D.J. Opperman’s poem, Christmas Carol, uses the function of ‘place’ in both the setting and the language of the poem in order to make a social commentary about the racial segregation and cultural divide in South Africa. The following essay will discuss how his reference to the biblical story of the birth of Jesus Christ, as well as the historical significance of District Six in South Africa, substantiates the former statement.
According to the IIE Module Guide (2017:16), ‘Space’ is a neutral ground before being complicated by ways of seeing and thinking. ‘Place’ is a space that has been filled with cultural, social and linguistic meaning. During the 1960s, District Six in Cape Town was proclaimed as an area for white people only, causing …show more content…
He is making an assertive commentary about the divide between the cultures by his term “outas” (II. 1) because they are considered to be coloured people in the poem. Coloured people experience a state of liminality because they occupy a marginal borderline of being neither black or white. Beyond that, Opperman is trying to give a voice to both the oppressor and the oppressed by making use of both Afrikaans and English, and making reference to a “brown” child, whom is neither “white” or …show more content…
The reason is because children create a more emotional impact as they are defenseless and are untouched by society. The “small brown child” (II. 12) pulls on the heartstrings of the readers because a child cannot help being born into a situation like the one in District Six in the ‘60s. This is similar to Ingrid Jonker’s poem, “The child who was shot dead by soldiers at Nyanga” (Moffett, 2003). The symbol of this one child is also illustrated to generalize what is going on of the entire population. This synecdoche portrays hope for the future, just as Opperman’s poem does. Jonker’s poem was also written in the 1960s as a response to the Massacre at Sharpeville where over sixty people died (Moffett, 2003). Both Jonker and Opperman use the symbol of a child to protest their condemnation (Moffett, 2003) of
According to the IIE Module Guide (2017:16), ‘Space’ is a neutral ground before being complicated by ways of seeing and thinking. ‘Place’ is a space that has been filled with cultural, social and linguistic meaning. During the 1960s, District Six in Cape Town was proclaimed as an area for white people only, causing …show more content…
He is making an assertive commentary about the divide between the cultures by his term “outas” (II. 1) because they are considered to be coloured people in the poem. Coloured people experience a state of liminality because they occupy a marginal borderline of being neither black or white. Beyond that, Opperman is trying to give a voice to both the oppressor and the oppressed by making use of both Afrikaans and English, and making reference to a “brown” child, whom is neither “white” or …show more content…
The reason is because children create a more emotional impact as they are defenseless and are untouched by society. The “small brown child” (II. 12) pulls on the heartstrings of the readers because a child cannot help being born into a situation like the one in District Six in the ‘60s. This is similar to Ingrid Jonker’s poem, “The child who was shot dead by soldiers at Nyanga” (Moffett, 2003). The symbol of this one child is also illustrated to generalize what is going on of the entire population. This synecdoche portrays hope for the future, just as Opperman’s poem does. Jonker’s poem was also written in the 1960s as a response to the Massacre at Sharpeville where over sixty people died (Moffett, 2003). Both Jonker and Opperman use the symbol of a child to protest their condemnation (Moffett, 2003) of