ENG125 Week 5 Assignment

Racism in the ‘Welcome Table’ and the ‘Country Lovers’

Laura E. Knight

Eng125: Introduction to Literature

Prairie Markussen

November 3rd, 2014

Racism refers to the belief that one’s race is superior to another and that one is more able than the other. This form of discrimination has been in existence since the early days, in most continents. The prevalence in racism was mostly felt in South Africa and the United States of America. This is well depicted by the two authors of the ‘Welcome Table’ and the ‘Country Lovers’ who narrate the lives of two, strong, black women of different ages in different continents, and how they faced a lot of challenges which were highly associated with racism. These two authors give an in depth analysis of the state of racism in South Africa and America and the perspectives of the situation by both the blacks and the whites.

‘The Welcome Table’

This is a story written of an old, black woman who staggers slowly amidst the freezing cold to attend an all white church. She sits on the front steps of the church and faces a lot of prejudice from the other members of the congregation. This results into some people from the congregation hurling insults at her and looking at her with disdain and contempt written all over their faces.

The clothes she wears make the people in the congregation to have thoughts of the black people they live with. The author describes her look as,”….she wore high shoes, polished about the tops and toes, a long rusty dress that missed buttons and adorned with an old corsage, a remnant of an elegant silk scarf as a head rug that was stained with grease stains from the many oily pig stains underneath…..” (Bloom, 2007). When she tries to go into the church, the ushers try to stop her. The pastor also tells her that she is not part of that church and finally she is pushed out of the church by the men in the congregation.

‘The Country Lovers’

This is a story composed to show the racism that was present during the apartheid regime. The story talks about the forbidden love between a black girl (Thebedi) and a white boy (Paulus). Thebedi was a slave whose father worked in Paulus’ father farm. They grew up playing together in the fields, but as years went by, they developed a closer relationship. They would meet secretly in the river and soon they became lovers. Paulus would buy her gifts and tell her stories of school and she in turn would make her gifts, like, bracelets. The author shows racism when he says, “…..Paulus would tell his friends that the bracelet was made by the natives….’ (Smith, 2002)This is because he did not want their relationship to be known. As time went by, Paulus went to veterinary school and left Thebedi pregnant without his knowledge. Thebedi’s parents went ahead to marry off Thebedi to a black boy named N’jabulo. After a while, Paulus returns only to find that Thebedi was married and that she had given birth to a white son. He tries to convince her to get rid of the baby but she refuses. He then goes ahead and kills the baby and charged for murder. After a while, he is found not guilty and the case is closed.

Contrast Analysis

The two stories contrast in that the ‘Country Lovers’ was composed during the apartheid regime, in the midst of slavery and oppression. The author uses present tense to depict the feelings of the two lovers’ so as to show that the era in which the people faced racism was in the present, while the ‘welcome Table’ was written during the post-civil rights era showing the urge of the black people to be accepted as equal to the white people due to the presence of the civil rights movement. “….they gazed nakedly upon their own fears transferred, a fear of the black and old, a terror of the unknown as well as of the deeply known…”

The story in the ‘Welcome Table’ is conflict driven. This is shown when the members of the congregation hurled insults at the old woman and even pushed her out of the church premises. This is illustrated by the author when he states that, “…some of those who saw her there on the church steps spoke words about her that were hardly fit to be hard, others held their pious piece’ and some felt vague strings of pity…” (Bloom, 2008). This is in contrast with the story in the ‘Country Lovers’ which was based on forbidden love between Thebedi and Paulus. This is best described when the author describes how they would secretly meet in the river and when they would secretly give each other presents. The fact that Thebedi hid her child also shows that their love was not prohibited.

The style of the authors also differed in that the author in ‘Country Lovers’ mainly used simile and minor details to define the sub-themes. This is illustrated when the author says, “…Already at birth, there was on its head a quantity of straight, fine floss, like that which carries the seeds of certain weeds in the veld…” (Topping Bazin, 1990) The weeds refer to substances that are of not of use and should be gotten rid off. This serves as a foreshadow of the events to come, in that, in the near future, Paulus would get rid of his son as he did not want to be associated with a child born of a black woman. This is different from the author’s use of symbolism in the ‘Welcome Table’. This is well depicted by the words, “…freezing, cold weather...” to show the presence of inactivity and the hopelessness of the blacks during the oppressive state of racism. Also the use of the blue sky shows the peace that the old woman felt when she met Jesus.

The author of ‘Welcome Table’ writes the story in a straightforward and simple manner which makes it easy for anyone to understand the story. The story takes place in one day except for the place that states, “…her body was found….the next day…” Names in the story are not revealed so as to offer the reader a feel of timelessness as in “…the old lady...” to refer to any black woman. The author of ‘Country Lovers’ uses setting as a technique throughout the whole story. Details are given on the story and names are revealed so as to allow the reader to form a connection with the characters in the story and to form an aspect of personalization.

Comparative Analysis

The stories in ‘Welcome Table’ and ‘Country Lovers’ have similar aspects in their writing. This is because both stories talk about the state of racism, slavery and the struggle to free the black people from their state of oppression and allow them to have equal rights to the white people. This is shown in ‘Country Lovers’ when the author states that Paulus would always tell stories about school to Thebedi. This illustrates that the white children got privileges like getting education while the black children never got the chance to study or attain higher degrees of education. The author in ‘Walking Table’ shows how the people in the church reacted when they saw the old woman in church. Some of them started thinking of maids, mistresses and prostitutes and looked at her with contempt.

Both authors used strong characterization to illustrate the events in their stories. This is brought about by the description of the individuals present, what they were doing and saying at the time, and what others were saying about them. “…auntie you know this is not your church?” this statement shows that the old woman belonged to a lower social class than those who were at the church. Also, the description of her dressing clearly stated the condition in which she was living with. When the author states that Thebedi refused to get rid of her child, this shows that she was a strong-willed woman and pressed on regardless of the state in which she was in.

Both stories were told in the third person point of view. This allows the readers to have in-depth knowledge of the feelings of the characters in each part of the stories. It also shows how both stories depict the women as submissive natures of protagonists. This is shown when Thebedi agrees to be seeing Paulus in the river instead of demanding to see him in the open, for everyone to see. Both stories end tragically, in death, in that the old woman was found dead the next day and Thebedi’s baby was killed by his father.

Conclusion

Analysis of these stories show the struggles that the women and the people at large that belonged to the black community struggled with the oppressive state of slavery, interracial intolerance and the urge of freeing themselves from such a state. Therefore, it is important to state that these stories create a relevant effect to literature and allow readers to understand the state in which the people faced oppression in the pre-colonial era.

References

(Clugston R W 2010 Journey into Literature)Clugston, R. W. (2010). Journey into Literature. San Diego, California: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

Bloom, H. (2007). Alice Walker. New York: Bloom's Literary Criticism

Smith, P. (2002). Thematic guide to popular short stories. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press.

Bloom, H. (2008). The Color Purple. New York: Infobase Pub.

Topping Bazin, N. (1990). Conversationwith Nadine Gordimer. London: University Press of Mississippi.