Witchcraft For Sale

The short story, “No Witchcraft for Sale” illustrates the dominance of white people and the oppression of the black people in South Africa. The Farquars are a white family who has a cook Gideon who is the main character of the story. He has served this family all of his life. The Farquars are the masters and represent the oppressors while Gideon is the oppressed. Gideon and the Farquar’s son Teddy have a strong bond that is extraordinary because blacks were treated inferior to whites. Gideon gives more attention and love to Teddy than he does to his own family and is rewarded by getting an increase in pay. The bond he shares with Teddy is ironic because whites treated the black natives as if they were much less than they were. The Farquars respect and love Gideon despite the cultural differences that demand the baas and the natives to remain …show more content…
Although their bond was strong it is not strong enough to prevent the elements of what racism teaches and Gideon realizes this when Teddy touches his son. Gideon tells Mrs. Farquar “Ah missus, these are both children, and one will grow up to be a baas, and one will be a servant” because he has accepted the fact that no matter how much love he has for Teddy society will conform him to it’s nasty ways. This is proven when Teddy uses his scooter to frighten Gideon’s son. When asked why he did it his response while laughing was “He’s only a black boy”. This shows that Teddy does not see Gideon’s son as a person but as a black boy who will always lack the superior that Teddy has. When Teddy gets spat in the eye by a snake, Gideon’s quick response is born out of love for the child. He rushes off into the bush for some herbal medicine, which was common among African natives, in which he used to cure Teddy’s blindness. The natives lived off of ways of the land and kept secrets of remedies to each other in order to preserve their culture and practices. And that is Gideon mocks the scientist and the Farquar’s will