Discrimination And Separation

Presentation

The presentation that follows contains a theme from the two short stories that I have chosen which is discrimination and separation of racial groups better known in South Africa as Apartheid. The short stories that I have chosen to represent this theme are Gcina Mhlope's "The Toilet" and Ahmed Essops "Gerty's Brother."

Apartheid as we all know was imposed by the South African government at that time which was known as the National Party, in the year 1948. Thia so called Apartheid separated people into different racial groups namely, Blacks and Whites, or, Whites and Non-Whites. This gave the Blacks no say in the matter whatsoever as the decision making was made and carried out by the Whites. This led to the Whites getting the best of everything and the "left-overs" were were given to the Blacks.

Even the highly paid jobs were reserved forWhites only and as we read in the short story, "The Toilet," the author's sister worked as a domestic worker for a White lady and the author herself found a job at a factory, cutting loose threads, counting dresses and earning a R11.00 a week which could hardly sustain her. Even in "Gerty's Brother," Hussein's friend worked as a shopkeeper and never knew when his shop willbe taken over.

In other instances, in both short stories, the Blacks had to be careful of their every move because if they weren't, the Whites would be on their cases. in the story "Gerty's Brother," when Hussein wanted to fulfil his and Gerty's desires, they had to do it in a dark place where no one would have ever thought of looking and this was because Gerty was White and Hussein wasn't. This meant they had to be very careful   when attempting anything together.

In the short story "The Toilet," had to be meticulous when entering or leaving her sister's living quarters as there was a risk of her caught and been put into jail.