The Theme of Racial Prejudice in Short Stories

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The Theme of Racial Prejudice in Short Stories

Racial prejudice is a form of discrimination. In the short stories

"Country Lovers" and "The Gold Cadillac" there are some good examples

of it. In both the stories the black people are being discriminated

against because they are black and they are "different" and are "not

as well off" white people.

"Country Lovers" is set in South Africa, and there are black and white

people living largely separate lives under apartheid. At a young a age

the black and white children all play together as if they were all the

same. This is because the pressure of society does not influence them.

However, when the white children go to school,

"The soon don't play together any more even in the holidays".

This is because society and the "Vocabulary of boarding school" have

influenced then to believe that the white people are superior to black

people.

The black children do go to different and weaker schools and they fall

behind. By the age of twelve or thirteen they begin to address the

white children (their old playmates) as "Missus and Bassie-little

master".

The white boy in the story (Paula Eysendyck) did not realize that

Thebedi (a young black girl) was one of the crowd at the kraal. She

was in his sisters clothes. This shows that the black children are

given clothes that the white children would not wear anymore. It also

shows that they are not of the same "social status".

They used to meet secretly because they feared what people would say

if they saw the educated white boy with the black farm girl "Down at

the dried-up river bed" was where they usually met. This is because

they were hidden from view. They would sometimes me at the boy's

house, But only when his parents were out. This also shows she's

scared to be seen by Paules' parents: "there was a risk of someone

would discover her or a trace of her presence".

Later on in the story she is looking in at Paules' house and compares

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