Racism: a Comparison and Contrast of Two Literary Works Essay

The words, purpose and identity are familiar with mankind. These words can stiff many things to many different individuals. each(prenominal) person on this Earth is uniquely made with unique DNA patterns and fingerprints that can non be matched with any otherwise individual among the billions of people that occupy this planet we assure Earth. Why is prejudice so common among people if every whiz is unique and special? This question remains unanswered. Many authors have written essays, stories, and poems ab come in negative judgmental and biased views of people in hopes to understand unfair treatment towards mankind and rear changes in human behavior that get erupt bring solutions of peace.This paper will reflect on the stories, surface area Lovers, by Nadine Gordimer and The Welcome gameboard, by Alice Walker. Gordimer and Walker have become actives for fair and unbiased treatment among mankind. Both authors have been rewarded numerous honorary awards for promoting peace. I ronic completelyy, Nadine Gordimer is a color char born and raised in federation Africa and Alice Walker is an African American but both authors have kin group spirits and are celebrated for their commitments to fight the cruel elements of racism.Nadine Gordimers Country Lovers is a story almost Thebedi, a dense girl, and Paulus, a washcloth boy, who cut in love. Gordimer wrote the story from a third-person aim of view. The berth of view is objective the characters apprehensions are not exposed as in the omniscient point of view. The point of view allows the reviewer to concentrate on the characters actions, creating a more dramatic effect. Thebedi and Paulus attraction to each other was unforbidden and socially not acceptable in the southern African culture in which they were raised. Both children were raised on a South African farm, one that was owned by Paulus parents. Thebedi was one of the many desolate hired hands, slaves, or handmaids who worked on the Eysendyck s family farm.The story does not clearly give a age period when the razets unfolded, but the era of white ascendency that existed over the black people was clearly defined, as the story states, The farm children play in concert when they are abject, but once the white children go by to school they soon dont play unneurotic any moreso that by the time early adolescence is reached, the black children are make along with the bodily changes common to all, aneasy transition to adult forms of address, beginning to call their old playmates missus and baasie little master (Clugston 2010, character 3.1, carve up 1). Paulus and Thebedi change gifts and their attraction for each other grew.Thebedi proudly wore a pair of band earrings given to her by Paulus but could not tell of the givers palpable identity and stated the earrings came from the missus (Clugston 2010, air division 3.1, paragraph 3). Likewise, Paulus wore a b dry washlet made of elephant hair that was given by Thebed i but told everyone that one of the actors from his fathers farm had given him the gift (Clugston 2010, subdivision 3.1, paragraph 2). The fact that each person hid each others identities about the gifts suggest that their friendship was not acceptable because of their differences in racial and social statuses.As Thebedi and Paulus grew older, they frequently met at a remote dried river bed, each one walking a measureable maintain from each other so that they would not be shown together. Paulus often spoke about his adventures away from home, as he was home for the holidays from a boarding school. Thebedi would involve questions and listen intently, en delighting Paulus company and laughing together (Clugston 2010, instalment 3.1, paragraph 4). The friendship grew stronger and became sexual (Clugston 2010, percentage 3.1, paragraphs 5 and 8).The couple continued to sneak around and see each other secretly, sometimes at Paulus home while his parents were away, as expressed in t he line, The door of the parents bedroom was locked and the empty rooms where the girls had slept had sheets of plastic bypass over the beds. It was in one of these that she and the farmers son stayed together whole nights almost she had to get away before the house servants, who k untried her, came in at dawn. (Clugston 2010, section 3.1, paragraph 8).The mood of the story quickly begins to change when Thebedi, at age 18, enters an arranged marriage union with Njabulo, a fellow black worker on the Eysendyck farm (Clugston 2010, section 3.1, paragraph 9). Thebedis father was too a worker on the Eysendyck farm and axiom Njabulo worthy of marrying his daughter Njabulo was of the corresponding social status as Thebedis family. Thebedi did not tell Paulus about her engagement to Njabulo, nor did she speak of her pregnancy, which was in the seventh month at the time she espouse Njabulo (Clugston 2010, section 3.1, paragraph 9).Soon, Thebedi gives birth to a healthy daughter, and with no surprise to the reader, the coddle was light skinned (Clugston 2010, section 3.1, paragraph 9). Njabulos disposition is one of high regards, as the story describes him as qualification no complaint, but Out of his farm labourers earnings he boughta tip plastic bath, six napkins, a card of safety pins, a knitted jacket, cap and bootees, a dress, and a tin of Johnsons Baby Powder, for Thebedis baby (Clugston 2010, section 3.1, paragraph 9). The author points out that the baby belongs to Thebedi, not Njabulo, but Njabulo assumes the role as father and provides for the child whole heartedly.The storys diagram comes to the climax when Paulus comes home from veterinary school and discovers not exclusively is Thebedi married, but she has a child. Paulus visits the infant and immediately realizes he is the father of Thebedis baby. His reaction was a disturbed and embarrassed one, as the story explains, He said nothing. He struggled for a moment with a grimace of tears, anger, and s elf-pity as he asked Thebedi, You havent been near the house with it? (Clugston 2010,section 3.1, paragraphs 11 and 12). The reader sees the heart of Paulus at this point. It. The baby is referred to an it. Not a person but a thing that would bring him and his family daunt and disgrace if anyone should find out.Pauluss heart is further exposed with his commands to Thebedi, Dont take it out. Stay inside. Cant you take it away somewhere. You mustiness give it to someone. Paulus left Thebedis home with the words, I feel care killing myself coming from the depths of his heart and out of his mouth (Clugston 2010, section 3.1, paragraph 19). Paulus returns to Thebedis home shortly after and the reader discovers that Thebedis baby has been poisoned to close. The autopsy revealed intestinal damage not consistent with natural reason of death (Clugston 2010, section 3.1, paragraph 22).Thebedi appears at an initial examination for the murder charges against Paulus, wearing the hoop earring s that Paulus had given her during their summer romance (Clugston 2010, section 3.1, paragraph 24). Thebedi stated she had seen Paulus displace something into her daughters mouth at the initial examination but later changed her story at Paulus trial, statingshe did not see anything that took place in her home. Thebedi wore her hoop earrings at both events, suggesting to the reader that she would always cherish Paulus and the affair they had together (Clugston 2010, section 3.1, paragraph 25).Thebedi brought along her newborn baby at the time of the trial, suggesting to the reader that Thebedi had to go on with her life and concentrate on her new husband and her new baby while Thebedi still cherished the memories that she and Paulus made together, those memories were only in the past. The reality was that Thebedi and Paulus had no chance of a future together. Paulus was found not guilty of the murder charge and Thebedi was interviewed by the sunshine papers. The author carefully poi nts out that the newspapers spelled her name in a variety of ways suggesting that Thebedi was a common person and viewed in society as an individual with little importance (Clugston 2010, section 3.1, paragraph 30). The story ends with Thebedis comment, It was a thing of our childhood. We dont see each other anymore (Clugston 2010, section 3.1, paragraph 30).The author of Country Lovers, Nadine Gordimer, spoke out against racism in her interview presented by the Nobel Peace Organization on October 3, 2007. Having been awarded the Nobel Prize in writings in 1991, an unnamed interpreter asked Gordimer about the turning point in her life in which she became an activist for racism. Gordimer explained, It was unthinkable for me to notice black people whom would share my interests. It was always a servant/master basis. Even if you were the child of the master or mistress, you still had this particular position. But being troubled about itI was beginning to find out there was something called racism in this world, and I was living in it. I was part of it. And then when I was older, training at Witwatersrand University, and there for the first time I met.there was one or twainthere were a few young black members of the University, of course was whites onlythere were certain courses that were not purchasable in the black universities.And then as concession of post graduate level a few blacks would come in. I met one or two black people with whom I had far more in common than I had with the young whites that I knew at the time. There were young people who were act to write, who were beginning to write. We had this enormous approach to life. I began at that age to make black friends. I moved into and entered into a fitting of incredible distortions of racism.Not only the impression of blacks but the distortions in my personality and my mind as a white. These became very part of my life and indeed started my way to freedom from racism (Nobelpeace.org, 2007).Gordimer , a native from Springs,South Africa, undoubtedly wrote Country Lovers based on experiences she dealt with firsthand growing up. In addition to winning the Nobel Prize in Literature, she has been awarded with several honorary degrees, ranging from Yale, Harvard, Columbia, and holds degrees from University of York in England and Witwatersrand in South Africa among many other schools (Nobelpeace.org, 2005). Some of the many honors extended to Gordimer have included being an Honorary Member of the American Academy of arts & Sciences, Honorary Member of the American Academy & Institute of Arts & Letters, and she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Honour of the Republic of Chile (Nobelpeace.org, 2007).Alice Walkers The Welcome Table also presents a theme of racism. Walker is best known for her novel, The Color Purple, which led to Walkers award of the Pulitzer Prize for the literary work (Clugston 2010, section 3.1,). The Welcome Table is told from a third-person omniscient point of view, carefully giving details of the thoughts of the main character, an elderly, rejected black cleaning lady, and those of the snobbish, prejudiced white people. The third-person omniscient point of view allows the reader to understand the deepest thoughts of the characters. The story begins introducing the old woman as one who has known suffering and who is looking for peace, dressed in her best Sunday clothes intending to worship at a local church (Clugston 2010, section 3.1, paragraph 1).The unusual thing about the black womans nominal head is that the church is in an all- white community. The white people do not motivation the woman at their church and the narrator is quick to disclose the peoples thoughts, And so they gazed nakedly upon their own fear transferred a fear of the black and the old, a terror of the unknown as rise as of the deeply known (Clugston 2010, section 3.1, paragraph 1). The narrator adds that some of them there saw the age, the dotage, the missing but tons down the front of her mildewed black dressThose who knew the hesitant creeping up on them of the law, saw the beginning of the end of the sanctuary of Christian worship, saw the desecration of Holy Church, andsaw an invasion of privacy, which they struggled to believe they still kept (Clugston 2010, section 3.1, paragraph 2). The white peoples prejudice against the black woman suggest that this time period was when Civil Rights laws were being made and the white people did not want to accept the new laws that gave the right to black people to be in public places (Cheever J. and Mason B., 2012). Cheever and Mason add that Privacy did not really mean privacy. They wanted to maintain their unequal social system and their own privileges at all costs (Cheever J. and Mason B., 2012).The narrator tells the reader that the woman had walked a one-half of a mile to get to the church (Clugston 2010, section 3.1, paragraph 3). The determination of the elderly woman contrasts with the char acter Thebedi from the previous story in that the unnamed woman does not give in to the white peoples dominating views, as she presses on to the white church. However, Thebedi knew her place within the society that was dominated by the white people. Thebedi accepted that she would not ever be able to fit into the white peoples world and have a future together with Paulus subsequently, she proceded to marry Njabulo, even though she was carrying Paulus child.The next paragraph of The Welcome Table states that even the reverend of the church disapproved of the black womans presence (Clugston 2010, section 3.1, paragraph 4). The people stared at her as they came in and sat down near the frontthe site of her, sitting there somehow passionately ignoring them, brought them up short, burning Clugston 2010, section 3.1, paragraph 4). An usher came up to the woman and told her to leave. (Clugston 2010, section 3.1, paragraph 5). The Welcome Table and Country Lovers both introduce the reader t o white peoples prejudiced and biased views toward black people. The black woman was looked down as on outcast in The Welcome Table, much like Paulus response when he saw his daughter, a product of a lowly, black servant girl. Paulus remark that he wanted to kill himself tells the reader that he thought his situation was so embarrassing and shocking that he would rather end his life than be exposed that he was a father to a half black daughter.Paulus wanted to send Thebedi away or have Thebedi give the baby to someone far away- so that no one would know about Thebedi and Paulus affair. The white people in The Welcome Table did notkill anyone as Paulus did but they had hatred in their hearts and they might as well have killed the black woman. They literally picked her up and tossed her back outside into the cold air. The narrator describes the incident as It was the ladies who finally did what to them had to be done. Daring their burly on the fence(predicate) husbands to throw the old colored woman out they made their pointCould their husbands expect them to sit up in church with that? No, no, the husbands were quick to answer and even quicker to do their duty (Clugston 2010, section 3.1, paragraph 5).The next paragraph describes the removal of the woman, Under the old womans arms they placed their laborious fistsUnder the old womans arms they raised their fists, flexed their muscular shoulders, and out she flew through the door, back under the cold blue sky (Clugston 2010, section 3.1, paragraph 6). The narrator explains that the woman had been singing in her head when she was rudely interrupted and thrown out of the church (Clugston 2010, section 3.1, paragraph 7).This woman was singing. She had joy in her heart. She was daring and brave to come to the white peoples church but it should not have been a risk. Its gods people who are supposed to be lovable and accepting towards people-all people of every race, color, and tribe. The use of the third-person o mniscient point of view engages the reader to feel the botheration and the agitation towards the biased white people who threw someone out of the church simply because of the color of a persons skin. It is one of the most disgraceful and wrong sins church people could commit.The narrator states that the woman looked down the highway and saw Jesus himself approaching her (Clugston 2010, section 3.1, paragraph 8). The white people met together for church meeting in their best Sunday clothes, most likely carrying their countersigns and sang of Gods love, yet God was not in their church. God was with the black woman and showed compassion by sending His Son Jesus to meet the woman and comfort her in her time of need.As Jesus approached the woman, he simply stated, Follow Me (Clugston 2010, section 3.1, paragraph 10). The author must have known about the bible because Jesus told his disciples many times throughout the bible to follow him. Jesus also stated, I am the good shepherd I know my sheep and my sheep know me (John 1014) and My sheep listen to my voice I know them,and they follow me (John 1027). The words, Follow Me were very appropriate for this story. The woman gladly followed Jesus. The narrator states, Jesus gave her one of his beautiful smiles and they walked on. She did not know where they were going somewhere wonderful, she suspected.The ground was like clouds under their feet, and she felt she could walk forever without becoming the least bit tired (Clugston 2010, section 3.1, paragraph 11). Not only is the woman walking side by side by Jesus, she is strengthened and her energy is renewed. The character, Njabulo in Country Lovers can be compared to the loving father like experience Jesus was to the old woman in The Welcome Table. Both Njabulo and Jesus met the needs of those around them. Njabulo was a great provider and bought several of the babies needs from his small income earned on the farm and was a great support to Thebedi throughout the stor y. Jesus accepted the elderly black woman and was everything she needed, taking care of all her needs.Alice Walker, the author of The Welcome Table, has dedicated her entire life in helping people. She has been very active in the Civil Rights Movement, promoting equal rights for black people (Jokinen 2006, p.1). She has also been an activist for the womens movement, anti-apartheid movement, anti-nuclear movement, and has opposed female genital mutilation (Jokinen 2006, p.1). Walker has received many awards, including the Pulitzer Prize in 1983 for her novel, The Color Purple, the Lillian Smith divide, The Rosenthal Award, the Front Page Award for Best Magazine Criticism, and the Townsend Prize and Lyndhurst Prize (Jokinen 2006, p.1).In the story, Country Lovers, the character Paulus was also educated and could have been influential in his community as an activist for black people but Paulus was more concerned about his social status. The thought of having a biracial child was degra ding and unthinkable to Paulus. There has been late(a) attention to biracial identities in America. Kelly Rockquemore and David Brunsma teamed up together to write Beyond Black biracial Identity in America (Harris 2003, p. 436). The two authors presented a new approach to studying biracial profiles, arguing that previous projects by others assumed that all biracial individuals thought of themselves as merely biracial but, in reality, biracials admit they think of themselves as always white, alwaysblack, sometimes white, sometimes black, or even raceless (Harris 2003, p.436).One could suspect that biracial studies as the ones conducted by Rockquemore and Brunsma would promote black and white people to live together in peace, merging communities, families, and hopefully, churches. South Africa, the setting of the story, Country Lovers, has actually had to address the issues of racism and has made changes to its government to promote equal rights among the people. In 1994, South Afric a adopted a democratic form of government (Lefko-Everetti, 2012, p. 69).The Bill of Rights of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, made into law in 1996, states full and equal enjoyment of all rights and freedoms and prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity and gender (Lefko-Everetti, 2012, p. 69). It has been said that non-racialism was one of the key founding values in making the new Constitution (Lefko-Everetti, 2012, p.79). Lefko-Everetti adds that, the goal of pursuing a non-racial society accepting of diversity is embodied in the Constitution and continues to be embraced by many South Africans (Lefko-Everetti, p.79).Authors Alice Walker and Nadine Gordimer have dedicated themselves for fighting for active rights of the people. Both authors have been awarded with numerous awards and have been recognized publicly for their written works against racism. Many other authors have written about racism and have joined their efforts with Walker and Gordimer to promote peace among mankind and to recognize that every individual deserves to be reckon and not to be judged upon the color of their skin, nor of their religion preference, or their ethnicity. The stories, The Welcome Table and Country Lovers are prime examples of literary works that point out the deplorable and ugly realities of racisms presence in communities.REFERENCESCheever, J. and Mason, B. (2012) Alice WalkerFiction and the Human Experience. Retrieved from http//cstl-cla.semo.edu/pardee/li220- 05/protected/lessons/notes/notes6.htmClugston, R.W. (2010) Journey Into Literature. San Diego, California Bridgepoint EducationInc.Harrris, D.R. (2003) Beyond BlackBiracial Identity in America (review). Social Forces,Volume 82, Number 1, September 2003, pp.436-437. Oxford University Press. RetrievedFrom Project MUSE at http//muse.jhu.eduJokinen, A. (1996 ) Anniinas Alice Walker Page. Retrieved from http//www.luminarium.org Lefko-Everetti, K (2012). Beyond race? Exploring indicator s of (dis)advantage to achieveSouth Africas equity goals. Transformation Critical Perspectives on SouthernAfrica, Number 79, 2012 pp.69-92. Retrieved from Project MUSE at http//muse.jhu.edu Nobelprize.org (2005) The Nobel Prize in Literature 1991 Nadine Gordimer Biography.Retrieved from www.nobelprize.org/nobel/prize.org/Nobel_prizesliterture/laureaates/1991/gordimer-bio.htmlNobelprize.org (2007) Nadine Gordimer on racism 10-3-07(shown on YouTube). RetrievedFrom http//www.Youtube.com/watch?v+VWcxSsd8NsM