Emily Dickson
Dickinson’s poem “My Life Has Stood—a Loaded Gun,” refers to the capacity for both harmful and positive influence. It discusses the subjects of power dynamics and the effects of exercising control.
Quote: “Though I than He—may longer live-He longer must—than I—For I have but the power to kill,
Without—the power to die—”
Virginia Woolf
Woolf’s essay “A Room of One’s Own,” confronts the historical oppression of women and the ways in which societal structures limit their potential. It emphasizes the power imbalances that limit women’s intellectual and creative freedom.
Quote: “Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind.”
James Baldwin
Baldwin’s essay “Notes of a Native Son,” explores the power dynamics within the relationships of different races in America. He does this by expressing the oppression of the system and social barriers that impact the lives of black individuals.
Quote: “People who shut their eyes to reality simply invite their own destruction, and anyone who insists on remaining in a state of innocence long after that innocence is dead turns himself into a monster.”
Doris Lessing
Lessing’s essay “The Old Chief Mashlanga,” portrays the power struggles between colonizers and the colonized, shedding light on the consequences of colonialism on indigenous cultures and the imbalance of power.
Quote: “It was not just the Chief. It was the whole pattern of their lives, imposed on them by white society, that was cruel and brutal.”
