Apartheid policies replaced traditional African business practices with European commercial activity. In precolonial Africa, the economy relied on subsistence-oriented trade and the exchange of surplus goods for commodities not locally producible. Bartering, in which goods are exchanged for items of similar value, was the bedrock of local markets. The economy under apartheid shifted to a price-based market, and The Conservationist examines the effects of this sudden change. Those in the general store near Mehring’s farm browsed the merchandise and attempted to haggle with the store owner over the price of sugar, tea, and matches. Customers offered cigarettes and home-brewed beer for goods and others who did not understand the price system,
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In The Conservationist, men run the farm, head the general store, and harvest and tend to the crops. Apartheid galvanized gender roles and created a male-based economy. In the book, women are confined by tradition. Inside the home of the Indian family, the women existed to sate sex drives and birth children. The patriarch, after visiting his son, noted that, “The boy will be happy anywhere where he can be touching the first woman he has all to himself” (Gordimer 112). The only other women mentioned, Alina, was Mehring’s housemaid. The economic system of When Rain Clouds Gather paints a contrasting image with apartheid’s traditional policies. In the village of Golema Mmidi, the women, not men, were the primary economic agents. Gilbert in fact specifically targeted women for his agricultural educational program, noting that, “The women were the backbone of agriculture while the men on the whole were the cattle drovers” (Head 34). Under apartheid, traditional gender roles limited the economic opportunities of women, but as argued by Head, a successful economy abolishes race and gender as determinants of fiscal …show more content…
When Rain Clouds Gather assigns children an important economic role. When Makhaya is roaming the Botswana bush, he stays the night at a hut owned by a woman and her daughter. Though only ten, the girl sneaks into Makhaya’s hut and offers to have sex with him. He rejects her advances but still gives her money. Additionally, Paulina, Makhaya’s eventual wife, sends her 10-year-old son, Isaac, into the bush to graze the family’s herd of cattle. In the African economy, even with modernization, children are still vital economic agents whose contribution supports their families. The Conservationist depicts a different role for children. Instead of working, offspring under the apartheid system are treated like nuisances. Under apartheid, workers need permits to secure employment, excluding children from profitability. The only work children find in the book is scavenging dumps where they find, “bird’s eggs, wire, or something (a coin, a pocket comb, cigar stumps) white people have dropped or thrown away” (Gordimer 79). The economic landscape is even reflected in nature. Because of drought and scarce resources, hippos abort their fetuses because they are not worth the cost. This scene further reinforces the exclusionary principle at the heart of the apartheid economy. Children were unable to work, but many adults, unable to meet the strict requirements to obtain a
In The Conservationist, men run the farm, head the general store, and harvest and tend to the crops. Apartheid galvanized gender roles and created a male-based economy. In the book, women are confined by tradition. Inside the home of the Indian family, the women existed to sate sex drives and birth children. The patriarch, after visiting his son, noted that, “The boy will be happy anywhere where he can be touching the first woman he has all to himself” (Gordimer 112). The only other women mentioned, Alina, was Mehring’s housemaid. The economic system of When Rain Clouds Gather paints a contrasting image with apartheid’s traditional policies. In the village of Golema Mmidi, the women, not men, were the primary economic agents. Gilbert in fact specifically targeted women for his agricultural educational program, noting that, “The women were the backbone of agriculture while the men on the whole were the cattle drovers” (Head 34). Under apartheid, traditional gender roles limited the economic opportunities of women, but as argued by Head, a successful economy abolishes race and gender as determinants of fiscal …show more content…
When Rain Clouds Gather assigns children an important economic role. When Makhaya is roaming the Botswana bush, he stays the night at a hut owned by a woman and her daughter. Though only ten, the girl sneaks into Makhaya’s hut and offers to have sex with him. He rejects her advances but still gives her money. Additionally, Paulina, Makhaya’s eventual wife, sends her 10-year-old son, Isaac, into the bush to graze the family’s herd of cattle. In the African economy, even with modernization, children are still vital economic agents whose contribution supports their families. The Conservationist depicts a different role for children. Instead of working, offspring under the apartheid system are treated like nuisances. Under apartheid, workers need permits to secure employment, excluding children from profitability. The only work children find in the book is scavenging dumps where they find, “bird’s eggs, wire, or something (a coin, a pocket comb, cigar stumps) white people have dropped or thrown away” (Gordimer 79). The economic landscape is even reflected in nature. Because of drought and scarce resources, hippos abort their fetuses because they are not worth the cost. This scene further reinforces the exclusionary principle at the heart of the apartheid economy. Children were unable to work, but many adults, unable to meet the strict requirements to obtain a