Apartheid in Literature

Apartheid in Literature

Apartheid

In researching the existing text related to Apartheid, there must

first be proper definitions of the term 'Apartheid'. Next comes the

identification and analysis of works of literature that speak of

Apartheid and the lives of people under the South African government.

There will be a review of literature concerning Apartheid, where the

validity and reliability of each reference source used to shed light

on this issue will also be considered.

Thesis Statement

To what extent did the statement in the novel Cry the Beloved Country,

"It is fear that rules the land" apply to Leonard Monteath Thompson's

book, A History of South Africa and reality?

Definitions of the Apartheid

To be able to further understand and address the topic, there must be

a specific definition of the term 'Apartheid'. In my present scope of

research, the term 'Apartheid' turned into 'a drastic, systematic

program of social engineering' (Thompson 2001). As a result of the NP

[National Party] use[ing] its control of the government to fulfil

Afrikaner ethnic goals as well as white racial goals (Thompson 2001).

This is further agreed by Mandela as it is described as one of the

most powerful and effective systems of oppression ever conceived.

Literature on the Apartheid

In studying the different text from different authors, we can have a

much wider perspective on their views and opinions on the

implementation of Apartheid. From the different texts, we can also

feel what people are going through as they are written from different

perspectives. In Alan Paton's novel, Cry, the Beloved Country although

it makes c...

... middle of paper ...

...esent work,

especially the websites, have rather incomplete information on

Apartheid, thus allowing my work to further expand on. Apartheid is a

discrimination system in which whites are legalised to discriminate

against the blacks therefore it is important to study this system to

prevent it from appearing around the globe.

Bibliography

Paton, Alan. (1991) Cry, the Beloved Country. Longman Group: Longman

Literature Series

Chokshi, M etc. Computers and the Apartheid Regime in South Africa.

www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~cale/cs201/apartheid.hist.html. Date

Retrieved: 13th April 2004

Thompson, Leonard M. (2001) A History of South Africa. Yale University

Press; 3rd Edition

Unknown. Brief History of South Africa.

http://www.southafrica-travel.net/history/eh_menu.htm. Date Retrieved:

14th April 2004