Gender and Race in Gordimer and Smith
In "Country Lovers" and "What It's Like to be a Black Girl (For Those of You Who Aren't)," Nadine Gordimer and Patricia Smith, respectively, demonstrate that issues of race and ethnicity are issues that are devoid of space and time. Gordimer focuses on the impact that apartheid has on Thebedi, a young, black girl, in South Africa, whereas Smith focuses on how American society has shaped her perception of herself due to a long history of racial discrimination. Both Gordimer's story and Smith's poem allow the reader to see how society shapes perceptions of others and perceptions of oneself based on race and ethnicity.
Gordimer has first-hand experience on the effects of apartheid as she grew up in South Africa and witnessed how people were discriminated against based upon the color of their skin. In South Africa, apartheid governed how society was structured from 1948, when apartheid laws were formally introduced, until 1991, when apartheid laws were abolished. These laws affected almost every aspect of everyday life and even restricted and looked down upon interracial relationships, which is the central issue of "Country Lovers."
In the short story, Thebedi, a young, black woman, grows up beside Paulus Eysendyck and eventually carries on a sexual relationship with the prominent white man. Gordimer explains how the children first met and what drove them apart, which is at first due to the fact that white children were sent of to school once they were old enough, while their black counterparts were left behind. Gordimer explains, "The farm children play together when they are small; but once the white children go away to school they soon don't play together any more, even in the holidays." Gordimer continues to explain that even behavior needs to be adjusted and the black children are taught to "to call their old playmates missus and baasie -- little master."
Even though it is expected that these children grow apart, Thebedi and Paulus appear to defy the odds at first. It is clear that Paulus thinks of Thebedi while he is away from school as he brings...
Smith & Walker Both Smith and Walker who write about the plight of black people and the feelings of inevitability and racism can invoke in Black people and in their lives. A significant difference between the poem and the short story is the generation and age of the individuals. Whereas Walker's short story is concerned with the racism and pain experienced by an elderly African-American woman in the post-civil rights
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