Themes & Corresponding Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Themes & Corresponding - Essay Example Smith and Gordimer are able to use these female characters to in their literary works to depict the manner in which the society treats them, because of the color of their skin, as well as their racial background. The short story by Gordimer and the poem by Smith all depict the life of a black woman. Altikriti (2011) explains that racialism and ethnicity are vices that people experience on a day to day basis. On most occasions, black people are always discriminated upon, by the whites or the Caucasians. Furthermore, Altikriti (2011) explains that racialism and ethnicity was a subject that was difficult to discuss, mainly because of the emotions that it could bring forth. These two literary pieces of art are about ethnicity and racialism. Both the short story and the poem give a discussion of ethnicity and racialism. For instance, in the short story, there is a love relationship between Thebedi, a black woman, and Paulus, the son of the master of Thebedi. Altikriti (2011) explains that this relationship between Paulus and Thebedi was forbidden because of the racial nature of Thebedi. She was a black woman, and the black’s were not allowed to inter-marry with the whites. The relationship between Thebedi and Paulus emanated from their childhood romance, into adulthood, resulting to the pregnancy of Thebedi, without the knowledge of Paulus who had gone to study. This passage is able to show the love that existed between Thebedi, and Paulus, Gordimer in her 1975 piece of work denotes that, â€Å"In one summer afternoon, when water was flowing in the river, and it was very hot outside, Thebedi wadded as they used to, when they were little children, the dress she wore was able to bunch modestly tucking into her leg s. The school girls that Paulus used to go swimming with at the pools or dams near the neighboring farms had their bikinis. However, the sight of their thighs and bellies had never made Paulus to feel