Wolstonecraft's Portrayal Of Women In South African Literature

One of the most celebrated men of the 20th century is Nelson Mandela, the man who helped free South Africa from Apartheid rule. But however inhumane, disgusting and barbaric Apartheid rule was, it contributed to the growth of the South African economy and created tremendous amount of wealth for the white South African minority. A significant amount of this wealth was generated from South Africa’s vast gold mines that were all owned by whites. To make these mining houses practical and lucrative there needed to be a great hoard of inexpensive and replaceable labor; which was perfect because the white minority had an endless supply of cheap labor. The Africans. Given the fact that the Africans made of the majority of the population and had little power, influence or education they were not left with many choices to make money. More importantly, it was because of the African labor force that South Africa’s successful mining industry was successful because “Only the presence of cheap labor in the form of thousands of Africans working long hours for little pay …show more content…
Due to the lack of formal education, one way where women were told and taught how to behave was through the depiction of women in literature. The authors of the such female literature were nothing more than people “who, knowing little of human nature, work up stale tales, and describe meretricious scenes, all retailed in a sentimental jargon” (Wollstonecraft 493), which essentially such portrayed almost every female character as an emotional, capricious women who cared only about the most superficial aspects of life and ignored anything intellectual. The result of such repetitive brainwashing was a society of women who were “taught to look for happiness in love, refine on sensual feelings” (Wollstonecraft 493) and lead to generations of women who abandoned intellectual thought for that of