a minority, so by putting her narrative back into history, Maria stands up to the collective issue of silencing the vulnerable.

Another reason people's voices are silenced is because of the false notion that adolescents can’t have a more intelligent and informed opinion than adults. William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, proves that intelligence and the ability to express an idea is not based on age. This novel is a story about a group of boys who are stranded on an island and form their own society with two groups; the Biguns and the Littluns. The Littluns were often dismissed due to their age which can be seen primarily when one of them wandered away without being noticed. These toddlers needed protection and love, but their cries for help were often ignored because of their age. When they were finally rescued by a naval officer, the boys were asked if anyone was killed and they responded with, “only two. and they’ve gone,” referring to Piggy and Simon, completely forgetting about the toddler that was the first to perish (201). The voices that were commemorated in this situation were those who were favored despite the fact that there were still individuals forgotten. By disregarding the Littluns due to their age, the boys grouped them together, completely neglecting their individual needs. 

The poem “There Are Birds Here” by Jamaal May discusses a similar story of kids' voices being marginalized because of their age. The poem discusses how industrialization of Detroit changed people’s perspectives of its citizens. Outsiders look at the youth of Detroit as afflicted because of the media's portrayal, but May argues that these kids still encounter the same love of nature as any other child despite the “broken” city. May was an elementary school teacher during this period of industrialization, and experienced firsthand how these kids felt about the changes. He wrote this poem as a way to reclaim the voice of these children whose stories were forgotten because they were never given a chance to talk about their experience. Instead, their narrative was taken over by media companies looking to profit off of their perceived suffering.

In the books Lord of the Flies, Little Fires Everywhere, Night, and Persepolis, minorities are frequently marginalized because of their social status, age, or history. Society always seems to listen to those who are popular and well supported instead of those who may actually be in the right, which is demonstrated in all of these novels. This primarily happens because people are disregarded after a biased judgment on them has been passed before they have a chance to tell their story. Whether this occurs on a large or small scale, in all these books, vulnerable characters are unfairly silenced. Today we can see discounted voices through the working class in countries like America because these people aren’t always given opportunities to stand up for themselves. This becomes prevalent in issues such as the minimum wage because it is set by the rich, and the voices of low wage workers aren’t considered. It is essential marginalized voices are represented in the world because they provide crucial perspectives that popularized voices often times ignore.