I am Oedipus Rex, king of Thebes, and throughout my life I have undergone many tragedies that have caused me to feel alienation. Secrets of my past have changed my entire worldview and self image. I learned that I had unknowingly killed my father, married and had children with my mother all by cause of a prophecy from the gods. As Oedipus I can relate to various forms of alienation that child labourers are facing. Child labourers face alienation from their old lives as carefree children, alienation from family and friends, alienation from their old identities and alienation from the world around them because of uncontrollable forces.
Alienation From a Life Once Lived
Similar to child labourers, I have faced a great deal of alienation from my life before I was aware of the horrors from my past. Not knowing the pain of my reality was comforting, I truly found bliss amidst ignorance. My life was simple, glorious and complete before I found out that I had slain my own father and conceived with my birth mother. Now that I am conscious of my destiny I find it hard to relate to my old life as all my truths have been stripped away. The child labourers must also feel a disconnect between their young childhood memories and their now painful, hardworking lifestyle. They too have learned a difficult truth about their lives that has stripped away all their sense of peace. These children must feel so alienated from the simple nature of infancy that they knew so well as they now face devastating adult climate within the workforce. We are very similar in the sense that the lives we once knew are now so different than the lives we hold now.
Alienation From Loved Ones and Family
When I discovered the horrible truths about my familial relationships I felt instantly isolated. I imagine child labourers would also feel an incredible distance from their families, both physical and emotional. Many parts of my family had changed in the span of days. I discovered people I thought were my family, were not. I found out I had dishonoured my real family through both murder and incest. All of this caused me to feel alone and without any family. I felt alienated from both the individuals I thought were my family and also from the individuals I did not know were my family. Many child labourers must also suffer a great deal of alienation from their families. They are either excluded and separated physically from loved ones or they are excluded because they are being exploited and forced to enter an adult world as children. Children must spend time and develop with their family in order to grow and build relationships, if they have to work or are forced away to work they will lose a bond with their family. Also, as some of these children are pressured into work by their own families, this may cause resentment or distance between a typical child-parent relationship.
https://www.memecenter.com/fun/214099/oedipus-the-king
Alienation From Former Self Image – External Forces
As I discovered the awful reality of my life I instantly felt a disconnect between who I used to perceive myself as and who I realized I was now. I used to view myself as a strong, all knowing and powerful king. Suddenly I was not who I thought I was; I discovered I had disregarded the prophecy and incorrectly judged people around me; I was wrong. This caused me to feel a loss of identity and a strong isolation from myself. Child labourers also would feel this disconnect from an old identity. Children, while growing up, have a strong sense of playfulness and innocence that drives their motivations in life. When facing such a difficult demanding work schedule, these children will also feel a loss of identity because they used to have a youthful, positive outlook on the world and they now hold a dark, depressing view of what the future has in store for them. Working for a living, especially in poor conditions, creates sadness and defeat in the spirit of these children. The key factor here is that external events and factors have caused this shift in our self image, the actions of large companies cause the loss of childhood for these young people as uncontrollable, external forces caused me to feel distant from my former self. Child labourers, as well as myself both struggle with a feeling of alienation from our old identities and our former self image; we feel lost, confused and distant from our own self perceptions.
Divine Alienation
A strong factor in my alienation has also been the power of divinity. External forces such as prophecy and gods cause my life to be changed radically. The unknown prophecy of my life story was completely uncontrolled by me and has ended up destroying my worldview. All the awful events that occurred in my life were due to destiny and fate which leaves me feeling entirely mortal and powerless in my own life. Children involved in child labour are also forced into difficult situations almost always outside their control. Children, naturally, have little control over their lives as is, let alone when they have to work in oppressing and devastating conditions for their age. This powerlessness causes both child labourers and myself to feel alienated from the world around us. We have little to no control in our own lives which reduces us to pieces of a large game the we only observe and exist in. This lack of control ultimately leads to an isolation from the people, objects and events in the world around us.
Child labourers experience various forms of alienation similar to myself, Oedipus, and this is maybe our last comfortable thought, that we are not entirely alone.
Child Labour 