NALINI BALAN

Writer Nadine Gordimer is a South African writer, political activist and recipient of the 1991 Nobel Prize in Literature. Born: November 20, 1923, Springs, South Africa Nationality: South African Education: University of the Witwatersrand Awards: Nobel Prize in Literature, Man Booker Prize, More Movies: The House Gun Books

Gordimer was educated at a Catholic convent school, but was largely home-bound as a child because her mother, for "strange reasons of her own," did not put her into school (apparently, she feared that Gordimer had a weak heart). Home-bound and often isolated, she began writing at an early age, and published her first stories in 1937 at the age of fifteen.[7] Her first published work was a short story for children, "The Quest for Seen Gold," which appeared in the Children's Sunday Express in 1937; "Come Again Tomorrow," another children's story, appeared in Forum around the same time. At the age of 16, she had her first adult fiction published.

Gordimer's first novel, The Lying Days, was published in 1953. In 1954, she married Reinhold Cassirer, a highly respected art dealer who established the South African Sotheby's and later ran his own gallery; their "wonderful marriage"[6] lasted until his death from emphysema in 2001. It was her second marriage and his third. Their son, Hugo, was born in 1955, and is today a filmmaker in New York, with whom Gordimer has collaborated on at least two documentaries.

Nadine Gordimer explores the theme of defying oppression through the use of characterization, setting, and tone in the short story "Africa Emergent". Elias Nkomo, had quite a good life in Africa as a sculptor, he had his works recognized, but he was oppressed in by the laws. So, went to America in the hope of getting himself general education and freeing himself from the opression he had in Africa. Unfortunately, he was still affected by the opression he had in Africa.

As his settings changed from the oppressors in Africa to the oppressors in America he found no escape from oppression. In fact, he realized that the oppressors from Africa were still affecting him. The apartheid in Africa prevented black people from growing, and when he evolved enough to know that he had to see life out side of Africa; he was not welcome to come back to Africa. According to the short story "It was the South African government who killed him. The only escape he found from that(the oppression) was death. His only freedom was to end his life in the hope that the oppression would no longer choke his life away or control him. In short, when the curiosity of the oppressed allows them to evolve they must not only free themselves from the oppressor, but also from the oppression.

The narrator - white man - Elias Nkomos friend

Elias Nkomo - black man - He was a sculptor - slight, rounded- headed, tiny-earned, - messenger boy

 Social

Discrimination

POLITICAL ISSUES

1. Passes have to be written out for the blacks in order to keep them from being arrested for being out after the curfew. This suggests political inequality because there would be no curfew for the whites. TE : We had to remember to write out

'passes' at night, so that our actors could get home without being arrested for being out after the curfew for blacks...

2. There are even the black peoples section at the train.

3. According to the law, it is illegal for a black man to live in a white suburb. The legislation of the 1950s and 1960s proscribed any form of political or intimate social liaison between white and black people. The narrator has to lie about renovating his garage, while on the other hand, he was actually building a place for Elias. TE: It was illegal for him to live there in a

white suburb, of course, ...... the white building inspector didn't turn a hair of suspicion when I said that I was converting the garage as a flat for my wife's mother.

4. It is hard or even impossible for a black man to get a passport. (Elias are not given any reason as to why he cant get a passport) This is because, the blacks are meant to stay put in some parts of South Africa where the government says they belong. It seems that where they should be and where they shouldnt be are decided by the government. They cant have their says. They just have to accept it.

Even if they have their passports, they must be considered a police spy (spying for their country). The only way to prove that they are not spies are by being imprisoned.

Assumptions : A black man with passport (free to travel anywhere) must be very special (one of high authority) that they will be suspected as a spy.

5. Once a black man are granted an exit-permit, they are not to return back to South Africa or its mandatory territory. (where you are now, is where you will be.) The apartheid issue in Africa prevented black people from growing and thats what motivated Elias of travelling out of Africa. But then, he cant get back to Africa after going out.
6. A black man will not have his study grant included with travel expenses.

7. A black man will be arrested if he is caught attending a meeting of a banned political organization.

8. The two occupations, architect and artist represent white & black differences in the South African culture. The white man is an architect, with more formal education. His position holds more prestige and economic value in society. Elias, a black man, is a sculptor. Though both architect and sculptor can be thought of as artistic, the sculptor's creativity is more innate but the architect holds more power.

9. Under the Detention Act, one(the colored) can be imprisoned without even being told why and there are no charges on him.

Why does Gordimer choose to not give the other black man a name? Since the story is told in 1st person POV, for the narrator to name "him" would put the narrator at risk. A white man admitting friendship with a black man is bad enough, but one who is in prison is worse still. He's in prison now, so I'm not going to mention his name. It mightn't be a good thing, you understand.

Dont just free yourself from the OPPRESSER, but free yourself from the OPPRESSION as well..AND NEVER RETURN!

SIMILE - like the refusal of the passport - as a sculptor, as a genuine, like a white man SYMBOLISM

EQUAL AND FAIR TREATEMENT

give equal rights

http://www.jstor.org http://www.paperary.org http://www.angelfire.com/pa/janipage/world lit.html