Blog #3
Apartheid means separation and discrimination. In the short stories “Good Climate Inhabitants,” “Amnesty,” and “Six feet of the Country” they all tie into Apartheid somehow but the short story that really stood out to me that really relates to apartheid was “Six feet of the Country.” The short story faces a white man and his wife having to deal with the horrific times of apartheid. Back when Six feet of the Country was written, Apartheid was the norm in the South African society. In Six feet of the Country there was some sort of discrimination because the white man was trying to help bury the brother the right way but Apartheid wouldn’t allow that because of the discrimination of the two races. So the South African society felt as if the brother wasn’t worthy enough. In my opinion Apartheid in reality you can’t really get rid of, there will always be separation and discrimination between races and actually it would be hard to change discrimination. I would have to say I really did enjoyed all the short stories by Nadine Gordimer especially the short story Six feet of the Country I could actually understand the content of the story.
I'm glad you found Gordimer's writing more accessible. Her characters are so clear, and well drawn for the reader. From these particular stories, it would seem that Gordimer believes that there is no hope, but from some of her later writing, she seems to say that she thinks that, at least in South Africa, there are Blacks and Whites who can bridge the gap and, with the help of art, start to chip away at discrimination.
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