The Power of the Pen - Essay Example

? Comparison Comparison In the world of Literature, many have made influence through their captivating works, their s,expression and most of all, their themes. The power of pen has been used since as long as one can remember. Even controversial topics like racism and ethnicity did not prevent writers from writing on it and voicing their opinion on it. The literary works under spotlight here are “The Country Lovers” written by Nadine Gordimer, a South African activist who worked exceptionally hard to protect the rights of Blacks in South Africa. A lot of her literary work revolved around the issues of racism. Her main focus was to provide rights to the Blacks and give them a representation in the society. She has a literature Nobel prize to her name, along with eight novels and over two hundred short stories to her credit. The other form of literature that will be scrutinized is “What it’s like to be a black girl?” a poem by the famous Patricia Smith. Smith, also an activist wrote this specific poem to explain the feelings of a black girl, growing up to be a woman in a time when blacks were despised severely. (What its like to be a black girl, Poetry - CollegeTermPapers.com, 2013; Post Colonial Analysis of "Country Lovers" by Nadine Gordimer, 2013) “The Country Lovers” is a short story written by Nadine Gordimer, and it forms the second part of the story called “The Town and Country Lovers”. With the scene set in countryside, the story revolves around two protagonists namely: Thebedi and Paulus. Thebedi is a black girl and Paulus happens to be the son of her white masters. Thebedi and Paulus have spent their entire childhood together; hence, when they grow up into teenagers, they get attracted to each other and fall in love. What they experienced cannot be typically termed as love, but they were physically involved and their love blossomed as they were over whelmed by the strength of emotions that they felt. Now in those times, interracial relationships were forbidden, which meant that it was close to committing a sin, hence, this whole relation was kept as a secret. Time passes with the way things are and Thebedi gets pregnant, but she hides this fact from Paulus. Paulus till such time was carrying on with his own life and Thebedi was getting married to a man named Njabulo, who had been in love with her for quite some time. When Thebedi gives birth to a daughter, her appearance raises questions because the girl, carrying her father’s genes is light in color and has colored eyes. Njabulo, being a sincere husband does not question this and treats the child like his own. As word travels, Paulus gets to know about the child and in an instance realizes the daunting truth. He pays a visit to Thebedi and asks her to five the child to someone else as it is a proof of their sin. On insisting, Thebedi leaves Paulus alone with the child and after a day, the girl dies. The matter is taken to court as Thebedi swears to confess that Paulus had poisoned her child. However, on the day of the trial, Thebedi fails to confess and says she did not “see” Paulus poison the baby. Hence, Paulus is freed without any charges due to the lack of evidence. (Country Lovers, 2013) This short story brings into focus the problems of being in an “interracial”, “forbidden” love. (Post Colonial Analysis of "Country Lovers" by Nadine Gordimer, 2013) It not just explains the problems that the protagonists, especially the female encountered, but it also portrays perfectly the thinking of the people in those times. The story remarkably portrays the female as the vulnerable character as men mostly get away with their acts easily. As the story was staged for the 20th century, a time when racial discrimination was at its peak, the role of Thebedi shows the negatives of being a black and a woman at the same time. Her character was questioned when her child turned out to be light in colored. Paulus’s selfish act of saving his reputation from being damaged, and poisoning the child to death did not affect him as much as it did to Thebedi. She lost an infant, and her motherhood was put under a grave test. (Country Lovers by Nadine Gordimer, an Analysis, 2013) In the end of the story, Thebedi’s statement “It was a thing of our childhood, we don’t see each other anymore”, shows her hesitation to even show the slightest bit of association with a white man who has such high prestige in the society. Her love, however was true, she decided to overcome her motherly instinct and instead protected her childhood sweetheart. The braveness of Gordimer has to be applauded, picking up such a controversial topic in times when it was looked at with total disgrace. Her move to write on this topic in such elaborate and open detail is worth mentioning. Gordimer’s classic expression and balance of characters adds an extra punch to the story. The poem by Patricia Smith, on the other hand deals with the problem of ethnicity in a totally different manner. Firstly, the form of writing differs; she addresses the topic in a poetic form. The poem “What it’s like to be a black girl?” is about a young black girl developing into a woman. The development is not just physical, but it shows her mental growth as well. The structure of the poem is rather ragged and not rhythmic. Its strong language content throws off the reader a bit, but then one can understand that with the seriousness of the issue, the language becomes necessary. (What its like to be a black girl, Poetry - CollegeTermPapers.com, 2013) The poem shows a transition of a girl to a woman. The feelings she goes through, the incomplete feeling that bothers her, till she hits her teens. This incomplete feeling again, is not restricted to physical changes, but she can see the way society views her and she is stepping into that phase where people will look at her with a clear feeling of repulsion. Smith says “It’s being 9 years old and feeling like you’re not finished, like your edges are wild, like there’s something, everything, wrong.” This verse portrays the confusion of puberty bothering the young girl, the incomplete feeling mentioned earlier. “It’s dropping food coloring in your eyes to make them blue and suffering their burn in silence. It’s popping a bleached white mop head over the kinks of your hair and primping in front of the mirrors that deny your reflection.” This verse shows the urge of the little girl to feel accepted in the society scarred with color and race. She wants to be a part of the white people and have colored eyes theirs and no distinguishing feature that sets her apart from everyone else. The rejection in society is so great that she feels like putting color in her eyes to make them blue, and bleach her hair to make it blonde, and in the while suffer all the pain in silence if the result if her becoming close to a white, however, for her “its flame and fists and life according to Motown.” This means that she has to deal with a lot of vocal disgrace and be subjected to fights and the sadness of Motown music. She ends her poem with the dreams of the little girl in a white dress, like every normal girl she has a fantasy of having a loving man for a husband and looking pretty in a white dress. But she knows that this fantasy will also become a dreadful reality due to the difficulties of surviving in the society. (What its like to be a black girl, Poetry - CollegeTermPapers.com, 2013) Both the literary creations have their own ways of being spectacular and absolutely fantastic. As much as they are controversial, they are very close to reality and happen to show a very ugly part of the early nineteen hundreds. As compared to those days, today a lot of awareness has spread regarding racism, but in those times, it was a serious problem and the minorities had to deal with a lot of issues. The engaging content of the poem and the story both makes you feel the pain the protagonists are witnessing. The dilemma of being a black becomes a punishment, rather than an identity. People view them with disgrace and fail to understand that looks are only secondary to what a person is from the inside. Clearly, Thebedi was a lovely person on the inside, but sadly she wasn’t cared for properly. On the same hand, the little girl, in her own immature way is innocent just like every other white girl. Her color is not her fault, and it was about time that she stopped being punished for something that is not, was not and will never be in her hand. The story by Gordimer portrays the forbidden love between two people who belong to different races. It revolves around true love and how difficult it is for such love to blossom and grow. Gordimer takes the story in a very fascinating manner introducing the readers to the setting of those times and the types of people. The difference between their races is not the only thing that stands in their way, but the difference in their class and status stands to be a big problem. Another part of the story is the character and true love of a woman, and the difficulties she faces in the society after being in a relationship. The poem on the other hand, focuses on the girl only. It does not discuss relationships with white people; instead it just portrays the feelings of that little girl living in racist society. Patricia Smith uses harsh language in order to bring to attention the seriousness of the matter. The girl is a girl after all, she has the normal feelings that every girl experiences. The confusion of growing up, the changes that are taking place within her, also, she sees the different way in which people look at her. She realizes that she is very unusual, and that her survival in society will be jeopardized with people constantly looking down at her and viewing her with disgrace. Both authors are extremely successful in getting their message across to the people. It makes one realize the importance of unity and equality. Racial discrimination has been an issue that needed to be addressed openly one day or the other. And both these ladies have managed to do this job bravely. Both women from the early times witnessed the racial discrimination at the peak; hence they revolted to the trend and tried to bring about a change. The main thing common in both these literary notes is the oppression that black women have to face. In the short story, Thebedi faces the mocking of society on the birth of her daughter, at the same time she has to face the lack of support of Paulus. The death of her new born child adds to her miseries and she cannot do anything about it. The poem on the other hand shows the way the little feels the need to change her appearance only in order to get accepted in society. The little girls feel that if she changes the color of her eyes and colors her hair, she might get viewed differently for a change. The importance of addressing this subject plays a vital role in the equality that we see today. Female oppression as well as racism gets covered in a smart fashion. Smith and Gordimer, both, obviously have a soft corner for the blacks and feel that they are being abused to some extent. The women want to make sure that the society sees the evil that its creating and the hardships they are creating for people and their future generations. Works Cited Country Lovers. (2013). Retrieved from 1STA English -: http://1staenglish.wikispaces.com/Country+Lovers Country Lovers by Nadine Gordimer, an Analysis. (2013). Retrieved from HubPages: http://leecustodio.hubpages.com/hub/Country-Lovers-an-Analysis Post Colonial Analysis of "Country Lovers" by Nadine Gordimer. (2013). Retrieved from Scribd. What its like to be a black girl, Poetry - CollegeTermPapers.com. (2013). Retrieved from What its like to be a black girl, Poetry - CollegeTermPapers.com: http://www.collegetermpapers.com/TermPapers/Poetry/What_its_like_to_be_a_black_girl.html Read More