Six Feet Of The Country Analysis

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Divisions Racist attitudes have a detrimental effect on societies in both big and small ways. There are many examples throughout history, from slavery to apartheid to Jim Crow laws, of racism causing major divisions between white and black communities. Unfortunately, racism and discrimination are still significant issues today, evidenced by the Black Lives Matter Movement regarding police brutality. In addition, separations among black and white communities limit friendships, relationships, cultural experiences, and new ideas. All of these examples build barriers preventing the two races to live in harmony together. The poems "For Malcolm X" and "Ballad for Chocolate Mabbie" and the short story "Six Feet of the Country" demonstrate how racial
First, racism led to the black South Africans being treated and viewed as inferior. “…Our relationships with the blacks is almost feudal” says the narrator of the play (Gordimer 97). This line demonstrates the strictly work related interactions between the white and black people, and how the two races are not given equal opportunities. Second, this poor relationship between the black and white people contributed to the death of a black South African. In this short story, the narrator realizes that the brother of his black South African worker is dead. He had arrived three days prior, extremely ill. The employer’s wife says, “You would think they would have felt they could tell us” (Gordimer 98). The black people did not ask for help from their white employers because white people in South Africa have a negative, prejudiced, and vindictive reputation regarding their treatment of black people. This biased behavior is made evident by South African apartheid. Lastly, black South Africans do not receive the same level of respect as the white South Africans. The dead man’s family wishes to have his body returned from the morgue so he can be properly buried, but the wrong body is eventually returned. If the dead body brought to the morgue was of a white man, most likely, it would be treated more respectfully and carefully,

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