Race Prejudice in Country Lovers and Child of America - Essay Example

? Discrimination and Race Prejudice A Comparison of Gordimer’s Country Lovers and Morale’s The Child of Americas Presented Discrimination and Race Prejudice Gordimer Nadine’s Country lovers is a narrative about a son of a white Master and a black girl in forbidden love. The narrative is about the love of the two children from different races. Though the love was forbidden, the two went ahead to bear a child after an escapade of sexual curiosity, where Thebedi got pregnant without Paulus knowing it. Paulus leaves for college and comes back to find Thebedi married to Njaburo, which had accepted the child as his own, though the child was from two different races. After learning about the child, Paulus takes actions and the child ends up dead mysteriously (Gordimer, 1989). The narrative therefore tells of the lives of two different races that are not supposed to mix, with the blacks acting as servants to the white master in working in the farms. On the other hand, Aurora Levins child of the Americas is a poem that tackles the social diversities that exist in the American society. The poem is about a girl born from Spanish parents, though she is an immigrant to America, and is at crossroads to discover her own identity in a country where she narrates to be composed of a rich breed of immigrants, as few can claim to be indigenous citizens of America. Therefore, both the poem and the narrative express rejection, discrimination along racial lines and the sufferings that the actors have to endure in these societies. The first lines in the poem Child of the Americans expresses rejection and confusion about a girl who cannot find her real identity. The lines “I am a child of the Americas…A child of many Diaspora, born into this continent at a crossroad…” (Morales, 1986) expresses a tone of rejection due to her racial background. As a descendant, the girl feels rejected as she cannot find her real roots as she is not a pure Spanish, but still has the roots of being an American. Though America is a country of descendants, the author exhibits rejection by the tone in which she tries to seek her real identity; implying the fact that all Americans are immigrants is not enough to stop racial segregation.  The lines “am not European, Europe lives in me” (Morales, 1986) could be taken to mean the first wave of immigrants believed to have moved from the European countries to America, and now seeking freedom from oppression or discrimination. By remarking that “Spanish is my flesh” the author promotes racial classes by recognizing herself with the Spanish origins, perhaps preferring being Spanish, compared to being an American. She illustrates being a mixture of several racial classes by asserting that “is not African, African lives in me” (Morales, 1986). The author takes the audience to the history of the forceful acquisition of the American tag for many Africans, taken to America during slave trade. Though these Africans have leant to live the American way and have accepted Americans their new home, their hearts are still in Africa, and they are considered by other races in America to be inferior compared to other white races. Likewise, in Country Lovers, there is a strong racial prejudice case, where one race considers themselves more superior compared to the rest, leading to subjection of the inferior race to rejection and discrimination. First, the audience is confronted with a forbidden love of a white boy and a black girl; Thebedi and Paula. The fact that this relationship is forbidden indicates the whites as represented by Paulus are superior to the blacks; they cannot consider the relationships as being acceptable to the society. In this society racial romance or love is forbidden and considered as a taboo, reflecting the extent of racism in the society. To illustrate this, Paulus told Thebedi,” each time, when they would meet again” as the two could not stomach being seen in public together, as a taboo in the society (Clugston, 45). Gender discrimination is profound in Country lovers as portrayed by Thebedi. First, Thebedi is segregated and discriminated for being black and second for being a woman. In the presence of a white man, Thebedi is absolutely powerless and has no rights. This is observed as Thebedi cannot prevent Paulus from killing her child, though the child had been accepted by Njaburo who promised to look after him. The fact that Paulus managed to kill the child with no resistance tells of the discrimination that girl suffered under the white man’s presence for being a girl, and then for being black. The child was a taboo as she was from a cross cultural and racial identity, meaning such a child cannot be given a chance to live as he is a taboo to the community, and to the superiority of a white man, who could be ridiculed for having sired a child with a poor black woman, someone far much below his class. This is the main reason behind the killing the child. As Clungston (2010) elaborates, the powerlessness of the Africans, particularly women in the hands of the white man is observed as Thebedi testifies in court. First, Thebedi explains to the t she had actually seen Paulus put something in the mouth of the child. A year later, she retracts this testimony and testifies that she did not actually see what the white man did in the house (Gordimer, 1989). Perhaps, Thebedi was threatened by the white man to retreat her earlier testimony to save the white boy from prosecution. This indicates the oppression and discrimination of the girl at the hands of the white family. Once again, as in the poem the Child of the Americans, the issue of being a confused person from a cross cultural identity resurfaces. As the personal in the poem narrates of her confusion in lack of an identity, in the narrative the country lovers, this confusion has to be eliminated to save him from future ridicule. The child had to be saved from this confusion, and hence was killed by Paulus. The aspect of discrimination and poverty is clear in the poem Child of the Americas by Morale. First the personal argue she is “a child of many Diasporas.” Being of many Diasporas as the persona states would reflect a person with no specific identity, as she cannot trace her roots. This is characteristic of many descendants of slave trade victim whose generations sometimes passed through different countries, especially in South American states before settling to America. In fact, the personal further states that I am U.S, Puerto Rican, Jew, a product of the ghettos of new York (Morales, 1986).The persona explains her origins as being from the South American states where many slaves found their way before being taken to America later in the slavery period. This brings out sentiments of oppression and mistreatment of the persona. Furthermore, the persona claims that she is a product of the ghettos of New York, and she had never known an immigrant and the daughter of an immigrant (Molare, 1986). The narrator confesses of her poverty as she explains her background to be the ghettos of New York, and explains that she has never known an immigrant. The ghettos are a preserve for the lowly and despised people, who can be considered to be economically discriminated, as they live in inhuman conditions, while the rest who consider themselves American live in proper housing. Ghettos are a preserve of immigrants, those with no jobs, low pay, and those who cannot afford decent living standards; they are considered to be people of lower class and whose dignity and identity do not really matter. The narrator explains the conditions in these ghettos as she states she cannot recognize the daughter of an immigrant, implying everybody in the ghettos had the same or similar characteristics; poverty. In the narrative Country Lovers, poverty and discrimination are set out by the two different lifestyles lived by the whites represented by Paulus and his family, and the blacks represented by Thebedi and her family. Paulus’ family as white family owns a large farm, in which Thebedi’s family and others work as servants (Gordimer, 1987). Being a servant in such a farm is characteristic of having a low wage job; meaning one has no education to fetch a decent job, and some may be have no land and live as squatters in their own land. The discrimination in these families is observed as Gordimer explains Paulus liked to flirt with girls from other prosperous farmers (Gordimer, 1987). On the other hand, blacks are in deep poverty and live in Kraals where the only thing they can do is exchange jokes as they have no money for outings like Paulus. This is portrayed by the belt bought by Paulus for Thebedi, after which Njaburo wishes he could be able to buy her a belt (Gordimer, 1987). The fact that Njabulo could not, and fact they lived in a kraal is evidence that farmers lived in poverty and in unhygienic conditions. In addition, Gordimer explains that while Paulus was out of school he could go to stroll in the farm with his dogs. Njaburo and Thebedi as children of farmers have no education, and the writer does not offer any hint that the two had attended schooling, implying the black farmers were discriminated upon in getting education, denying them empowerment, as portrayed by the actions of Paulus in killing the child while Thebedi watched helplessly, and even tried to defend him in a court of law. Thebedi went to town for the first time when she was testifying against Paulus (Gordimer, 1987). This tells of a local girl who was not exposed to the outside world, implying she had no formal education. This compared to the sorry state of Njaburos house as described as Paulus went to see the innocent child tells much about poverty and the discrimination the workers were living in, compared to the living standards of their master. Therefore, the narrative tells of the poverty and discrimination the farmers and their children were exposed to in the hands of their white famers. In the Country Lovers and the child of the Americas, different approaches in style are adopted to pass information in different perspectives. Furman (2007) elaborates that poetry may be thought to be an emotional microchip as it serves as a compact repository for emotionally charged experiences by individuals. The emotionally charged experience of the persona in the Child of Americas is observed as the persona tries to find her relative identity in a confused society where some discriminate others on their racial backgrounds, despite the fact America has no indigenous people, making everyone else an immigrant. The poem portrays the emotions of the persona as she tries to explain the inhabitants of America in trying to find her real identity, and in the process explains the injustice and discriminations suffered by people in the land. As the persona laments, she is made the way she is by history, which is an emotional description of her feelings about her real identity, which she cannot control. This is because; poetry presents the experience of an individual in a generalized way (Furman, 2007). On the other hand, Country Lovers is presented in a narrative format, and as Furman explains a narrative is a detailed way of presenting ideas in more elaborate way. In the narrative, Gordimer presents strong emotions derived from the experiences of the blacks in the hands of their white settlers. Particularly, more painful is the experience when Paulus gags the child to death. In this scenario, Gordimer presents the happenings systematically and in descriptive way to portray the mercilessness and brutality of whites against helpless blacks. The child though innocent and helpless does not resist and she dies slowly. The style of the narrative makes the audience to feel the pain and the suffering of these Africans in the hands of white farmers through reflecting on specific issues, an approach that a poem due to its generalization cannot achieve as required. The articulate form of presentation in Country lovers is more emotional as it makes the audience to feel the pain of Africans that the poem which is more generalized and require articulate analysis to elaborate the issues provided. The use of descriptive words as the style taken by Gordimer in the entire narrative to bring about a clear reflection to the audience is also more powerful than devices of poetry used by Morales. Both Country Lovers by Gordimer and the child of Americas by Morales portray cases of discrimination and the feeling of rejection though in different styles. While Morales chose to present the theme in poetry, which is a generalized way of presenting emotions and letting the audience to make subjective conclusions, Gordimer articulates the sentiments through detailed and descriptive presentation of ideas, which makes country lover to be more emotional, and attaches the emotions of the audience to the narration, compared to poetry. In both the narratives, racialism and prejudice among races leads to suffering of the weaker races, as some have a painful journey to find their real identities or pride, while the prejudice of a race as presented in county lovers segregate the weaker race to inhuman treatment. This is perceived by the sharp discrimination between the whites and Africans regarding education and lifestyles as well as observance of their rights. Therefore, the two narratives portray cases of discrimination and the suffering resulting from these prejudices. References Clugston, R. W. (2010). Journey into Literature. California: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. Furman, R.,(2007). Poetry and Narratives as Qualitative Data: Explorations into Existential Theory. Indo-Pacific Journal of Phenomenology, 7( 1), 1-9. Gordimer, N., (1989).Country Lovers http://bths.enschool.org/ourpages/auto/2010/2/1/47903085/Country%20Lovers002.pdf Morales, L. R, (1986) Getting Home Alive.  NY: Firebrand Books Read More