Racial Discrimination In The Welcome Table by Alice Walker & Country Lovers by Nadine Gordimer - Research Paper Example

? Racial Discrimination In “The Welcome Table” by Alice Walker & “Country Lovers” by Nadine Gordimer Racial Discrimination The poem “The Welcome Table” by Alice Walker and also the story “Country Lovers” by Nadine Gordimer are perfect exhibitions of art which portray animosity and discrimination with regard to ethnic and racial boundaries. They are comprised of representations of the kind of treatment that the black people had to go through. Both of them contain and display black women as victims of discrimination and biases solely because of their unique color. These pieces of immaculate context present us with an advocacy of the torment and agony that these women encounter during their existence right between a prejudiced and opposing society which captivates a reader’s thoughts and gives them a pinch of realization what scales of torment the blacks suffered. They present an insight to the historical racial and ethical discrimination which created divides among the society and promotes inequality and creates distinct classes. Native Americans have been the target of devious and repugnant acts during the past few centuries and not the slightest of chances were missed to oppress them. Numerous pieces of artwork have been presented, time and time again and passed onto coming generations, which have talked about racial discrimination. Both, the poem and story, reflect a time which stretches back to the biggest divide of people when there was immense racial and ethical segregation and apartheid and what the oppressed people had to experience. They project the intensity of the suppression and injustice enforced upon a particular group and that such differences were stimulated by a racist society rooting to cast, creed, religion, marriage and education which fueled further partition and develop dichotomy. The color of skin acted as a ticket to supremacy and benevolence for the white, whereas the same was the ticket to oppression, suppression, disgust, disgrace and abuse for the black people. The black people were looked down upon as the peasants or a socially abandoned cluster. White people held importance, respect and an upper hand without any particular justification whereas all the sins and immorality were reserved for the blacks who got treated in the meanest way possible. Whatever that was performed by a white got symbolized as pride of a human whereas anything that a black did was considered disgusting and was labeled as the sick of the society. It all widened the social gap and created rifts. (Walker, Spohn, & DeLone, 2007) Amidst all sorts of discrimination, there existed gender discrimination too. This further tormented the black women of society. Being a black woman came down as a curse upon humans, as women were the biggest sufferers of the American society. Firstly they suffered through the tortures of racial discrimination which was followed by gender discrimination as they were thought of as the weak and destitute. This tyranny made their lives even more miserable. They were tortured, both physically and mentally, and were forced to do servile work so that their suffering could mount much more. They were considered as the last and the most weak people down the discriminated and the oppression hierarchy. (Walker, Spohn, & DeLone, 2007) Anybody who tried to stand against or question the tyranny brought down upon the black people, was executed and served as an example for other blacks to remain cautious and to remain the lower class they were granted. There were an extremely large number of families who were persecuted, excruciated and killed. Moreover, this savageness and inhumanity was persistent until black people started realizing their rights and liberty which was a result of the liberation movements, lead by efficacious, influential and dominant personalities and leaders proving to be the beacon of hope and equality. Malcolm X and Martin Luther King are great examples of being the pioneers of equality and justice for black people. They inspired people to fight for their rights and gain equal recognition and opportunities and eradicate segregation that prevailed at that time and remove any differences between white and black people (Mastin, 2010). The theme or central idea of a poem or story is an artistic standpoint of particular proceedings and happenings which link up to the theme and creates a clear understanding of what the motive of the story or poem really is. One idea gets distributed into tributaries of a hierarchy of thoughts and ideas maintaining the link with the premier central idea forming up one purposeful story. The fundamental and significant theme of the story and poem is discrimination with regard to racial and ethnic patterns along with some small themes which architect the whole idea and merge them into one basic piece of work. Alice Walker, credited for the poem “The Welcome Table”, herself is an African American who holds great experience in writing novels, stories and poems which project the problems and issues that the African American women encountered. She has been active in her work during the Civil Rights Movement too which served as a contribution to the society. She created awareness and made people realize how to battle sexism, racism and other discrimination modes which they face in the American society. “The Welcome Table” is a poem about an old black woman which flows with religious symbolism used abundantly used by the poet. She has used strong adjectives and different colors which provide sources of representations of crude truth and inequality. This immense usage of symbolism and representation has added meaning and deep thought to her work which makes the readers realize the intensity of the discrimination. “The Welcome Table” is a poem which deeply reflects racial discrimination through the aspect of religion. The poet has put forward a thought provoking approach how racial discrimination had not been away from any aspect of life for the black people and followed them like a shadow. People worship God in churches and offer their prayers with pure intentions and hope to get answered. Every religion teaches its followers to spread peace, love and exchange respect with each other putting aside the differences so that there is peace and harmony. In this poem, “poor grey Georgia earth” is an old black woman, who basically reflects the racially discriminated society; she is looked upon with arrogant eyes by the white people as she enters the church and gives them a shock. The poem begins with a spiritual song ‘sit at the welcome table’ which links up to that black woman who wants to lighten up her heart by sharing her misery and pain with Jesus because she has nobody else to listen to her grievances. Despite of being a black she ignores the color issue and enters the church, which is a promotion of a religious thought that everybody is equal. She is opposed by people like the priest who tries to enforce upon her that she is lost and mislead from the ‘black or wrong’ church that she must have wanted to go. One noticeable fact that the poet tries to portray is that even sacred, pure and righteous personalities like the priest may be wrong at times. Ignoring the priest’s claim she remains determined and takes up a seat where all the white people are situated. However, she is forced out of the church by the men present there and is refrained from sitting which is a clear sign of inequality which also reflects the prejudiced behavior of a society which thinks and makes decisions according to what the majority is doing even if they are wrong. The woman then sings a caliginous song while strolling on the road deeply shocked by the reaction of the people in the church. Then the poem takes a leap from misery to contention as she witnesses a familiar face walking down the road, which lights and brightens up her face with contention, as to her amusement that face is of Jesus who addresses her, and says ‘follow me’ and walks away with her. The poet uses immaculate skills in switching from one perspective to the other. She has momentarily switched points of views from the old black lady to the white people and also the white women. The poems exhibits that nobody’s prayer is left unanswered and that there’s always an end to grievances if one remains steadfast and determined. It also displays that God treats everybody equally and that no matter if we’re made different, we still belong to the same creator. It shows that after every night dawns a new day. Therefore it proves to be a lesson for people that they should not lose hope for they will be answered some day. Nadine Gordimer, the author of “Country Lovers” is a political advocate and writer from South Africa. She has come up with numerous works of writing related to racial and ethical issues that prevailed in her country specially focusing on apartheid which had become intense. She carried her worry about apartheid and brought it under limelight in the story efficiently. The poem “The Welcome Table” is a reflection of racial discrimination in social and religious aspect, whereas the story “Country Lovers” is just a reflection of racial discrimination within a social frame. However, the themes of both these works present the same idea. “Country Lovers” also presents a theme of racial discrimination which is bolstered by smaller themes of love, negotiations and hardships that result from loving someone, effectively constructing the story. The story came into being amidst the time when racial discrimination was in the air of Africa and there was no stopping it. Interactions between black and white people were discouraged and were thought to be the most disgusting thing in that time due to which interracial relations were strongly prohibited. Contrasted with this story, the poem “The Welcome Table” stimulates the approach that racial differences could further stretch into religious symbolism. “Country Lovers” contains two protagonist characters, Thebedi who is a black girl, and Paulus Eysendyck who is a white boy. This story draws back to the time of apartheid, and portrays Paulus’ father as a farm owner and Thebedi’s father as a worker on his plantation, which further exhibits how blacks had to be the workers or peasants and white people were the masters or owners in some sense. Paulus and Thebedi knew that any sort of relationship between them publicly could have resulted in catastrophe as interracial relations and bonds were totally prohibited during the existence of apartheid. When both of them were children they used to play with each other but gradually as they matured in teenage their relation mould into a sexual relation which for the time did not worry them. Despite the complexities in their time, Thebedi and Paulus managed to build a relationship and started being blissful and endearing towards each other by carrying on intimacy and physical relations. They stood with each other for so long that they observed the entire physical and mental maturity in each others’ body and mind. The story displays how they lose chastity and innocuousness at the hands of physical and sexual greed. (custodio) As the story progresses, Paulus shifts abroad to carry on with his studies but his childhood affection with Thebedi remains strong and they pursue their relationship despite spells of distances between them. They do have an idea about the consequences of their vulnerability but they do not back out so easily. This strong relationship turns from affection to young admiration and instills into them sexual curiosity which later develops a scary face. This relation takes an unusual turn when Thebedi bears Paulus’ child but she gets married to a compassionate black man, Njabulo, in the absence of Paulus who is unaware of these situations. To Paulus’ shock, Thebedi delivers a fair skinned baby. Despite the difference in color, Njabulo accepts the child and is happy to raise the baby. This frustrated Paulus as to how he should deal with the situation and thus he visits Thebedi. He suggests her to get rid of the child or move away from the place as the fair skinned baby could turn out to be an obvious piece of evidence for people, that they both had sexual relations with each other which were strongly unacceptable by the people. After Paulus considers every alternative that he could think of, he finds it to his ease to kill the child and get rid of him and therefore kills the baby. It was to Paulus’ ease to kill the child as Thebedi being a black woman couldn’t restrain prejudiced Paulus from killing his own child despite their aged relation. This clearly shows that no matter how deep and intimate relations existed between Paulus and Thebedi, the sense of discrimination overpowered the feeling of fatherhood that least existed in Paulus which urged him to kill the baby. Gordimer efficiently utilizes her skills of imagery in the best possible manner. She adopts a caliginous yet captivating and powerful style to keep her readers interested till the end of the story. At the end she portrays the parting of ways for Thebedi and Paulus due to racial differences. The story presents and provokes thoughts that racial discrimination had won by overpowering love at that time and that a black woman was helpless in saving her own child (Kenyon, 1989) Both pieces of artwork present to us a similar approach and lesson to be learned from historical events and stories. Since the author and the poet themselves are women, they seem to understand the sufferings and pain of the black women in early times, which eased them into displaying the insanity among the minds of white people who considered themselves supreme. They have marvelously sketched the happenings into their words for people to have a deeper insight to the persecutions upon the black people. It brings to focus the fact how vice spread into the hearts of racist people like a disease which could take them to such a low extent of killing one’s own offspring. It teaches us that we should be patient and persistent and never leave the beacon of hope that can drag us out from miserable times. God loves all His creations and has kept equality among humans and always answers His creatures’ cries and prayers. It is upon the people to choose a path for themselves after judging, if it will turn out to be good or bad for them instead of spending a life like animals who take into consideration strengths and weaknesses, skin color, race and ethnicity. Sometimes what people in majority think, practice or perform is not bound to be the right thing. People can be deviating from the right path which seems correct to them, but in reality it is the total opposite. The poem and story brings to our focus how the black people, especially the black women, were subjected to torment, torture, suppression and oppression throughout their existence and how helpless were they to not even raise their voice against this insanity. Conclusively, both, the author and the poet, have used superb writing skills to captivate readers’ thoughts and urge them to read further on. References: -Mastin, J. B. (2010, August). Black Womanhood: "Essence" and its Treatment of Stereotypical Images of Black Women. Retrieved from http://casaraelgibson.squarespace.com/storage/40034332.pdf -Walker, A. (1974). In love & trouble: Stories of Black women. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich -Gordimer, N. (1986). Six feet of the country. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books. -Walker, S., Spohn, C., & DeLone, M. (2007). The color of justice: Race, ethnicity, and crime in America. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning -custodio, l. (n.d.). Country Lovers by Nadine Gordimer, an Analysis. Retrieved from Hub Pages: http://leecustodio.hubpages.com/hub/Country-Lovers-an-Analysis -Kenyon, O. (1989). Nadine Cordimer. Retrieved from http://bths.enschool.org/ourpages/auto/2010/2/1/47903085/Country%20Lovers002.pdf Read More