Uzma

Q: Explore the significance of speaking up against injustice in two texts you have studied?
(25)

Both Atwood and Blake explore the significance of speaking up against injustice. The
Romantic poet William Blake is widely revered for his poetry that emphasises the injustice
that the poor faced in Victorian England, particularly the lives of those that constantly
faced neglect such as Chimney - Sweepers subsequently due to the lack of accountability
held by the institutions that were supposedly meant to initially care for them, such as the
Church, in doing so Blake is giving a voice to the voiceless and speaking up against the
injustice comitted against these people therefore giving them power. The Chimney -
Sweeper, Songs of Experience poem, Blake uses the viewpoint of a child Chimney - Sweep to
show the extent of the injustice that occurs even impacting a young child, as the child tells
of negligence they have experienced and due to their initial poverty were left unprotected
from. Moreover, in his poem London, Blake shows that poverty is pervasive through the
sounds he hears of those that injustice is enacted against showing that even those that are
voiceless articulate the injustice that is comitted against them in many forms. In addition,
the author Margaret Atwood too explores the significance of speaking up against injustice in
her novel, The Handmaid's Tale, as her protagonist Offred speaks up against injustice
internally through her mind, displaying resistance however, it could be argued this is limited
in scope as Offred can only express the injustice that she experiences only to herself.

In Blake's poem, The Chimney - Sweeper, Blake presents the significance of speaking up
against injustice through the characterization of the child, who is a representation of
powerlessness being comitted against as due to their social status and poverty they are
compelled to Chimney - Sweep in order to merely survive. Here Blake is evidently criticising
the very organisation, the church that is supposedly meant to teach its communities
empathy for those that are destitute primarily in order to foster a collective social
responsibility to counter - act this problem yet ironically this child here is left alone
'among[st] the snow'. Furthermore, Blake depicts the child being oppressesd by this very
organisation 'They think they have done me no injury' to highlight that the Church is in
denial as they believe they have neither comitted mental nor physical harm by neglecting
this child. Specifically, the alliteration 'They think' is significant in Blake exploring the
significance of speaking up against injustice because foremost the viewpoint is the child's
therefore the child is speaking up finally for the injustices that have been comitted against it
and Blake is then highlighting it within his poetry therefore giving light to this injustice
showing that it is a collective societoral dilemma that needs to be corrected. Also, Blake
even goes to the extent to criticise individuals 'are gone to praise...his priest and king' to
show the corruption of these powerful individuals as they fail to utilise their positions of
authority that enable them to manifest social change in the beginning yet society is

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ironically going 'to praise' them for their lack of service to their community. Therefore,
Blake does show the importance of speaking up against injustice as societies powerful
individuals are under the false impression that they don't need to aid those within its
communities as no one so far has challenged them on their lack of attention towards the
masses of those that are needy this has than enabled them to think that their actions are
acceptable. Blake however challenges this notion to show that speaking up against injustice
is itself powerful as it penultimately allows change to occur from it.

Furthermore, in Blake's poem, London, Blake presents the importance of speaking up

against injustice through the state London had been reduced to for those that were
impoverished to the extent 'in every cry of every man' their was 'marks of woe'. Blake
through the repetition of 'every' evokes that it isn't only within the confines of London that
society 'cr[ies]' but actually is a collective humanity 'cry' against the oppression that is
comitted against them, this therefore is the destitutes way of articulating themselves
through sounds of distress thus the poor in their own unique way are speaking up against
the injustice that they face to allow attention to be drawn to them in order to society to
gain awareness. Blake uses the noun 'man' to represent humanities poor, ordinary and
everyday man to further highlight that poverty is pervasive and those of low social ranking
can't escape this cyclical narrative as even the younger generation inherit the poverty of the
older one further suggesting that injustice too comes in many forms and for many that is in
the form of poverty which is inescapable. Moreover, the pre - modifier 'mind - forged
manacles' is significant in the subject area of injustice because it emphasises just how
oppressed the impoverished mentally and physically were and that this oppression was only
solely created by the rich due to their lack of social responsibiltiy. This further suggests that
the poor weren't only imprisoned in public workhouses and mental institutions to keep
them hidden away from society but were also mentally imprisoned by constantly having to
think about their current social position. Therefore, Blake does explore the significance of
speaking up against injustice as the poem London in its entirety is a homage to those that
are suffering silently thus empowering their powerlessness and giving them a significance in
humanity.

In addition, in Atwood's novel, The Handmaid's Tale, Atwood presents the significance of
speaking up against injustice through the protagonist Offred who speaks through internally
vocalising her emotions in order to voice the injustice that is occuring against her. Atwood
presents this through 'I raise my head a little...It's an event...I enjoy the power', specifically
the noun 'power' is significant because for Offred subtle acts of resistance marks her as
subversive therefore this suggests that Offred is challenging the Gilead regime through her
mind and that her internalising her opinion of the regime shows that no matter what
barriers she comes across she always combats it with emotional intelligence. Moreover, the
statement 'Nolite te bastardes carborundorm' is important when exploring the significance
of speaking up against injustice because this small defiant message of resistance by the
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previous handmaid who 'scratched' this message into the skirting board is overwhelmingly
significant because it shows the internal opinion regarding the unwillingness of the
individual to let the despotic rulers entirely dispirit them as the message itself means in
broken Latin 'Don't let the bastards grind you down'. This shows that Atwood wants to
convey the significance of speaking up against injustice to show that it revokes the power
from the oppressor and empowers those that are the oppressed. However, this form of
speaking up against injustice isn't deeply explored within The Handmaid's Tale, because this
speaking up is limited to one individual only therefore the impact from this in that aspect
would be limited. Therefore, Atwood does explore the significance of speaking up against
injustice in her novel, to show that speaking up can be in any shape or form and that it isn't
limited to a certain criteria that everyone must mirror.

In conclusion, both Blake and Atwood explore the extent of the significance of speaking up
against injustice through, how in Blake's poetry it finally restores the voice to the voiceless
therefore giving the oppressed masses - power. Moreover, Atwood too explores the
significance of speaking up against injustice through Offred who is a symbol of silent
resistant that though is limited in scope it is in itself absolutely powerful and a tool that
enables her to differentiate heerself from Gilead's totalitarian regime.

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