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ENG45C, All the texts from English 45C feature, to some extent, the…

- - - - Furthermore, in Things Fall Apart, the missionaries, who establish superiority over the natives immediately following their arrival by implementing a societal hierarchy, reinforce this power through violence against defiant natives. For example, after natives burn down the missionaries' church, they imprison and abuse native leaders.
- - - - By reframing the well-known Greek mythological story of Orpheus and Eurydice, the narrator of Eurydice challenges a patriarchal social hierarchy which disallows women the same individual agency as men --- in this case, the agency to express emotion freely. The poem, through its reframing of the male-centric story, uniquely highlights the experience and emotions of Eurydice which are often overlooked by a patriarchal society. Thus, the poem evens the playing field between men and women overall.
      - In The Dead, protagonist Gabriel experiences his Irish heritage and culture as a loss of personal agency; despite having no interest in participating in such, he feels pressure from his social circle to engage. Instead, he rebells against this system to recover personal agency by writing for a conservative newspaper and declaring, in response to cultural pressure, his feeling "sick" of Ireland.
      - Easter, 1916 presents convoluted acclaim for Irish rebels who participated in the Easter Rising of 1916, an armed insurrection in Ireland aimed to counter British colonial rule. The poem's final line, "A terrible beauty is born," illustrates the poem's uneasy regard for the violence involved yet overall admiration for the rebels' work seeking the power of self-determination.
      - In Bartleby, the Scrivener, the titular character, and employee, rebells against the workplace hierarchy by refusing to follow his employer's orders. In doing so, he takes claim of --- and wields --- personal agency he did not previously posses in his workplace role.
      - In Their Eyes Were Watching God, protagonist Janie experiences a stripping of her personal agency by a patriarchal society which expects her subservience to her husband. In response, she rebells, asserting herself to humiliate her husband in front of the town. Through this rebellion, Janie lies claim to more power than societally designated to her as a woman.
    - - Racial
        
        The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain criticizes a presented scenario in which a Black poet desires to be examined outside of his Blackness. The narrator of this text claims that such is merely a disguised desire to be white, and instead, the Black poet should recognize the beauty of his race and richness of his culture. In presenting this criticism, the narrator overall empowers all Black individuals to recognize this as well.
        
        Let America be America Again criticizes America as a whole for promising the ideals of freedom and liberty to its citizens while simultaneously withholding these ideals from the Black community. In its criticism, the poem asserts the deservingness of the Black community to wield the same agency as their white, favored, counterparts in American society and empowers them to seek such.
        
        The Weary Blues presents a celebration of Black art, a style often overlooked in a white-favored society. In doing so, it depicts and empowers the Black community as one deserving of the same agency granted to their white counterparts.
        
        The speaker of I, Too responds to Whitman's famed preceding canonical poem, "I hear America Singing," which presents an idyllic America, by asserting that he, a Black man, is also a part of America and thus deserves the same level of social power and agency that white individuals wield within the same society. In this way, the poem empowers the Black community to seek rightful agency.
        
        The speaker of The Negro Speaks of Rivers presents a celebration of Black history, a rich cultural history often ignored by a white-favored society. Through this presentation, the speaker works to empower the Black community as a whole to counter to the mainstream marginalization it often unfairly experiences and instead celebrate its own rich and expansive history.
        
        Harlem [2] presents a eulogy for dreams deferred by a society which does not favor all races' dreams equally. The poem attention to the often-ignored deferred dreams through a series of rhetorical questions centering the concept of a deferred dream. In its final line, "Or does it explode?" serves as an empowerment, calling attention to the ways the unfairness sown in the deferral can be used as motivation or fuel for a larger demand for equal treatment.
      - Sexual
        
        Oread presents a female speaker discussing and encouraging --- though somewhat covertly --- sex as a merging of two bodies. In doing so, it counters the female social expectation to remain sexually passive. Thus, the eroticism of this poem works as an empowerment by modeling the shedding of this unfair expectation.
        
        Sea Rose presents two roses, one traditional, one weathered, to metaphorically compare the social expectations of women --- of beauty, of performance --- with the reality of being unable to maintain adherence to these strenuous demands. By claiming the weathered rose is "more precious" than the traditional rose, it characterizes the social expectations of women as overrated, thus empowering women's deviation from these demands.
      - Social
        
        Spring and All provides a message of overall hope despite adversity, metaphorically represented, in this case, by the winter season. Though the poem initially dwells on the hardships which come with winter --- specifically the cold --- the narrative then moves on to embrace the more positive --- specifically the first signs of Spring --- empowering readers to do the same in contexts greater than the seasonal shifts.
        
        The Lake of Innisfree presents a situation in which he will "arise and go now, and go to Innisfree," a small island in Ireland. The speaker goes on to note how, there, he will build a life remote from society, and how his desire to do so is profound enough that he can "hear it in the deep heart’s core." This situation serves as a model for empowering readers to follow their desires; despite the speaker's desire to "go" countering social expectations, he reiterates its significance to him, as a path for readers to follow suit.
        
        In a Station of the Metro provides an overall message of hope for mankind by likening humanity to a series of blossoming flowers amongst its industrial achievements. This positive connotation, especially when examined in contrast to the reality which it describes (the often dark, grimy metro station), reinforces that beauty persists within a modernizing society, praising and empowering the species as a whole.
        
        This is Just to Say presents a social enfranchisement within a metaphorically sexual setting, and thus can be categorized as both a social and sexual empowerment. By presenting a situation in which superficial social rules are largely disregarded for the individual benefit, the poem overall empowers its readers to seek gratification within the context of a short and fleeting life. The sexual and biblical connotations of the fruit metaphor further this empowerment to the carnal level.
  - - - The narrator of Bartleby, the Scrivener faces great challenge to his power as an employer following the insubordination of his employee, and, following this loss, he works throughout the text to reclaim this power, which, to him, is linked with his employee's obedience.
      - The narrator of The Man of the Crowd experiences social agency in his privilege-facilitated ability to look down upon and categorize others based on their class and societal standing. So, when the enigmatic titular subject of the story presents, in himself, a threat to this agency, the narrator works strenuously, throughout the text, to reconcile his confusion and thus reclaim his agency.
      - In The Sound and the Fury, character Jason faces extreme external challenge to his societally-granted power as a male following the insubordination of his niece, Quentin. Throughout the novel, he works to reconcile this challenge and reclaim his power by working to discipline Quentin into obedience.
- - - - Furthermore, in Mrs. Dalloway, character Clarissa experiences much confinement in regards to her social agency throughout the novel, both in terms of her womanhood and her sexuality. As a woman in 1920s British society, she is not only reduced to her role as a wife, but she cannot meaningfully express her attraction to fellow women without severe social consequence. Thus, throughout the story, she restrains herself to remain adherent to her expectations.