Her mother, concerned for her health, kept her at home. Gordimer’s solace was the town’s public library; this, along with the boredom and loneliness that came from homeschooling, was her inspiration to start writing. Her first published work was at the age of 15, a short story called The Quest for Seen Gold. She attended the University of the Witwatersrand for one year, but then decided she wanted to dedicate herself to writing and moved to Johannesburg. Even though her father turned a blind eye to racism, her mother was sensitive to the issue, and even founded a nursery solely for black children. This compassion and awareness that her mother taught her from a young age may have instilled in her the need to speak up for the …show more content…
The apartheid was abolished, and, in the first democratic elections since 1948, Nelson Mandela was elected as President of South Africa. Gordimer always used her advantageous position as a white person to help others in need, to give them a voice. She was never afraid to go out and fight for what she believed was right, no matter the cost. She is an example to all of us: through her writings and experiences she encourages us to fight the injustices of the system, and to never look the other way when a fellow human is in pain. Nadine Gordimer was an extraordinary human being, a fighter, a believer in equality, and, above all, the lighthouse keeper of South Africa, an entity of bravery and human