I was attracted to Johannesburg by the many success opportunities available in the city. This is the main reason as to why I hailed from northern KwaZulu-Natal to the city, to make a success of my life through the high class education I was to get at Wits University, one of the top universities in the country. From an early age I have perceived Johannesburg as the city of riches, and where dreams come true. In the short story, Welcome To Our Hillbrow the main character Refentse came to Johannesburg soon after he matriculated to further his studies at Wits University. “By the time you left Tiragalong High School to the University of the Witwatersrand, at the dawn of 1991”(Phaswane Mpe, [42]) Refentse hailed from rural Tiragalong with the hope for an opportunity to a brighter future. The act of the main character in the story fully supports my argument when I relate Johannesburg to success opportunities and high class education.
In order for one to be successful they need to set goals and actually work hard to achieve them. Johannesburg has made me see the importance of setting goals and working hard to achieve each one of my goals. What I have noticed though is that people in this city are willing to do whatever it takes to succeed. Since many people flock to the city with the aim of making money, when things do not go as planned they get involved in crime and corruption. Crime and corruption have been presented as opportunities to make easy money and I believe that this is the prime reason why people actually flock to the city. These illegal ways of making money (such as prostitution, drug dealings and robbery) have posed as threats to many people’s lives. Crime in the city urged me to take better care of myself. I do not feel sa...
... middle of paper ...
...ace where people use each and every opportunity available to succeed, at another’s expense. This norm seen as a great opportunity to others is a great danger to other people as well, such that in Johannesburg you cannot entirely put your trust on someone. Reason being we all came to Johannesburg with only one mission, to succeed whatever it takes. I therefore believe that there are very slim chances that true relationships can be established in the city of gold. In the poem, City Johannesburg, the poet has perfectly personified the city as lifeless by using the words “iron breath that you inhale” (Wally Serote: 21). In this line the poet has implied that the city is cold and compared it and its people to a cold iron that has no feelings at all. In line 21 the poet has fully supported my argument of the city being a brutal place such that you can never trust anyone
Blomkamp builds the movie’s credibility by demonstrating and providing many accurate depictions of geography. Blomkamp does by extrinsically because he is a South African-Canadian who was born in South Africa and spent the first 18 years of his life there (IMDb). After moving to Canada, Blomkamp continued to visit his hometown yearly. This builds his external ethos because he is able to know exactly what the country is like when it comes to geography, and what the country has gone through in the recent tough times that have hit both Johannesburg and the rest of the world. Andrew O’Hehir of the Salon says that the movie shows the “social realities of contemporary Johannesburg, South Africa” (O’Hehir). This played a role in the making of the film because Blomkamp was able to capture the realities that Johannesburg was going through due to his prior knowledge of the area and history.
After Wes (A) internship with the Mayor Schmoke, he was a he way to South African for a semester abroad. For Wes this give him the experience to get to know South Africa and to see the beauty and culture of the country. Wes (A) had been to other country, but Africa so much more because of apartheid and the man himself known as Nelson Mandala. Wes (A) had learned a lot about South Africa and the apartheid movement. He also learned about his middle name Watende which mean
Alexander, N, (2002) “’Race’ and class in South Africa historiography: An overview”, An ordinary country, Scottvile: University of Natal Press.
The distance of 5km, is it truly the disparity between affluence and indigence? Although they only live 5km apart from each other, the “apartheid’s children”, Sylvia and Nameurena live in contrasting worlds. Sylvia lives in the Alexandra township, without a mother or father for protection or comfort. On the other hand, Nameurena lives in a private home with her family just outside of Alexandra, where she enjoys the luxury she would’ve never been able to if apartheid was still in effect. Consequently, the two black South African girls evidently demonstrate distinctive individual development and identity. Although the Afrikaner government has long since been taken down, apartheid is still not over for thousands of black South Africans living in poverty; therefore it is vital for young students to maintain their own individuality.
Ernest Hemingway wrote a challenging short story about a couple that faces an awful issue. He sets his story, “Hills Like White Elephants” on a hot day at a train station, which is actually a stopping point between Barcelona and Madrid for the two main characters. They have to then decide where to go, whether or not to go with each other and/or to continue their relationship. The difference between the white hills and barren valley emphasizes the division between life and death, which comes to the choice Jig faces between having the baby and going through with the abortion. She seems very caught up between the two issues she has because she is very indecisive on what she wants to do.
Williams, M. 2009. Master Class notes. AFDA, AFDA Cape Town Lecture Theatre 2 on 01 June 2009, 11:30.
It is a normal day at Elk Mound high school, the students all have chromebooks, working hard. The teacher seamlessly enters grades into the gradebook. So far the day has been perfect, until disaster strikes! Out of nowhere, all the chromebooks disconnect from the internet, and productivity has come to a sudden, and unpredictable, stop. Everyone in Elk Mound starts to despair! Who will come to the rescue?
For the Puritans in the early New England colonies life was by no means easy, but there was the possibility to expand their beliefs free from the persecution from Church of England. They had the opportunity to create their ideal society under God with the bible as their law from which they would define how to live. The Puritans set out to create their model society which could spread and cull the impurities from the church. But how did these beliefs and goals ultimately effect their society?
First I´m going to describe ``the character’s names in the short story ‘’The Ravine’’. They´re names are Joe-Boy and Vinny. They’re both boys and they’re both fifteen. They’re both friends and they’re both hawiian. In this essay I’ll be comparing and contrasting Joe-Boy and Vinny from the short story’’’’The Ravine’’.
In his final remarks regarding his study, Philippe Bourgois states, “The painful symptoms of inner-city apartheid will continue to produce record numbers of substance abusers, violent criminals, and emotionally disabled and angry youths if nothing is done to reverse the trends in the United States since the late 1960s around rising relative poverty rates and escalating ethnic and class segregation.” Bourgois uses the sociological imagination to connect the problems faced by the drug dealers of East Harlem to those that span nationwide among minorities living in similar inner-city areas. He suggests that policies need to be changed across America to ensure that the quality of life for individual living in inner-city areas, like the drug dealers in East Harlem, will improve.
University of Pennsylvania-African studies center. Inaugural speech, Pretoria (Mandela)- 5/10/94 in Nelson Mandela’s inaugural speech-Pretoria ,May 10 from ancdip@WN.APC.ORG
"Nelson Mandela." UXL Biographies. Detroit: U*X*L, 2011. Student Resources in Context. Web. 22 Feb. 2014.
Newham, G. (2014). Why is corruption getting worse in South Africa?. Retrieved May 4, 2014 from
The majority of the South African people are unemployed or else the breadwinner of the family looses the job or dies. In that situation the family has nobody to provide them with the basic needs of life. The children have no money to go to school and that alone increases the rate of poverty as it is known to everybody that if u is uneducated, you have no good chances of getting a well paying job that will sustain you for the rest of your life. In those situations people turn to crime. They believe that it is the only way that will get food on their table, clothes on their back and roofs over their heads. They also believe that the poor must get their needs from the rich, in that way they target the rich people. The increase in the rate of poverty means the increase in the rate of crime.
The South African educational system has been through many changes dealing with cultural, political, and social issues. There has always been a concern about equal academic opportunities for all the races within South Africa. Where most of the black South African students are given the disadvantage and the White students have the advantages. It wasn’t until 1994 when things took a slight turn for black students in South Africa. That year marked the end of the apartheid. Theoretically non-white students were now offered the same education as Whites. Although in South Africa there are still some areas that the government should offer more beneficial teaching and learning for all of the non-white students. These challenges the South African education systems have been through and are now in the process will further influence an equal opportunity for black South African students. The question this research paper asks is, about how does education vary for black and white students in South Africa, after apartheid ended? There are still economic, political, and racial difficulties for non-white individuals.