Predator vs. Prey

 

The relationship between the oppressor and the oppressed in society is analogous to the relationship between the predator and prey in nature. The oppressor/predator is threatening. The oppressed/prey is threatened.

Human society is manufactured in such a way that prey always exists.  It’s our choice whether or not we want to eat away at the weaknesses of the minority. Oppressors gain nourishment and justify their own faults surrounding the oppressed in a “magic circle of ignominy”(Hawthorne 242) and feeding on the vulnerabilities of the minority just like a pack of wolves surround a moose and feed on it for sustenance. Just like a “leech”(Hawthorne 114) feeds on humans for sustenance The ability to feel content with weakening people defies the definition of being human. 

The oppressed are also less human because parts of their identity are being stripped away from them and judged by a hypocritical society. Staples exemplifies the threatened/preyed upon feeling when he describes walking down the street as “the equivalent of the cowbell hikers wear when they know they are in bear country”(Staples 207).  

To truly become a human, one must “have the freedom…of the [people] sitting next to you”(Tannen 382). The predator/prey relationship in society creates a superiority and inferiority complex that dehumanizes both the majority and the minority.