Nadine Gordimer

I really enjoyed the work of Nadine Gordimer this past week. Out of the three stories we read, I most enjoyed “Amnesty.” I loved the angle “Amnesty” was written in. Many people often forget how much the role of the home plays life. During this time South Africa was facing Apartheid. Often in Apartheid stories the point of view of the story is from the man’s point of view. In “Amnesty” you see the side of the women. You see the women waiting for her child’s father to return over and over again. You see the women continue on with life without him, raising her child and supporting herself financially. Gordimer explains in “Amnesty” how women care about the future of the country and their children just as much as men do. This story personally connected with me because I feel that women often do not receive the gratitude they deserve. I enjoyed the story itself, although the unreliable narrator at times made the story confusing. My personal views were not challenged by this story. I completely agree with both the man and women in the story. They both individually want to make the country a better place for everyone, but if it was not for the woman or women of this time there would be no country for the men to save. The women keep the country moving and the future children growing.

I also loved the story “Six Feet of the Country.” This story was easier for me to connect with personally because of the characters. The husband in the story is careless, in human, but very common. The man cares more about pride, then the families that work on his farm. I think in today’s society you often find people like this. You find business men who care more about their own personal gain then the people who work under them. The husband in the story seemed so un-human, because he truly did not care if Petrus got his brother’s body back. This had a large effect on me because I felt for the family in wanting closer. It made me think of the families who do not receive the bodies of fallen soldiers overseas. Not allowing the families that closer is a disgrace.  “Six Feet of the Country” also connects with Apartheid and shows how no person has power. Apartheid created a system where no one can truly win, even the people in charge.  These two stores by Nadine Gordimer were extremely eye opening to reality.