P3+MStack


 * Confronting Injustice**

In situations with injustices different people confront the circumstance in various ways. In John Steinbeck’s novel //The Grapes of Wrath// there are many examples of injustices and individuals confronting injustices. How an individual judges right from wrong is largely based on morals that shape their personality. There are certain situations where confronting an injustice is the necessary step to the success and well being of an individual. In circumstances where a person feels that their rights, their family’s rights, or the rights of other people are susceptible to the undermining of others, it is correct to confront the injustice. The extent to which the injustice is confronted determines the result of the situation and the number of individuals banding together to confronting the situation determines the success.

It is necessary to face an injustice when it directly affects people’s rights. In some situations people in power take advantage of vulnerable people to make gains for themselves. “They imported slaves, although they did not call them slaves: Chinese, Japanese, Mexicans, Filipinos. They live on rice and beans, the businessmen said. They don't need much. They wouldn't know what to do with good wages. Why, look how they live. Why, look what they eat. And if they get funny---deport them.” (Chapter 19, //Grapes of Wrath//). The slaves had no chance in confronting the injustices committed against them because they knew nothing else and they had no say in their treatment. People who were more powerful than them took their rights away, and no one cared. People also have a right to confront injustices when they are deliberately targeted. “And now a light truck approached, and as it came near, the driver saw the turtle and swerved to hit it. His front wheel struck the edge of the shell, and flipped the turtle like a tiddly-wink.” (Chapter 3, //Grapes of Wrath//). The turtle represents the common man and the truck represents the people in power who are targeting the common man. People who are in power often bully those who are below them. “Five dollars a ton. Five dollars for forty fifty pound boxes; trees pruned and sprayed, orchards cultivated- pick the fruit put it in boxes, load the trucks, forty boxes for five dollars.” (Chapter 25, //Grapes of Wrath//). Sometimes when powerful people take advantage of the people below them, there is nothing the lesser people can do because they depend on the superior, but people are not as powerful independent as they are united.

During the confusing time of change injustice is common, to successfully confront injustice the role of a group is greater that the role of one. When many individuals band together to confront an injustice they are much more powerful than when they are independent. This is shown in the fear that “the great owners” have of unionization. “Keep these two squatting men apart; make them fear, hate, suspect each other… The danger is here, for two men are not as perplexed as one. And form this first “we” grows into a dangerous thing” (Chapter14, //Grapes of Wrath//). The men committing the injustice want to continue to keep the role of people confronting injustice to a minimum, in order to do this, they try to make the people independent of each other. By creating communities, individuals have a great role in confronting injustice, because they take injustice into their own hands. “The families learned, although no one told them, what rights are monstrous and must be destroyed.” (Chapter 17, //Grapes of Wrath//). The small communities that were created were a haven for the people who were persecuted. The communities enabled them to make their own rules and to avoid persecution.

Individuals need to stand up for themselves in order to avoid injustice. If individuals do not stand up for themselves, then they become lost in translation. This is shown by homeless people, “She was not adrift, alone, anonymous, although her bags and her raincoat with the grime shadowing its creases had made me believe she was.” (//Homeless// by Anna Quindlen). Individuals need to stand up for what they believe in to avoid being disregarded. Lars Eighner in //On Dumpster Diving// stands up for scavengers by saying, “Between us are the rat-race millions who nightly scavenge the cable channels looking for what they know not. I am sorry for them.” A person’s beliefs are always important, and they always need to stand up for them even if they are facing a greater power, like the government. //In Civil Disobedience: Part III//, Thoreau faces the government by rebelling against the system. “I quietly declare war with the State, after my fashion, though I will still make what use and get what advantage of her I can, as is usual in such cases.” His declaration of war is backed by his disagreement with the system of the government. He stands up for his beliefs and will not back down, even when he is threatened with prison. Standing up for yourself is largely important in confronting injustice.

In conclusion, an injustice needs to be addressed when it concerns individuals’ rights. An individual also needs to stand up for their beliefs in order to achieve success. When there is an injustice an individual has a great role in confronting it if they join other affected people to fix the situation.