"July’s People" by Nadine Gordimer
In July’s People, Nadine Gordimer gives a very detailed and knowledgeable explanation of the political turmoil within South Africa. By expressing the emotions of a family involved in the deteriorating situation and the misunderstandings between blacks and whites, she adds a very personal and emotional touch, which allows the reader to understand the true horror and terror these people experienced. Gordimer writes of how the Smales family reacts, survives, and adjusts to this life altering experience. She makes obvious throughout the book that prejudice plays a major role in uncovering the reactions of Bamford and Maureen Smales.
The Smales were a suburban, upper middle class, white family living in Southern Africa until political turmoil and war forced them to flee from their home and lives. Rebel black armies in Soweto and other areas of Southern Africa revolted against the government and the minority white race, attacking radio and television stations and burning the homes of whites. The Smales needed to get out quickly. Their servant July, whom they had always treated well and had a very uncommon relationship with, offered to guide the family to his village. The Smales, having no other options, accepted July’s offer and ran in haste and confusion to the dearth village. They knew little of the drastic adjustments they would have to make in order to survive in July’s rustic village. These adjustments would soon threaten their relationships with one another and their family’s structure.
The three Smales children, Victor, Royce and Gina, had not experienced, and therefore had not expected to live a life of luxury amongst people of their “own” kind. This innocence contributes greatly to the rate and comfort in which they adjust to living in July’s village. Bam and Maureen may not have felt prejudice towards the black race, but were certainly prejudice about the lifestyle in which they must now live, a lifestyle completely stripped of any and all luxuries they once enjoyed. All of the family members, facing a new way of life, adjust to their situation in radically different ways. Each one drifts in their own direction in search of comfort and acceptance throughout their experiences living amongst July’s people.
The first adjustment the Smales family had to make was the realization that they no longer had all of ...
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...and towards the sound of the helicopter, towards the hope of renewal. Because of Maureen’s flight from the village and from any responsibilities she once had, Bam must now become the mother figure of the family, nurturing his children and taking on what was once her role.
July’s People is a story of the reactions, adaptations, and survival of Bamford and Maureen Smales to the life they have found in a black village after being thrown from their middle-class white neighborhood. Bam’s adjustment to their new life in the village was much better than Maureen’s because he handled the situation rationally by attempting to become a part of the community without letting his emotions get the best of him. Maureen, on the other hand, could not adjust to the situation and went almost completely insane because she could not accept a life without racial and gender structures. This alteration in her lifestyle was completely unbearable and she couldn’t survive without the power, control, and luxuries she once had. As a result of the radically different reactions and adaptations of Bam and Maureen to the life in July’s village, their relationship with one another was completely disintegrated.
Parents had to raise their children knowing there children would suffer the same fate as they did when they become of age. “Grandma was soon to lose another object of affection, she had lost many before.” (pg. 39) When the kids were young they were allowed to develop friendships with the slave owner’s children. “Color makes no difference with a child.” (pg.50) Kids are oblivious. However, slave children began to realize what the rest of their life would be like when they did become of age. Sopia the slave o...
Anne Moody's story is incredible. She overcame divorced parents, heavy poverty, deliberate murders of her family and friends by whites, and numerous death threats. I believe she succeeded in her effort to write a book with enough power for the reader to appreciate the evil of racism and intense inequality. For Miss Moody and other blacks, life was not much different from slavery, which ha...
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