Skin

There are many factors that make it apparent that apartheid and racial segregation is occurring. The most obvious example being the fact that the school Sandra attends is a white only school. As Sandra is walking into the dormitory at her new school everyone is staring at her because she is a coloured person in a white school.
Another example is when the teacher is showing the class the difference between black people and white people and another student teases Sandra about it, “My father says he doesn’t let them drive the tractor because they have monkey hands like Sandra.” White people are displayed as superior, being ‘doctors’ and ‘nurses’ whilst black people are inferior, labourers who work in the fields and mines. Not even the other students

Can you understand what motivates him? What formed his character and identity?

Abraham Laing is the father of Sandra and two other sons in the movie Skin. Sandra is a coloured child born to a white mother and father. At the start of the film Abraham treats Sandra well. The principal of the school tells Abraham that Sandra has to leave because she is causing disruptions. Abraham responds with “it’s true, Sandra’s special. A brave, intelligent, wonderful child.” He starts mistreating her as she gets older but still has good intentions. He confuses her by allowing the media to photograph her and she doesn't know why. They pepper her with questions and Abraham does nothing to support her.
Abraham then gives Sandra skin lightening lotion to use. This leads to her thinking she is different, that her skin colour is wrong. She begins to realise that she is not like the rest of her family as she overhears her brother talking to her mum about her. She tries to make her skin lighter by mixing together harmful liquids which results in serious burns to her

Once school started she began to feel shy and nervous. She didn’t know why people were treating her differently. She started feeling judged and isolated when fellow students and even teachers were tormenting her. The worst thing was, she didn’t know why. For example, a student told her she was from a different country and all her friends were black but Sandra exclaimed “I’m not black!” She began to feel self-conscious and questioned whether she was different from the other students. In a history lesson the teacher was talking about early South Africa. “On these plains were wild animals and savage natives who were always trying to take our land,” and “They couldn’t live together because they were different.” The teacher’s use of the pronoun “our” refers to white South Africans. The sentence infers that white people are superior to coloured, “savage” people. The teacher was being racist and biased against coloured people. Ironically she told a student off a few moments before about being racist but there were minimal consequences for that student. The teacher could have used words like “natives trying to defend their land.” which is actually the truth. The fact that she called the coloured natives savage is derogatory, calling coloured people different to white people is in its self racist. However, that was their upbringing, the “normal” thing to say and no one would be judged. In todays society if