Oppression

The main theme of Freire's book is oppression, the state of society that causes one class of people to remain entrenched in poverty while another class of people enjoys the benefits of the lower class's labor. Freire believes that oppression is an act of violence by the oppressors, who violate the oppressed by suppressing their humanity and making them impotent to think and act. The oppressed become part of a system that keeps them from advancing as human beings or acting on the world according to their will.

For Freire, oppression is an unnatural state, something he calls a contradiction. Oppression runs contrary to the natural essence of humanity, and so it dehumanizes both the oppressor and the oppressed. The opposite of oppression is freedom, which is a humanizing experience involving learning to think critically and then acting on one's thoughts and beliefs. Part of gaining freedom is...