Introduction
There are scores of symptoms that depict racial and ethnic differences in the society. Different ethnic and racial groups are unequal in prestige, presumed worth, resources and power. There is no reservation that ethnic and racial discrimination and prejudice are foundations of momentous social problems in a society (Brinkerhoff, White & Ortega, 2007). Social background for discrimination entails beliefs about racial supremacy or purity, social and physical segregation, labeling and stereotyping. These aspects are evident in the story, The Welcome Table by Walker and A story about a forbidden love on a South African farm by Nadine Gordimer. The stories highlight the harsh reality that the blacks faced in the white society. Through the main characters, the two stories evidently represent racism and ethnic differences, which are promoted through the style, content and the form of the stories.\
A story about a forbidden love on a South African farm by Nadine Gordimer is a fairy-tale concerning, a girl and a boy who engaged in a forbidden interracial relationship. The girl, Thebedi, works in Paulus farm and they eventually fell in love. However, they must keep their relationship a secret because of their prejudiced racial differences. Moreover, the cost of crossing social and racial boundaries was tough during this period; therefore, they had to keep their affair as discreet as possible.
On the other hand, The Welcome Table by Alice Walker is a narrative told in the third person narrative. The story is about an old black woman who is daring enough to enter into a white people’s church. The congregation present in the church feels threatened by the sight of the old woman and they are not aware of what steps to take. While some white people view and take the lady as she is, others think she is a foreshadow of coming events, black people entering into a white people sanctuary. The white people conveyed their apprehension of the black people onto her. Eventually, the white men hurled the old woman out of the white people church.
The two stories highlight events and the repercussions of crossing social and ethnic boundaries during a time when the whites and the blacks lived in isolation. It was forbidden for the two races to mingle in social places, homes or in relationships. By definition, a race is population of people who hold different features from other people. The racial differences are based on the concept of biological categorization of human population (Brinkerhoff, White & Ortega, 2007). . This classification is usually based on morphological aspects, which include facial qualities or skin color. On the other hand, ethnicity refers to chosen cultural and sometimes bodily attributes that are used in classification of people into categories or groups that are considered extremely diverse from others. Ethnicity is also linked to race but is more concerned about social qualities that human population share. The social attributes utilized for ethnicity include religious faith, culture, nationality and tribe.
The two stories are appealing because of the outrageous nature and intensity of the subject, racial and ethnic differences. Given the racial and ethnic prejudice during early 1900s, mingling of the whites and blacks was taken as a social taboo (Brinkerhoff, White & Ortega, 2007). The topic of racial and ethnic differences is truly enthralling and grabs the attention of the readers. The social disgrace appended to the two female protagonists in the stories is a confirmable proof that the stories are based on social veracity. While the two women experience so much agony because they are from the weaker gender, they are more stigmatized because of their skin color.
In A story about a forbidden love on a South African and The Welcome Table, the protagonists are female characters who are have to deal with some form of discrimination. The two female characters, Thebedi and the old black woman, are discriminated by the white people because of their racial background. While the hardships the two women encounters can be experienced by any other person, theirs are made more harsh because of racial and ethnicity differences.
The setting of the two stories are similar not on physical background but in the sense that they are set in a discriminative environment. However, the story about a forbidden love on a South African Farm is set in three different areas, Paulus living place, Thebedi’s village and the river where the two meet. Actually, the setting has extremely helped in highlighting the theme of racial and ethnicity in the sense that it has helped in creating a clear comprehension of how social class and racism has helped in plot development. Paulus stays in beautiful homestead an aspect that underscores the social status of his family. Thebedi on the other hand lives in poor village, hence her poor social status.
The Welcome Table just like Country Lovers is also set in a discriminative atmosphere. The first setting is the church where the whites attend. The whites view the church as a sanctuary where the black are not allowed. The highway also form part of the setting and it is the place where the old female meets Jesus and it is also the place where she mysteriously dies. It must be noted that the setting in the two stories exposes the unsympathetic authenticity that the blacks experienced in the hands of the whites. The setting show how black women were prone to different types of oppressions (McDonald, 2007). However, the setting allows people to reflect on the passivity and activity of the black women towards their faith.
Moreover, the setting of the stories constantly shifts. This symbolically underscores the social gap between the white and the black people in one society. The different setting demonstrates the separation and differences that existed between the two races. The authors make the reader understand the consequences of being black in a society of white and the consequences of breaking the societal rules of not mingling with the whites (Sleeter, 2011). These aspects of social and class differences are clearly depicted through the living status and dressing code of those involved. For instance, Paulus home is depicted as a place of wealthy people with servants while Thebedi lives in a poor village. On the other hand, the old lady is almost blind and puts on a dress with misplaced buttons. She wears a grease-stained headscarf and she was shivering due to cold. The condition of the old black woman is a clear delineation of social class and the condition of the blacks in a society that was dominated by white people.
The two stories depict strained associations between the white and the blacks in the society. Evidently, the stories highlight the lives of people, both white and black who are influenced by off-putting measures. While the A story about a forbidden love on a South African farm demonstrates restraining measures the government took during the apartheid in South Africa and interracial associations, the Welcome Table shows restraining societal laws in places of worship.
The Welcome table story is narrated in the 3rd person narrative and constant changes in the approach of the story’s. The start of the story is narrated from white people’s perception when they see a black old woman going inside a white people church (Wright, 2008). While in the church the standpoint of the narration shifts to the church usher who commands the old lady to disappear from the white people’s church. The narration’s viewpoint then shifts back to the white people especially women who view the coming of the old black woman as an insult to them. The white women feel intimidated by the appearance of the black lady in their church (Clark-Soles, 2007). They provoke their white husbands to hurl the poor black woman out of the church premises. From this point, the story is narrated from the approach of the black woman. It must be noted that the persistent change in the approach of the narration helps in portraying thoughts, feelings and fears of everybody involved in this story (Wright, 2008). The reader is in a position to understand the implication of racial and ethic differences in the society and more so in a worship place. Correspondingly, the story about a forbidden love on a South African farm is also narrated in the third person storyline
Just like the forbidden love in a South Africa’s farm, the Welcome Table depicts social boundaries between the white and people in the society. The two stories show excellent writing styles that depicts a good balance between emotions and techniques’ demands. It is interesting how the authors have used emotions to highlight the theme of ethnicity and racial disparities between the white and black people (Allan, 1997). The stories have an honest platform, which clearly highlight social concerns in the era of racial and ethnic discriminations. The methods of narration are flawless and the plots are inevitable with perfect images. It is evident that the two authors were not writing for the sake of writing, but were writing to put across the major issues of ethnicity and racial differences that faced the society. Particularly, the authors wanted people to view things from an honest and logical perspective.
The two stories are a clear depiction of social limitations and social stratifications. In 1900s, strong racial differences existed and mingling between the black and white races was unheard off (Sleeter, 2011). While the story of a forbidden love in South African farm highlights how interracial relationships were forbidden, the Welcome Table shows harsh reality the black faced in a white society. The consequences of interracial relationships as well as other social relationships and activities were harsh and cruel. In the Welcome Table, the whites do not even have a sense of respect neither to the house of God nor to the old lady but they took it upon themselves and chose to throw her out of the house of God (Clark-Soles, 2007). This shows how severe the price of crossing social boundaries was. Additionally, in the story of the forbidden love, an innocent baby pays the price of the interracial relationship. His biological father kills the boy in a devastating situation.
Conclusion
In both stories, the black are discriminated because of their skin color. Through the death of Thebedi’s baby and that of the old woman in the highway, the reader is able to understand the devastating cost of infringing societal rules with reference to crossing social limitations. The two stories are potent reminders of the suffering the black faced in the white society. While Gordimer’s story depicts some compassionate and intercession between blocs of a hopelessly segregated society, Walker’s story depicts spiritual intervention of a divided society (Allan, 1997). The stories contain representation of death and life, evil and good, hatred and love, anger and peace. The old woman in the story Welcome Table and the innocent baby in the story of a forbidden love in South African farm represent innocence and peacefulness. However, despite their innocence, the two are not welcome in the society they live in and their lives ends immaturely and mysteriously because of their racial and ethnic background.
References
Allan, T.(1997). Teaching African literatures in a global literary economy. Austria: Feminist Press.
Brinkerhoff, D., White, L., & Ortega, S.(2007). Essentials of sociology. London: Cengage Learning.
Clark-Soles, J.(2007). Engaging the world: The New Testament and the Christian believer. London: Westminster John Knox Press.
McDonald, J.(2007). American ethnic history: Themes and perspectives. New York: Edinburgh University Press.
Sleeter, C.(2011). The academic and social value of ethnic studies: A Research Review. National Education Association Research Department. 38.
Wright, L.(2008). Displacing voice: South African feminism and JM Coetzee’s narrators. African Studies, 67(1): 11:32.
