Racism

Racism: Society’s view about ethnic Literature helps us understand the past and creates a clearer picture of the world around us. Through literature, we explore the human condition and analyze how and why people think the way they think, act the way the way they act and feel the way they feel. Literature enables us to develop our minds analytically and promotes open minds. We see the world through the eyes of different writers from different cultures and in turn learn the ways to deal with things happening around us. The insights that can be gained from reading Alice Walker’s “The Welcome Table” and Nadine Gordimer’s “Country Lovers” are how skin color played an important factor in one lives and how far society came from with racism. Racism is a powerful word. It was an issue way back in the day and nowadays; it’s still an issue to a certain extent. Racism is when someone thinks people who don’t have their skin color or religious beliefs appear to be considered lower than them. This action is usually done by name-calling or violence. Just like many issues in life, racism has been an ongoing issue ever since a long time ago. “The Welcome Table” however, presents a great example for this issue. In the story, the author expressed how white people treated a black elderly woman in a church. The woman in this story, The Welcome Table, was certainly different. She was not like any of the others in the church. She was treated differently than everybody attending the church. The author painted a clear image of the way they were talking about her and treated her, for example, “Some of those who saw her there on the church steps spoke words about her that were hardly fit to be heard, others held their pious peace; and some felt vague stirrings of pity, small and persistent and hazy, as if she were an old collie turned out to die”. (Clugston R. W. 2010, section 3.1, para. 1) But through it all, the author pointed out her careless attitude about the church people who were saying cruel things about her. Even the Reverend of the church tried to stop here from entering the church but she acted like she did not want to deal with anyone. Her goal was to see Jesus. The Author pointed out how bold and smart the old woman was. She knew that with her being black was an issue and she not accepted in the church but she ignored everyone and everything that was said about her, she knew not to seat up front in the front roll, that’s why she sat in the back. “Inside the church she sat on the very first bench from the back, gazing with concentration at the stained-glass window over her head. They stared at her as they came in and sat down near the front”. (Clugston R. W. 2010, section 3.1, para. 4) After several unsuccessful attempts trying to get her thrown outside in the cold. Finally, it was the women in the church that got their husbands’ attention about the problem they had with the old black woman sitting in the back of the church. This proves how racism doesn’t really matter of religious belief or religion to make people act a certain way about others. The author specified that no one ever turned anyone out of the church before even the ushers in the church never considered the thought of not letting someone in the church before, let along throwing them out, but after all, they didn’t see a human being, they were blinded by her skin color being different than theirs. (Clugston 2010) Finally after their husbands’ action, the author stated how happy the wives were because the old black woman got thrown out in the cold and she was out of the church. While standing outside in the cold weather, confused about the situation. She thought that racism wasn’t existed in the church of God but she was wrong to think like that. Her imagination took over her and she started daydreaming. Yet again, the author painted a clear image of what happened to be the old woman’s rescue. “She looked down the long gray highway and saw something interesting and delightful coming. She started to grin, toothlessly, with short giggles of joy, jumping about and slapping her hands on her knees. And soon it became apparent why she was so happy. For coming down the highway at a firm though leisurely pace was Jesus. (Clugston R. W. 2010, section 3.1, para. 9) Her imagination allowed her to get to another world got away from all her struggles and racism she was dealing with. Nadine Gordimer’s “Country Lovers” was an interesting story as well; both story “Country Lovers and The Welcome Table have racism in common but in “country lover”, the author explained how people can blame certain behavior on ethnicity and how it can be more powerful than love. In the story, the author expressed how common it was for young kids to play with each other regardless of their ethnicity or their skin color. It also expressed the struggles of the black parents not being able to get their children the same kind of education as the white ones. For example: “Although most of the black children get some sort of schooling, they drop every year farther behind the grades passed by the white children.” (Clugston R. W. 2010, section 3.1, para. 1) The author went on and explained how deeply in love these two teenagers were. At that time, their skin color was not an issue to them but they knew it was an issue to society. They both sneaked out of their parent’s house from time to time, met by the river to spend some time with each other. The author also painted a good image of their intimacy relationship they had with each other from which the black girl became pregnant by him. They got married, while he went on to college, she gave birth to their little girl but didn’t inform him about it. The story didn’t specify the reason why the wife didn’t inform him about the child being born, but in my opinion, it maybe because he didn’t want any kids or wasn’t ready to be a parent yet since it was still in school but when he saw the child, he wasn’t too happy about it, he was filled with anger. He said, “I want to see. Show me.” She had taken the bundle off her back before she came out into the light to face him. He struggled for a moment with a grimace of tears, anger, and self-pity. She could not put out her hand to him. He said, “You haven’t been near the house with it'” You must give it to someone”. (Clugston R. W. 2010, section 3.1, para. 12) Due to his reaction after seeing the baby, his wife didn’t trust him around the baby by himself. A couple days afterwards, the child had diarrhea and the wife suspected that the child’s sickness was caused by him and their relationship started to go downhill from there. Finally, his wife accused him of murder as she cried on the witness box in court by explaining how she saw the husband pouring liquid into the baby’s mouth. (Clugston 2010) The wife was informed about the strong suspicion against the husband but not enough proof that he had committed the crime. “The verdict on the accused was not guilty.” (Clugston R. W. 2010, section 3.1, para. 22) After several interview, the black girl stated, “It was a thing of our childhood, we don’t see each other anymore.” (Clugston R. W. 2010, section 3.1, para. 24) This leads me to believe that as kids they were in love but as they grew older, they faced many struggles in life especially with the death of their daughter that love wasn’t a thing for them anymore. Reference Clugston, R. W. (2010). Journey into literature. 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