Racism In Comrades, By Nadine Gordimer

Racial injustice has played a tremendous role in world history and still does to this day today in countries like the US, where systemic racism still is a big problem, even in the 21st century. This issue is also one of the main themes in the South African writer Nadine Gordimer’s short story “Comrades”, which was published in 1991. In the short story, contrasts play a big role. However, the main contrast portrayed in the short story is the contrast between black South Africans and white South Africans as the short story is set during the Apartheid rule in South Africa which culminated with the first free election in 1994. In Gordimer’s short story, a white liberal woman offers a group of black protestors a ride and a meal which the protestors …show more content…
Because of this system, the group of protestors seem startled and a bit overwhelmed at the woman’s sudden hospitality and during the car ride, the atmosphere is very uncomfortable as neither of the parties do not know what to say. When they all reach the home of the woman, the contrast between the wealthy and free white South Africans and the oppressed black South Africans is astounding. The home of the woman appears wealthy with golden ceilings and antique chandeliers. The woman also has a maid which appears to belong to the same ethnic group as the group of protestors as they speak the same language, completely unintelligible to the white woman. When the maid had finished preparing the food for the young men and is preparing to serve it, the white woman hesitates. She does not want the young men to see the maid serving them food, instead she wants to serve them the food herself. This brief moment of hesitation by the white woman is probably due to the fact that she wants to appear as a peer to the …show more content…
This is especially the case during the car ride and during the meal at the woman’s house. During the car ride, the young protestors seem quite sceptical of the woman which affects the overall atmosphere. The woman is also not sure of what to talk to the young men about as they come from vastly different social environments. This contrast also affects the young men deeply as they are not quite sure if they can trust the woman or not. But as soon as the woman offers them a quick meal, the atmosphere eases up a bit. During the meal, however, the tense atmosphere returns. Once again, the woman does not know what to talk to the young men about and when she discovers the fact that the young men only speak a limited amount of English, the communication between the two parties become even more challenging. At one point, the awkward silence becomes so uncomfortable that the woman is desperate to say anything, just something to fill in the awkward silence, and ends up saying something completely unrelated to the previous conversation. In that moment, it dawns on both parties that the distance between the whites and coloureds of South Africa caused by the Apartheid system is simply too immense to fix with simple courtesy and