Preview

RACISM

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
433 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
RACISM
DSDSDSDSDSDDSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSual backgrounds and qualities, they represent the limitations. Clearly, both parts of the story, the men choose involvement with these women for convenience.
Dr. von Leinsdorf is a solitary man who, during the story, only welcomes one woman into his life and his apartment, so it is perhaps no surprise that he begins a sexual relationship with her. Similarly, Paulus has known Thebedi since childhood. She is comfortable and familiar to him, and he can easily arrange to meet with her when he visits home. In addition to their affection for the men, the women likely feel flattered and, perhaps, even a sense of duty. In a hierarchical society such as theirs, they know that they are not equals in their relationships with white men. These factors reflect the unique elements of interracial love in the story’s setting. In “Town and Country Lovers,” Gordimer condemns both the government and society in apartheid South Africa. In the first part of the story, she condemns the government more harshly because the legal consequences suffered by Dr. von Leinsdorf and the cashier are more serious than the social consequences. They both go to jail and endure evidence collection. The cashier is subjected to a physical examination, and Dr. von Leinsdorf’s apartment is ransacked for evidence. While the cashier must face social consequences, they are not insurmountable. She is, after all, of mixed race herself. In the second part of the story, Gordimer seems to condemn society more harshly than the government because the social consequences are more severe. Because he fears his community will learn of his illegitimate child with Thebedi. Paulus poisons his own baby. Thebedi’s community is aware of the situation surrounding the child but accepts it. It is not Thebedi’s community that applies such pressure to its members, it is Paulus’s. Finally, the story obviously shows that they are interracial couples forbidden to be together by the laws and

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Snowtown murders, otherwise called the Bodies in Barrels killings, were the homicides of 12 individuals in South Australia, Australia between August 1992 and May 1999. The wrongdoings were revealed when the remaining parts of eight casualties were found in barrels of corrosive situated in a leased previous bank working in Snowtown, South Australia on 20 May 1999. The town of Snowtown is in the Mid North of South Australia, 145 km north of Adelaide. Despite the fact that Snowtown is every now and again connected with the wrongdoings, the bodies had been held in a progression of areas around Adelaide for quite a while, and were moved to Snowtown in mid 1999, late in the wrongdoing spree that had traversed quite a long while. Stand out casualty…

    • 287 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Saving Sourdi Analysis

    • 1319 Words
    • 6 Pages

    “Once, when my older sister, Sourdi, and I were working alone in our family’s restaurant, just the two of us and the elderly cook, some men got drunk and I stabbed one of them. I was eleven” (Chai, 2001). The opening statement to, “Saving Sourdi” written by May-lee Chai, set the tone for the narrative. Nea, the narrator, clearly expresses her strong feelings of love and protectiveness for her older sister, Sourdi. She also gives the impression that she is young, immature, and confused about the world around her. There is also a bit of foreshadowing in the beginning of the story. It starts off in a predicament…

    • 1319 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This would be a beautiful love story except for this couple was an interracial one and their home state of Virginia did not condone marriages between Caucasians and African-Americans. Yes, it was 1958 but the law had been in place since 1924. It didn’t matter that the couple, Mr. Richard Loving and Miss. Mildred Jeter, were legally married in Washington, DC. They returned eager to begin their life as one but was jailed. The state of Virginia upheld their law and the Lovings were sentenced to a years imprisonment. The nice judge suspended their time but they had to agree to leave Virginia and not return for 25 years. The Lovings family returned to Washington, DC but decided to visit family in Virginia. During this visit they were again arrested. During this time Mrs. Loving sought out assistance from the Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.…

    • 564 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    they essentially decide to get married, despite knowing the identities of each other and the…

    • 2681 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Loving Vs Virginia Essay

    • 595 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In June of 1958, Mildred Jeter and Richard Loving married in the District of Columbia. They were residents of Virginia but due to Virginia’s laws they weren’t able to marry within their state. The state of Virginia prevented marriages based on racial classification. After the couple married they returned to their home state in Caroline County where they were then charged for violating Virginia’s ban on interracial marriages. The Loving’s went to court and was sentenced to a year in jail. However, the judge suspended the trial for twenty-five years on the condition that the Loving’s wouldn’t return to Virginia for those twenty-five years.…

    • 595 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    John Steinbeck was born and raised in Salinas California. The story Of Mice and Men takes place in Soledad California, a few miles south of Salinas. This influenced Steinbeck writing. He knows all about this part of California and how the people were treated. There were farms everywhere. According to John Steinbeck's biography that part of the country was considered “the Salad Bowl of the Nation.” Being his home town it influenced him so much that he even wrote a novel about Salinas called East of Eden. The story Of Mice and Men emphasizes on how lonely ranchers are. He must have seen this during his early life in Soledad, and proceeded to write about it. In his biography It said that in 1933 he wrote to a friend “I think I would like to write…

    • 153 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Secret Life Of Bees Essay

    • 597 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The book includes many examples of how race and culture specifically affect relationships, whether it be platonic or romantic. One example in The Secret Life of Bees, is when Lily is introduced to Zachary Taylor, a junior at the local black high school, who soon becomes her close friend and love interest. This is ironic because the book takes place in South Carolina during the early 1960s, an era driven by civil rights protests and movements. In fact, up until June of 1967, a white person and a black person could not legally get married due to the miscegenation laws. The supreme court nullified the laws on account of them being unconstitutional. However, “…it took time for the changes to be enforced. South Carolina did not officially amend its state constitution to remove miscegenation laws until 1998, and Alabama’s laws stayed on the books until 2000” (Warnes 1). Exposing students to similar social rebellion that would occur in that time period provides an educational understanding of or on how society’s approach on culture has changed over the past 50 years. One can observe this societal change…

    • 597 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    to kill a mocking bird

    • 349 Words
    • 2 Pages

    "She was white, and she tempted a *****. She did something that in our society is unspeakable: she kissed a black man. Not an old Uncle, but a strong young ***** man. No code mattered to her before she broke it, but it came crashing down on her afterwards." (20.43-45)…

    • 349 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    There was a time when racial and ethical issues were far more detrimental to one’s life than they are today. In the short stories “The Welcome Table” by Alice Walker and “Country Lovers” by Nadine Gordimer they tell of life during that time. Both authors were women born during a time of terrible racial and gender inequality. These two short stories share the similarities of theme, plot, some form, some of the content, and use of imagery and the differences of point-of-view, some form, some of the content such as characters and setting, and the style with uses of tone, irony, and symbolism.…

    • 3064 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Supreme Court Cases

    • 635 Words
    • 3 Pages

    A interracial couple in Virginia were planning to get married. When they signed the papers for the marriage to happen, the state saw that they were different races. The state canceled the marriage and sent the two lovers to jail as it went against as it is a "...felony for a white person to intermarry with a black person or a black person to intermarry with a white person." The couples appealed their arrest to the Supreme Court of Virginia. The court ruled with the state, stating that it preserved "racial integrity". Years after the couples were released from prison, the judgement of the Supreme Court of Virginia was proved wrong later by Justice Potter Stewart, a experienced politician, argued that it doesn't go with the equal rights protection in the constitution. Quickly, the law was removed from…

    • 635 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    People are born free, equal in their dignity and rights. and no one today can argue that this is a wrong statement. And most of the states today seek and stepping forward to reach the absolute justice and equality, the opposite of discrimination and racism, which are the first indicators of communities falling apart, fall of justice, the fall of principles and and the collapse of values.…

    • 141 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Interracial Couples

    • 2405 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Peter points that "interracial sex characterized as a forbidden fruit and interracial marriage as a match so inappropriate that it jeopardized the social order". Also he points that during the late 1800s and early 1900s white men were trying to find erotic pleasure from the prostitutes whom were black. The black individuals had neither opportunity in education, or in employment. On the other hand, white women (was) were forbidden in curbing men‘s "animal instinct" and as a result, African-American women delivered themselves into prostitution. And from thereafter, the story between races goes on; it was the first attraction between races.…

    • 2405 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Best Essays

    Thebedi and Paulus’ attraction to each other was unforbidden and socially not acceptable in the South 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 black hired hands, slaves, or servants who worked on the Eysendyck’s family farm. The…

    • 3833 Words
    • 16 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nadine Gordimer's short story of a young white girls encounter with a black boy has themes of controversial sexual difference. The story begins with a clever prophetic metaphor, ‘reversal of elements' where the white sky is blackened by smoke. This speaks of the role reversal that is about to take place between the races of the boy and the girl. It warns us that there is going to be meeting and it won't be a particularly pleasant one. The title itself incurs thoughts of a romantic meeting, similar to the title of a Hollywood film. This gives the reader a clue that there is a sexual theme in this story.…

    • 1047 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The farmer’s son Paulus Eysendyck shared numerous stories about school, and the punishment at school with an African American farm child name Thebedi in which he exaggerated. Paulus would take walks at night and Thebedi would just wander away from the kraal and meet up with him at the dried up river bed. They never arranged any of their meetings it was something they both shared through emotion. Thebedi gave Paulus a feeling inside in which no one else has ever done or could even do, she made him feel good and they both could be themselves around each other. The two of them knew these relations they had were wrong and can cause major controversy and leading to extreme consequences. In this time it was illegal for whites to date black people but Paulus and Thebedi looked beyond this they were in love and was not going to stop seeing each other. Thebedi would enter the home of the Eysendyck’s whenever they were away to spend time with Paulus but would have to be out by dawn before the servants would arrive. It was clear that the two of them had a very intimate relationship in which they both loved.…

    • 725 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays