Gordimer 's What Were You Dreaming?

| Relevant Biographical Information About the Author: * White * Born in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa in 1903 * Father was Scottish and mother was South African of English heritage * Worked at a reformatory with black youths

Brent Staples, author of “Just Walk on By: Black Man in Public Space.” discusses when the white woman he comes across one day late at night was constantly turning back as if she feared him for the way he looked. Brent highlights racism that has occurred to him during the 1970s. This encounter happened in an impoverished part of Chicago; he describes himself as a “youngish black man--a broad six feet two inches with a beard and billowing hair, both hands shoved into the pockets of a bulky military jacket” as he was walking late at night he did not understand why this woman was acting strange as if she feared him, and she

Zora Hurston wrote the essay ‘How It feels to be colored” in the 1920s. It is important notice that during that period a strong and open discrimination against black people existed. Racial segregation and unfair treatment added more constraints which made it more difficult for others to see beyond the skin color. The author writes and divides the essay in four different sections. Each part narrates and explains her childhood experience, black heritage, discrimination, social status and how she sees the world around her. As a starting point, Hurston utilized a strong phrase to clearly self-differentiate from others when she says: “I’m the only negro in the United States whose grandfather on the mother side was not an Indian Chief” (Hurston, 144). In the essay, she continuously emphasizes and express how proud she is of her heritage and constantly reminds us that we should be proud of who we are no matter the race, color or where we come from. What really matters is the contributions we as human beings can provide to the society where we live.

Near the beginning of the story, the grandmother heads toward the car with “a navy blue straw hat with a bunch of white violets on the brim and a navy blue dress” (O’Connor 501). The description of her outfit allows the reader to understand that she holds herself to a certain standard compared to the rest of her family. This same idea of holding oneself to a standard can also be found in Mitchell Owen’s article “The Function of Signature in ‘A Good Man Is Hard to Find’” stating that the grandmother is “very conscious throughout the story of what people are wearing, because to her it is through such things as clothing that one can externally reflect internal worth, even when worth is otherwise obscured by surrounding conditions” (Owens 102). When comparing the standards of Misfit to the grandmother, it becomes obvious that he the does not hold the same standards as her with “his hair just beginning to gray and [wearing] silver-rimmed spectacles that gave him a scholarly look. He [also] had on blue jeans that were too tight for him and was holding a black hat and gun” (O’Connor 507). The Misfit’s opposite choice in appearance in comparison to the grandmother helps establish how others view him, even though he does not care about how others view him. As the family’s road trip progressed, June Star, the daughter, noticed an African-American child standing on a house porch while seated in the back row. Questioning why the boy was wearing no “britches”, the grandmother explains to her that “little niggers in the country don’t have things like we do” (O’Connor 503). This racist statement and mockery towards the child’s impoverishment shows the reader that she too is not as well mannered as she perceives herself to be, proving that she does not uphold her moral standards. In Alex Link’s article “Means, Meaning, and Mediated Space in ‘A Good Man Is Hard to Find’” he shares the same view

On this one particular night, he notices a woman walking much further ahead of him and also notices that she is consistently look behind her, feeling threatened by his presence. He then talks about his description, saying that “To her, the youngish black man – a broad six feet two inches with a beard and billowing hair, both hands shoved into the pockets of a bulky military jacket—seemed menacingly close.” Although he realized what was going on in that moment in time, he did not change the pace of his walk. He then claims that “After a few more glimpses, she picked up her pace and was soon running in earnest.” (Staples 240). This kind of stereotype shows that people really do assume the worst case scenario when they are looking at someone particularly different to

“Zenzele: A Letter for My Daughter,” an epistolary novel by J. Nozipo Maraire, discusses social and political African history in the letters sent from a Zimbabwean mother to her daughter. The mother relates lessons she has learned throughout her years living in colonial Rhodesia. Violence, culture, and racism are prominent themes in the letters sent to Zenzele.  "Rhodesia", named after a so called "Cecil Rhodes", was under a predominantly white government. Native Africans were banned from all manners of opportunity and enterprise. They were systematically barred from chic-European suburbs except, of course, if they worked as house maids. Blacks lived in a state of constitutionalized racism that limited their education and circumstance. Deprivation, austerity and hard labour was the limit to a black Rhodesians achievement. Until, after years of bloodshed and struggle to obtain equality, the independent state of Zimbabwe was declared. The keys to the kingdom now belonged to the oppressed. However, in the process of ensuring that their children received every opportunity of "western privilege," something went wrong. "Well being" was translated into a material definition of success. A desire to be like their colonial masters sprang up instead of the cultivation and rejuvenation of their own culture; a culture Zenzele’s mother seeks to revitalize within Zenzele. The letters serve as translation, to apply the old language of community and culture to the context of today.

Racial bias and discrimination have historically constricted African Americans from living free and prosperous lives. Especially, in America’s Progressive Era when “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” happened to be published. This groundbreaking essay, written by Zora Neale Hurston, provided African Americans with a unique approach to defying racial discrimination. Namely, Hurston’s unique defense from societal discrimination is in her steadfast optimism towards the limitations of being African American. Therefore, Hurston’s essay achieved more than bringing hope to African Americans it also provided a solution in this period of bitter adversity. This is what distinguishes Nora’s essay from other literary works because it focuses on modeling a beneficial mindset rather than listing the hardships that black people are subjected to. Zora Neale Hurston is an influential role model for African Americans, she argues that racial discrimination and unjust biases can be overcome by having pride and optimism in the progression of one’s race.

The message that Brent Staples is trying to convey to the audience in his essay Just Walk On By, is that as a society we have positive and negative preconceived thoughts of other people who are of either the same or different race and gender. For Staples, this means that as a tall black man he has to deal with being seen as deadly and threatening to people who don’t know him. These people let their fear of biased opinions of black men think that all tall, black, and athletic men are going to attack them. Brent uses his stories of people’s fear and judgement of him, to allow the reader to both understand what the people were feeling and how he felt being judged.

Thesis Statement: Apartheid may have been a horrible era in South African history, but only so because the whites were forced to take action against the outrageous and threatening deeds of the blacks in order to sustain their power.

The apartheid of South Africa was a time of constant fear and unknown and tested faith in the people who it continuously impacted.

In the scene described by the previous paragraph, racial stereotyping far surpassed the feeling of discomfort that many people do not want to deal with. A milder scene of a white man trying to pass through a black neighborhood demonstrates racial problems also. The egotistical attitude of the white man calling the black kids "Mo and Joe Black" ignited the teens to hose down and ruin the car. Mr. Mun Wah comments, "I think racism isn't just about giving out racial epithets. I think it's about what we don't say and what we don't see."("The Color of Fear", 3,4) Every ethnic group had their own name for each other. The three unemployed black men sitting on the corner had their own offensive name for the Koreans across the street, and the Koreans referred to the policeman with their own twist of insults. Even today the racial jokes, either out of jealousy or anger, continue to be told. Lee showed how something so insignificant could plummet into a deep problem. Lee also taught his audience that the stereotypes in his movie are all said in a habitual manner. The characters, like people of today, use common slurs out of habit. James Baldwin states his view on the subject, "I imagine that one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense once hate is gone, that they will be forced to deal with the pain." Perhaps people stereotype to block away the nuisances they so clearly think they can live without. In order to stop

Over the past five weeks, my group and I read the novel, When Morning Comes written by Arushi Raina. This story takes place in 1976 during the Soweto Uprising in South Africa; a student-lead protest against the Baas Laws, which required subjects to be taught in Afrikaans. The protagonists: Jack, Zanele, Meena, and Thabo start out as strangers with different racial identities, but through a series of chance meetings, each of their lives change significantly. During our Booktalk meetings, I was able to greater discuss some of the challenges that the protagonists faced, gain knowledge and insight about the novel from my peers, compare and contrast the themes in When Morning Comes with those in other books, and connect the novel to concepts learned in class. Before reading When Morning Comes, I hoped that the book would offer me some insight into how much our education system has progressed and improved, but it made me think about so much more than that.

It has been known throughout the years the class conflicts between people around the world and how it affects many, but during today 's times it is not as bad as the times when racial segregation took place between South Africa’s white minority and non-white majority. Nadine Gordimer, is a born and raised South African novelist whose writings focused on exile and alienation. She wrote many novels and short stories that related to South Africa 's unjust political situation between the whites and non-whites in the 1900’s. One of the short stories that she wrote is “Country Lovers” which portrays the life in South Africa during those times and how apartheid, a policy that controlled any type of relation between white and black South

Ever since the beginning of time, fear has been haunting the lives of human beings. The passage “Once upon a time”, by Nadine Gordimer, the characters within this text shows how fear is seen and what actions are done to stop “threats”. In this text, there was a family in a quartered area , mom, dad, and a little boy. only trusted maids and etc. were allowed into the area. In front of the family house is a warning sign that says one could be an invader even though the homeowners are covered by security systems. Towards the end of the passage the homeowners house was broken into. In “once upon a time” Gordimer uses imagery and symbolism to justify that apartheid was a fearful time to live in.

A Nobel Prize winning writer, Nadine Gordimer discovers moral, racial and social issues in Africa under apartheid rule. Her novel “Burger’s Daughter” shows the struggles of a group of antiapartheid activities which depict the journey of soul searching.