Racism and Apartheid in South Africa: Compare and Contrast Essay on two short stories

Compare and Contrast Essay on two short stories
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Different authors apply different approaches to their narratives and apply different literal. Nordine and Walker are one of the best political literal scholars. Here their two narratives that are Country Lovers by Nardine Gordimer and The Welcome Table will be compared and contrasted on the basis of different literal skills
Conflict
In Nardine's story, "Country lovers" presents a setting where several individuals are in conflict due to the prevailing social setting. The two country lovers Paulus and Thebedi are born in an apartheid society where the prevailing philosophy is that the whites are superior to the blacks (Gordimer, 1975). They play as children together in the country and fall in love. However as grow and integrate further into the society, they realize that what was true in their childhood that there was no difference between the black and whites was actually a fallacy and as the racist ideas prevailing continue being implanted in their thoughts they both realize that their love is not justified in society. Paulus and Thebedi, therefore, although they are in love, they can only express themselves and any evidence of their love eliminated (murdering of Thebedi's baby) (Gordimer, 1975).
Walker's narrative introduces conflict in several contexts. First there is a conflict resulting from discrimination. The white population in the church discriminate the lady just because she is colored. In addition, a religious conflict is also evident where Christianity and Christians in general are supposed to accept everyone despite the state or situation they are in. However, there is a conflict here as these same Christians are the ones discriminating against their fellow Christians (Walker, 1970).
Characterization
In "Country Lovers", Nardine does a good job in characterization as she develops different characters that develop the theme and plot of the story. Thebedi has protagonist characteristics because she is smart and as she is able to hide her relationship with Paulus for over 18 years (Gordimer, 1975). However, she does not realize that the love she is protecting so much is unrealistic given the society they are living in. She realizes this when Paulus kills their child as to him it was so unacceptable that killing the child was the best option. Thebedi tries to pursue the case and she evens commits perjury in court, but when her attempts fail, the "apartheidic" reality finally dawns on her. Painfully she accepts the situation, but this works to transform her as she casually accepted that the love was a childhood thing that did not exist anymore and even bore a child with Njabulo as a sign of closure (Gordimer, 1975).
Paulus turns out to be the foil of this epic love story. He is in love with Thebedi and even disregards other girls of his own race. However, after joining school he starts engaging in sexual relationships with other girls, but still pretends to be faithful to Thebedi. He took other girls for movies in the modern town, but met Thebedi at the river side at night when no one would see him with her (Gordimer, 1975). He takes a completely divergent path when on hearing that Thebedi had a child that was white; he quickly resorts to malicious acts and denies the child. If that was not enough, he goes further to vehemently deny it and succeeds in this with the support of the justice system (Gordimer, 1975).
The judge in court is the minion in the narrative as he is quick to disregard Thebedi's arguments. The justice system at this time was white dominated hence served the interests of the white population. In addition the black population (women) and the police who unburied the dead baby can be perceived as the ficelle as they wanted to get to find out who the baby's killer was so that the person may be brought to justice.
In Walker's narrative the old lady is presented as the protagonist character. On her last days, she is determined to go to church to sit and pray. The reverends sentiments clearly indicate that she previously did not attend that church (Walker, 1970). However, her strong determination made her brush off the reverend, the usher, and the white church ladies that perceived her as filthy. The white women are presented as the antagonists who create the racist environment (Walker, 1970). They instill fear on the lady which she disregards for her course. Characteristic of a protagonist character in narratives she battles through the obstacles and receives the greater glory. Jesus here is characterized as the ultimate threshold guardian for the old lady as he provides the old lady with comfort and guidance and finally leads her to peace (Walker, 1970) .
Symbolism
Gordimer utilizes symbolism to depict the difference in economic status among the black and white in different forms. For example, in the way the gifts exchanged between Paulus and Thebedi. Thebedi's gift was "a bracelet she had made of thin brass wire and the grey-and-white beans of the castor-oil crop his father cultivated" while Paulus gift was a painted box he had made in his wood-work class" or "brought home from a shop in town a red plastic belt and gilt hoop ear-rings". Paulus gifts were home made with cheap local (farm) material which apart from the sentimental value they held were worthless. Paulus gift, on the other hand, were made with quality material or bought. This indicates the difference in economic status (Gordimer, 1975).
Furthermore, the description of Paulus' farm house, "the house was an old one, thick-walled, dark against the heat. The kitchen was its lively thoroughfare, with servants, food supplies, begging cats and dogs, pots boiling over, washing being damped for ironing… The sitting-room curtains were drawn and the T.V. set silent." this compared to Thebedi's farm house or the modern hut Njabulo had built for her indicate the difference in living standards among the white and black communities in rural South Africa at the time.
Walker utilizes symbolism in a similar ma...