LOVE AND APARTHEID IN SOUTH AFRICA Lucy Gifford ASHFORD UNIVERSITY ENG 125 JULY 24, 2011 CHRISTINE

HILGER, Ph.D.

Love and Apartheid in South Africa South African writer and political activist Nadine Gordimer was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Literature in 1991. This prolific writer was recognize d by Alfred Nobel at her award ceremony as a woman, Who through her magnificent e pic writing has been of great benefit to humanity. Nobel Prize.org 25 JUL2011 When apartheid laws were enacted in 1948, racial discrimination became l egal. Every imaginable part of life, including marriage, was influenced by race laws, which were strictly enforced. Non-whites were required to carry a pass bo ok, a legal document similar to a passport, which contained a photo, fingerprints , and information concerning to what areas this person had access. All rights of non-whites were strictly controlled, and interaction between whites and nonwhites were largely allowed only as employer-employee. Socializing between the races was not merely frowned upon but was punishable by law. http://www-cs-stud ents.stanford.edu/~cale/cs201/apartheid.hist.html Ms Gordimer s opposition to apartheid became the theme of most of her writing. T hat regrettable system was done away with in 1994, but as we have all been remin ded, Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. George Santay ana, Life of Reason I . In this paper, we shall discuss Country Lovers by Nadin e Gordimer and explore this work and the reasons for her use of a political issue as part of a love story. In this story, the author brings us a tale of two children who bond with each other while young and try to carry the relationship forward as young adult s in a country where such relationships are forbidden. Tragedy was bound to ens ue. The characters are Paulus Eysendyck, the son of the farmer for whom Thebedi , his childhood friend and her family, work. The trouble was, the author tells us , Paulus Eysendyck did not seem to realize that Thebedi was now simply one of the crowd of farm children down at the kraal. Clugston, R. Wayne (2010) At fifteen, Paulus had reached six feet in height. He had become accust omed to dancing and flirting with the girls and had begun to experiment, as is t he way with adolescents, in petting and had initiated his first experience with sex. Despite his new found experience with the daughters of wealthy farmers li ke his own father, at home for Christmas he still brought a gift for Thebedi. H e presented it secretly but only because he had no gifts for the other children at the krall. On this visit, he and Thebedi had accidentally met while on walks away from the krall. These two incidents set in motion the necessary elements for tragedy. Initially, the tone of this story was merely one of a mild curiosity: Where is this story going? At about this point, however, there began to be a tone of exp ectation, increasingly suspenseful. While the reader can clearly see the eventu al result, talented writer that this author undoubtedly is, she manages to keep the reader anxiously waiting in expectation of the reveal. On a hot day when the dried-up riverbed was flowing with water, they waded in as they had done as children. But they were no longer children and the results we re no longer child-like. When she was eighteen and he was nineteen, he went away to college and she marri ed a young man who asked her father for her. Two months after the wedding, she gave birth to a daughter. In this culture, this was no disgrace and her husband was not bothered: after all, this proves that she is not barren. Paulus, home for the holidays, learned that she had a two week old daughter and

went to the kraal to see for himself. Previously there had been no doubt that the two were in love, and the love seemed mutual and equal. As Paulus looked at the child, however, we are told, He struggled for a moment with a grimace of tea rs, anger, and self-pity. He said, You havent been near the house with it? Tears, a nger, and self-pity are regrettable, but calling their child it , while unforgivab le, is the definite mark of a white man in a racist society, a more serious flaw . He continued, Dont take it out. Stay inside. Cant you take it away somewhere. Y ou must give it to someone. Ill see what I can do. I dont know. I feel like kill ing myself. Clugston, R.Wayne (2010) Two days later he returned. She met him but did not invite him in. He went in to where the child lay, she did not follow but remained outside, watching from t he doorway. She may have heard small grunts, as from a baby with a full stomac h. When Paulus came out, he walked away with his fathers plodding gait. This is likely a symbol of his becoming his father, racist and sexist and totally self- a bsorbed. Njabulo, the husband, buried the small corpse and would have made a cross for th e grave, had not the police come to disinter the body. Someone had reported th at this nearly white, strong, healthy child had died suddenly after a visit from the farmers son. The pathology report stated that there were injuries not consi stent with a natural death. After a year, there was, finally, a trial. While the defense did not argue agai nst a relationship or even intercourse, they found no proof that the child was t he child of the accused. Thebedis evidence was not accepted and, further, she mig ht have been an accomplice, but (again) there was insufficient proof. When there is one group of people who have almost total control over another gro up, it becomes easy for those at the top to begin to think like Paulus. As trite as this statement may be, it is totally true: All power tends to corrupt, absol ute power corrupts absolutely. John Dalberg Acton, 1st Baron Acton, 1887 This writer was born in South African and lived almost her entire life there. He r father had suffered under anti-semitism, and, while he was apparently non-poli tical and took no interest in the anti-apartheid movement, his experiences undou btedly influenced Ms Gordimer. Her mother was more vocal in her displeasure wit h the political status quo. It should also be mentioned that, while Thebedi took no action to prevent Pa ulus act, many times when men are oppressed, women are doubly oppressed. They will be held down both by those who oppress their men and by the men themselves . It is very likely that she felt that there was nothing she could do because P aulus had been her lover and because he was white. He held all the cards so to sp eak. It is also very possible that if the positions had been reversed, if she h ad been the accused, she would have been convicted for much the same reasons tha t she felt unable to act. She would have been convicted because she was black a nd female.

References Clugston, R.Wayne Journey into Literature. Retrieved from: https://content. Ashford.edu/print/AUENG125.10.2?sections=ch00,ch01,sec1.1,h1.2,h1 http://www-cs-students.edu/~cale/cs201/apartheid.hist.html www/references.com Nobel Prize.com The Phrase Finder.com