The eNotes Blog Protest in Literature Ten Powerful Samples of People andPersuasion

Protest in Literature Ten Powerful Samples of People andPersuasion For as long as there have been uprisings, writers have voiced the emotions and motivations of the oppressed. In acknowledgment of the ongoing struggles happening around the world, we offer these lines that have powerfully expressed those feelings and may even offer some encouragement. Image via Pinterest 1.   The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck Men who have created new fruits in the world cannot create a system whereby their fruits may be eaten. And the failure hangs over the State like a great sorrow. and in the eyes of the people there is the failure; and in the eyes of the hungry there is a growing wrath. In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage. Image via Evening Star Books 2.   Resistance, Rebellion, and Death: Essays by Albert Camus It is true that freedom, when it is made up principally of privileges, insults labor and separates it from culture. But freedom is not made up principally of privileges; it is made up especially of duties. And the moment each of us tries to give freedoms duties precedence over its privileges, freedom joins together labor and culture and sets in motion the only force that can effectively serve justice. The rule of our action, the secret of our resistance can be easily stated: everything that humiliates labor also humiliates the intelligence, and vice versa. And the revolutionary struggle, the centuries-old straining toward liberation can be defined first of all as a double and constant rejection of humiliation. Image via Ellina Raisovna 3.   Les Misà ©rables by Victor Hugo So long as there shall exist, by reason of law and custom, a social condemnation which, in the midst of civilization, artificially creates a hell on earth, and complicates with human fatality a destiny that is divine; so long as the three problems of the century the degradation of man by the exploitation of his labour, the ruin of women by starvation and the atrophy of childhood by physical and spiritual night are not solved; so long as, in certain regions, social asphyxia shall be possible; in other words and from a still broader point of view, so long as ignorance and misery remain on earth, there should be a need for books such as this. Image via Abe Books 4.   The Crisis by Thomas Paine These are the times that try mens souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious thetriumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Image via Penguin Random House 5.   Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, by Fredrick Douglas If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. 6.   A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only. Image via Cannon Press 7.   Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison I am an invisible man.I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me. Image via Amazon 8.   The Essential Gandhi: An Anthology of His Writings on His Life, His Work, and Ideas by Mahatma Gandhi   When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of italways. Image via twicemodern 9.   On Civil Disobedience and Non-Violence by Leo Tolstoy I sit on a mans back choking him and making him carry me, and yet assure myself and others that i am sorry for him and wish to lighten his load by all means possible.except by getting off his back. Image via Goodreads 10.   Public Power in the Age of Empire by  Arundhati Roy Colorful demonstrations and weekend marches are vital but alone are not powerful enough to stop wars. Wars will be stopped only when soldiers refuse to fight, when workers refuse to load weapons onto ships and aircraft, when people boycott the economic outposts of Empire that are strung across the globe. (Featured Image by  Jerry Kiesewetter  on  Unsplash)