Discrimination and Racism in Country Lovers and the Welcome Table
Discrimination and Racism in Country Lovers and the Welcome Table
Donna Robertson ENG 125: Introduction to Literature Lyndsey Lefebvre November 18, 2012
Discrimination and Racism in Country Lovers and the Welcome Table
Racial discrimination has affected black people of the United States as well as Africa for many years. Although racial discrimination is against the law in both countries today, many people believe that it still exists. This essay will compare and contrast the racial theme of the short stories “Country Lovers” written by Nadine Gordimer and “The Welcome Table” written by Alice Walker. Both of these short stories share the same theme, which is centered on racism, but the theme is not limited to racism it also includes love, hardship, rejection, and death. They have many similarities as well as differences that will be explored in this essay. Both of these literary pieces give the reader awareness of the pain and suffering endured by the two black characters that were subject to racial discrimination and the superior mentality of those that participated in the discrimination. Discrimination and racism is the core issue in both of these short stories.
A similarity of both short stories is that the narrator reveals the characters through observation which means both stories are told in the third-person omniscient point of view. For example, in “The Welcome Table”, the old woman stood with eyes uplifted in her Sunday–go–to–meeting clothes: high shoes polished about the tops and toes, a long rusty dress adorned with an old corsage, long withered, and the remnants of an elegant silk scarf as head rag stained with grease from the many oily pigtails underneath. Perhaps she had known suffering. There was a dazed and sleepy look in her aged blue–brown eyes. And in “Country Lovers”, the farmer's son was home for the holidays she wandered far from the kraal and her companions. He went for walks alone. They had not arranged this; it
Donna Robertson ENG 125: Introduction to Literature Lyndsey Lefebvre November 18, 2012
Discrimination and Racism in Country Lovers and the Welcome Table
Racial discrimination has affected black people of the United States as well as Africa for many years. Although racial discrimination is against the law in both countries today, many people believe that it still exists. This essay will compare and contrast the racial theme of the short stories “Country Lovers” written by Nadine Gordimer and “The Welcome Table” written by Alice Walker. Both of these short stories share the same theme, which is centered on racism, but the theme is not limited to racism it also includes love, hardship, rejection, and death. They have many similarities as well as differences that will be explored in this essay. Both of these literary pieces give the reader awareness of the pain and suffering endured by the two black characters that were subject to racial discrimination and the superior mentality of those that participated in the discrimination. Discrimination and racism is the core issue in both of these short stories.
A similarity of both short stories is that the narrator reveals the characters through observation which means both stories are told in the third-person omniscient point of view. For example, in “The Welcome Table”, the old woman stood with eyes uplifted in her Sunday–go–to–meeting clothes: high shoes polished about the tops and toes, a long rusty dress adorned with an old corsage, long withered, and the remnants of an elegant silk scarf as head rag stained with grease from the many oily pigtails underneath. Perhaps she had known suffering. There was a dazed and sleepy look in her aged blue–brown eyes. And in “Country Lovers”, the farmer's son was home for the holidays she wandered far from the kraal and her companions. He went for walks alone. They had not arranged this; it