Reading The Wretched of the Earth felt like being thrust into the raw, painful realities of colonialism and its aftermath. What hit me the hardest was Fanon’s argument that decolonization, by its very nature, is violent. As someone who tends to believe that violence can make a genuine and real change, I understand his point for the colonized, who have been stripped of their humanity, violence might seem like the only way to take it back. It’s a weird but strangely powerful perspective that forced me to take a step back and look on the limits of non-violence in the face of something like oppression that is very hard to get out of. Something else that caught my eye was his insight into the psychological damage caused by colonialism. The way he talked about how the colonized embrace their oppression, even after political independence, made me reflect on the generational trauma left by them that will haunt others for years and years to come. His disappointment with the national bourgeoisie, who often continue the same systems of exploitation as the colonial powers, made me realize that real freedom doesn’t end with independence. It means creating a system where fairness and justice can grow, something that many newly independent countries still find hard to achieve. The Wretched of the Earth challenged me in ways I don’t think I was ready for or at least necessarily expecting to hear. I love that he dove deep when it came down to the ongoing struggles to get to guide and true freedom, something a lot of people still don’t have today. Reading about some uncomfortable truths was honestly eye opening and I enjoyed it. I can say that this was probably the most informative piece of literature that we have read thus far, and that is what I liked most about it. It relates so much to many people and I think this should be a mandatory read in English classes.