Apartheid

1038 words 5 pages
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Apartheid
Rusty Keller
ENG 125
David Makhanlall
October 15, 2013

Apartheid Children are often different from adults because they are often unaware of the rules that adults abide by. Nadine Gordimer held strong feelings of opposition to apartheid, which was a socioeconomic system in South Africa after 1948 that focused on the oppression and segregation of the non-white citizens who formed the majority of South Africa’s population, and her feelings are usually a dominate theme in most of her writing (Clugston, 2010). In her short story “Country Lovers,” Gordimer tells not only how this socioeconomic system has determinately affected the interracial relationship between the main charters, who were childhood playmates who …show more content…

These feelings and the loss of Thebedi and Paulus child ultimately came as a result of the control apartheid had over the both of them and their forbidden relationship, a tragic situation that was domed from the start. The control apartheid has over Thebedi is also illustrated in the part of the story in which Paulus is brought to trial for the accusation of not only being the baby’s father but also being responsible for the baby’s unfortunate demise (Clungston, 2010). Thebedi’s struggles with her not only the death of her child, but also her love for Paulus, and this is illustrated by Thebedi wearing of the gilt earrings that Paulus had bought her as a gift and her pergerous testimony. In the beginning Thebedi testifies that she had saw Paulus pour fluid down the baby’s throat, but later she testifies that she never saw what he done while he was in the house (Custodio, 2012). Thebedi’s true motive for giving the pergerious testimony can still be speculated, or even left up to each reader’s interpretation. The control apartheid and the worth of non-white citizen’s lives can be seen in Paulus being found innocent of all charges, even though, quite a bit of speculation remained (Clungston, 2010). If we look back into our own history to the time in which segregation and oppression of non-white citizens was a part of our countries legislation whites were often not held responsible for their actions as they pertained to the demise of the

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