In America, according to the Declaration of Independence, “all men are created equal.” Unfortunately, this previous statement was not entirely accurate in many respects regarding American citizens. The term “equality” is reserved for a certain social class, and this remains true today. But despite this inconvenience, the lower social classes aspired to a better standard of living. Sue Monk Kidd, author of The Invention of Wings, adequately portrayed the slaves' desire for freedom before the Civil War. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay In The Invention of Wings the term wings symbolizes the feeling of freedom. According to the book, the wings were invented by captive black slaves to create a sense of purpose and hope. In the period before the Civil War, slavery among Africans was nearing its peak. Slaves were constantly looking for an escape from their captive lifestyle. This escape could be either mental or physical depending on the individual slaves and the slave's state of being. In The Invention of Wings, wings represented the freedom the slaves longed for. Handful's mother told Handful about the physical "wings" that slaves possessed in Africa. Handful's mother stated that "When we came here, we left that magic behind" (Kidd 3). This is a representation of how much freedom Africans lost when they became captive slaves. Handful's mother seriously wants Handful to believe these old fairy tales to give Handful a sense of freedom, despite the fact that he is not free at the moment. “Those skinny bones protruded from my back like bumps. He stroked them and said, “This is all that remains of your wings. Now they have nothing but these flat bones, but one day you will get them back” (Kidd 3). Handful's mother, along with many other slaves, felt that freedom could one day be achieved. The complicated life of slaves was momentarily liberated in the form of “wings.” As this reading of Kidd's tale indicates, the wings were a symbol of freedom. But this freedom was not isolated individually to a social class such as that of slaves; after all, freedom is a property that all human beings want to possess. Indeed, in the book Sarah Grimke was subjected to a similar force of oppression. This oppression was not something physically binding like a chain or a whip. Sarah's oppression was inflicted on her by her mother and other family members, as well as the majority of the Southern population. The pre-Civil War status quo made Sarah feel like a victim of social ridicule. When Sarah rejected ownership of Handful, the backlash on Sarah was extreme. As a result Sarah said: “I was sent to solitary confinement in my new room and ordered to write a letter of apology to each guest. Mother sat me down at the desk with paper, an inkwell, and a letter she had composed herself, which I had to copy” (Kidd 16). Sarah's own father was a victim of oppression as was Sarah. As a judge, Sarah's father was socially obligated to uphold a code of conduct suited to the Southern upper class. For example, when Sarah tried to free Handful from his imprisonment, Sarah wrote a tampering document and inserted it into Father Grimke's backgammon set. Sarah later got an answer about her actions: “The tampering document I had written was lying on the floor. It was torn in two” (Kidd 21). Oppression is a feeling that knows no boundaries, whether it be.”