The tragedy of confusing personal desires for political ideals - Essay Example

?My Son’s Story by Nadine Gordimer The tragedy of confusing personal desires for political ideals My Son’s Story is a complex tale of struggle and disillusionment that traces a painful pilgrimage and discovery of a South African family as it fights against the divisive power of Apartheid. The story takes the reader through a blurred vision that transforms a young boy into a writer and traces Sonny’s evolution as a political activist. The story traces Sonny’s convoluted life after he abandoned his teaching profession and joined political activism against the Apartheid government. In this story, Gordimer seeks the reader’s reexamination of self knowledge, social responsibility, political conviction, and personal desire. On leaving his teaching profession for political activism against Apartheid, Sonny supposedly gains what he aspired for – Hannah Plowman. In the beginning, Sonny was unaware that his commitment to political activism would entail loss of his family and integrity. His fate was given impetus by the fact that, in his endevours, he confused political ideals; he had initially, with his personal desires. Sonny, a colored man, is an avid reader of Shakespeare. He is a school teacher turned into a social activist against Apartheid regime. He is married to a beautiful, mature, and gently-legal Aila. They have two children, Will and Baby. Although Sonny has a stable family with a wife and two children, he begins a passionate affair with Hannah Plowman who works for a Human Rights Organization allied to Sonny’s political movement. Ultimately, he gains Hannah and loses not only his credibility in the freedom movement, but also in his family. As the novel starts, non-whites react to the Apartheid system through indifference and complicity. For most of them they wondered “What did it matter that the seaside hotels…pleasure grounds…were not for us?”(Gordimer 21). This was cognizant of the fact that they could not afford being in these places, even if the restrictions were to be lifted. On the other hand, resistance is evident among some non-whites like Sonny who could not be contained in Kafka’s position that the source of people’s power resided in their submission (17). It is from this ideology that Sonny, like many other colored people of the time, realized their responsibility in the struggle and together with “the blacks were clustering around enormous ideas. Equality...” (23). The bold move by school children triggered Sonny’s political idea when the colored ones united and referred to the blacks as their siblings. At this point, Gordimer is seeking to develop the political ideals in Sonny, who initially was as complacent to the apartheid regime as any other colored South African. In this development, we see children carrying posters down the streets pronouncing “We don’t want this rubbish education…” (25-26). The school children were unstoppable in their quest and resistance, hence, Sonny, being a teacher, attempted to pacify the violence and preached peaceful means. As a result, the school children changed to wearing t-shirts with freedom messages every day (31). This reaction by school children gave Sonny a second thought, and he begins to reexamine his non-political nature amidst apartheid oppression. This was a reversal for Sonny when “people in communities like his own… saw him for the first time in a newspaper photograph” (31). When the resistance movement began, Sonny joined them. A formal organization of resistance approached him to form a local committee. He would become a regional executive in the committee and from this position he made his first speech titled Words Too, are Stones, which commenced his long journey as a resistant and activist against Apartheid (32). At this moment, Gordimer positioned, amidst Apartheid victims, a determined, visionary person who has sacrificed his profession to join activism and save young generation from the tantrums of Apartheid. When Sonny joins the anti-Apartheid movement, he is dismissed from Civil Service and unable to secure a post in government departments, but his supporters “… found a job for him…” (35). This shows that there were rich people who could support the activists by bailing them out and even providing the arrested a chance to flee abroad. The story treats the reader to a psychological struggle when Sonny requests his wife to stop her involvement to the community development because to him “it is humiliating to take from them…” and he urged her to “let them have it”(40). His wife was a member of a committee that funded non-whites to move and live in white neighborhoods among the whites. This was meant to challenge the whites when they saw their children playing with the black kids and; thus, they could be ashamed of their superiority complex. Sonny was against this idea and he states to his wife “dirty knees all look the same color...we don’t need them [the whites]” (42). As the story unravels, we realize that Sonny’s involvement in the struggle makes him lose his familial integrity. Gordimer’s story delves into the issue when one day, his son Will sees his father at the theatre with a white blond woman called Hannah. Will is shocked when he saw his father in such a scene and he developed a hatred and jealousy towards his father. Although he is disappointed in his father as a hero, the latter sadly convinces him to cover for him and lie about what he saw. Gordimer at this point succeeds in reducing Sonny to the mercies of his son regarding his begged conspiracy to lie. Will later, as he narrates the story, opens up that “I’ve been the cover for both of them [his mother and his sister]” (234). Throughout the novel, Will is never free, he feels guilt and anger about his father’s deception and unfaithful life. Although he tries to shield his mother and sister against this agony by keeping silence, he is extremely insulted when he finally realizes that his sister and mother know about his father’s affairs. It is from this point that unfaithfulness starts affecting Sonny’s family; therefore, he has lost his vision and integrity as a family man. The growth of intimacy in marriage is put on the spot as Gordimer examines the effects of adultery to Sonny’s children, his wife and later his commitment to the movement. It was as if his decision to follow his political and social struggle entailed a sacrifice for his family and marriage. Sonny desires to have a white woman and like his son Will, he is ready to do anything to have Hannah. Sonny’s choice to join political activism affects his family in the way where his wife and daughter also get into politics. This was the start of total separation and alienation of Sonny from himself and family as Will realizes that his mother and sister have joined the political action. Baby joined the military wing in his father’s anti-Apartheid movement and his mother was exiled after her arrest for subversive activities. Sonny is arrested and jailed for this is a price he had to pay for pursuing his political ambitions. In this mix and twists of events, Sonny loses his family and is left with Hannah. His son Will is left to narrate the story of his father’s quest and family (276). As a result, Sonny loses his touch with his family and his children do not get much from their father. This is depicted in his daughter Baby who in her late teenage years dances to an unacceptable music in queer clothes against her parents’ chagrins. In conclusion, Gordimer tries to examine the results of paternal negligence in pursuit of personal desires and social justice. As Sonny perpetrates open infidelity against his family and disregard of political ethics and prudence, he loses entire family. His son remains to write his intimate affairs with another woman; his daughter joins a military group and his wife is arrested. At the height of struggle, after Sonny has lost everything, his mistress secures a passport and flies to continue her profession in her home country as Sonny is left to wallow in jail. His involvement in political struggle in Apartheid South Africa has cast the family into an endless chain of distrust, deception, and loss. Works Cited Gordimer, Nadine. My Son’s Story. New York: Penguin, 1990. Print. Read More