In Mother to Mother, the author Sindiwe Magona humanizes Mxolisi by challenging white supremacy with perspective, realism and historicize to educate readers on the impacts of apartheid. Perspective is defined as “a visible scene; a view or prospect, esp. an extensive one” (OED), and it gives an insight on what black South Africans experience during apartheid. Realism is defined as “a real fact, experience, or situation” (OED). This emphasizes the realities of the separation of powers between the whites and the blacks. The definition of historicize is “to make (a person or thing) historical or the subject of a history; to situate in a historical context” (OED). The history of apartheid impacts Mxolisi’s life and actions towards white South …show more content…
The use of imagery in this quote represents oppression, a system that is all around them and “forced” into them. Magona use perspective to humanize the community of Guguletu even though blacks were moved there against their will. The imagery of the community gives a sense of value, “the people there, a well-knit community. Knowing each other: knowing all the children” (33). This quote humanizes the community, that the people in these townships are humans too and their lives are just as valuable. Irony and perspective is used to humanized Mxolisi during his time in jail, “I do not understand why it is that the government is giving him so much now when it has given him nothing at all, all his life” (3). The irony of this quote is equivalent to the injustice black South Africans had to face from the day they were born. Mxolisi was invisible before Amy’s murder, now he is visible to the government because it enforces the system of white supremacy. Mandisa’s perspective of the conditions her son is living in illustrates what apartheid is like for the whole community. Magona humanizes Mandisa as “a mother, with a mother’s heart” (3), she feels the hurt of Amy’s mother as her own because she is a human with emotions and sympathy. Mandisa’s perspective on the death of Amy symbolizes the humanism in her and her son, the way she feels sadness for the Biehls even though her own son killed Amy, shows she is human. Magona uses realism to emphasize how the system
The story begins with a recounting of the story of Tatica, Reyita’s grandmother, and her trial of being abducted from her native Africa and brought to Cuba to be sold into slavery. Tatica’s story sets a precedent that is upheld by the next generations of her family of racial discrimination, struggle for survival and equality, and political activism. Reyita explains that her grandmother’s love of Africa instilled in Reyita a
Resilience is a factor that drives her survival and ability to persevere as a result of being a victim of circumstances. It is through her knowledge that acquires over time that enables her to fight back and put herself into a role of power within an environment promoting her oppression. Her mother, Georgia, Fanta and Aminata’s strong wills shows how women can take control of their lives and that they are more than just housewife’s, that they can change the world by standing up for themselves and showing other women the impossible, thus creating a movement resulting in how Aminata tells her story to the Abolitionists and how she destroys the stereotypical gender roles. Thus concluding to The Book of Negroes as an example that portrays female women to be strong and brave. It is through her knowledge she acquires over time that enables her to fight back and put herself into a role of power within a harsh
The characters walk through multilateral perspectives as readers see the change and effect of racism on these characters' lives. Marginalization affects society by separating communities and creating ethnic tensions, thus creating a society based on dehumanization through racism and loss of
“You can't hold a man down without staying down with him” is a quote from Booker T. Washington. He was born a slave, but freed later in life, allowing him to become an educator and reformer against slavery. His quote demonstrates how oppressors are also affected by oppression, just as much as those who are being oppressed. Elie Wiesel, a survivor of the Holocaust, also shows this in his memoir Night. Wiesel shows how oppression causes the oppressors to have an ignorant and greedy mindset, and causes the oppressed to have a dehumanized and faithless mindset, showing the theme of how oppression makes one act and think differently than one would normally.
This gives the audience many altered ways that they, personally, can interpret the play from. Allowing for many different opinions on a single passage whether they may be relevant or not. Out of many different perspectives, Marxist, has an important part within the play, separating the ‘upper’ and ‘lower’ classes, creating a divide between the stereotype white people and the archetypal black culture. This perspective plays a vital role, beginning at the very start of the play right through till the closing stages. It sets the scene, making the divide between the two ‘different’ cultures, in which over the course of the play, slowly gets bridged with the uncovering of the forgotten stories, told by the Aboriginal Ex-servicemen. Bringing men closer together through the hard times that they had endured together. As the text starts, it begins with an easy to spot, element of Marxism, pushed by the white Vs Black component in the early stages of the book, with name calling and bullying. As the text continues, the element of Marxism is still present but less obvious, with the uncovering of lost and untold stories which bring the segregation between the two cultures of white and black, stereotype and archetype to an
Claudia Rankine analyze racism to its core, bringing to surface that miniscule event are just as problematic as televised one. Her words are beautifully brutal, striking up emotions for anyone that reads it. As readers we are taken through a journey from past to present events of racial incidents experienced by different genders and ages. Above all, Claudia provides a strong indication that racism is far from over.
Author’s Thesis: Throughout the South African American women organized labor protests for various reasons such as higher wages, and better working conditions. They took matters into their own hands through physical and political means.
Marxism is a method of analyzing socioeconomic status. This idea/method of Marxism started in the mid to late 19th century with the philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engles: they analyzed the class relationships and the societal conflict. The Marxist methodology used economic, social, and political ideas to understand the development of capitalism and the role of class struggle in relation with the economic change. The analysis showed that the class conflict came from the problems between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. The proletariat were the laborers of the factories and the mines. The bourgeoisie were the private owners of these factories and mines. As the problem between the two groups of people grew, the proletariat saw that this
The book goes through Jeannette’s life exposing the mistakes she, her siblings, and her parents made to become the family they were. As her life grows older, Jeannette finds herself in more responsible positions in the world, with editing school newspapers, to writing columns in a small New York newspaper outlet. Her troubles have raised the issue of stereotyping, a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing. Due to her status in her childhood, it was not hard for her to fit in with the other members of the poor community. “Dinitia explained that I was with her and that I was good people. The women looked at one another and shrugged.” (Walls 191) The quote talks about how members of the black community in Welch accepted Jeannette to go swimming with them in the morning hours before the white people went in the afternoon. The people who knew Dinita, Jeannette’s friend, knew that Dinita was trustworthy, and let Jeannette pass. This relates to the thesis because it shows how she was accepted amongst the people who were
In this thesis the writer “J.Matisonn” writes about how the TRC (Truth and Reconciliation Commission) not only addressed issues of crimes against humanity that also affected the Human rights of people but the other thing the TRC did well if anything according to this article it that it also addressed those people , organizations and even institutions who used media and propaganda in order to not only further the cause of the Apartheid government but to hurt so many families and relatives in the process.
Throughout history, many have been oppressed because of their race, religion and gender, resulting in the loss of their rights and freedom. Despite the fact that freedom is an inherent right of any human being, many examples have proven rebellious acts are required to obtain said rights. Although human rights have evolved over the years, humans still fail to learn from their mistakes, resulting in history repeating itself. Through storytelling and novels, people show depictions of history to honour those who have died and to educate younger generations to prevent unfortunate events from occurring again. In this same vein, Lawrence Hill and Alice Walker display oppression through abuse, structural inequality and gender stereotypes. Although the novels, The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill and The Colour Purple by Alice Walker were written in different time periods and revolved around different cultural influences, each demonstrates the theme of oppression throughout various events.
Next, I’d like to discuss the ways in which the conditions of “Living, Loving, and Lying Awake at Night,” and the roles that were plagued amongst the women in South Africa and how forced migrations affected their situations. Due to the Apartheid era, and men's non existence in their families life because of forced migration, women began to feel as though they could only do for themselves causing for their acceptance without man's presence. In an early reference to the chapter, leaving, the author shows the ways that apartheid affected the women. For instance, “As year went from the woman had come to
The movie invictus portrays a very controversial issue that has been presented throughout history in many ethnic groups and is seen in societies up to these days. The apartheid is clearly pictured in the movie through many of the attitudes and actions that people take towards the other race they live in their day by day. What is more, Mandela constitutes one of the most important figures in South Africa, especially for the black race as he liberated them from the apartheid. From those days Mandela has been recognized worldwide as a major symbol of the rainbow nation; a reality of distinction between the black and the white people and its establishing differe nces.
The South African Apartheid, instituted in 1948 by the country’s Afrikaner National Party, was legalized segregation on the basis of race, and is a system comparable to the segregation of African Americans in the United States. Non-whites - including blacks, Indians, and people of color in general- were prohibited from engaging in any activities specific to whites and prohibited from engaging in interracial marriages, receiving higher education, and obtaining certain jobs. The National Party’s classification of “race” was loosely based on physical appearance and lineage. White individuals were superficially defined as being “obviously white'' on the basis of their “habits, education and speech as well as deportment and demeanor”; an
As a young African-American man in America, my life (past, present, and future) has been a constant struggle for survival, adequate education, and self- awareness. No matter how handsome, smart, or strong one is or can be, the level of success and peace will always be determined by skin color in America and others countries across the globe.