Comparative Paper of Race/Ethnicity Essay

Racial background and ethnicities argon represented in the short stories rural atomic number 18a Lovers, The Welcome Table, and the rime What Its same to Be a pitch-dark Girl. in all of these stories have a primary(prenominal) character or protagonist glum female. All three of these women deal with some degree of discrimination because of their color. The hardships that these women injure during their life can be suffered by any cardinal but growing up in a discriminatory situation creates a more(prenominal) dramatic spirit level.The main themes in Country Lovers be relish and racial politics. Country Lovers was written during a time when Africa was suffering from racial segregation. This story has derision throughout the entire story. Thebedi and Paulus grow up together and they fall in love. They grew up in Africa during the apartheid when their country did non allow interracial relationships. Paulus Eysendyck was the discussion of the farm owner and Thebedis fathe r worked on that farm. They twain knew they could not be together publicly.During the apartheid in Africa it was illegal to have an interracial relationship. thither are several dramatic effects in this story. The first is when the fibber talks about Paulus going away to school This usefully coincides with the maturate of twelve or thirteen so that by the time early adolescence is pull ined, the opaque children are making along with the bodily changes common to all, an comfortable transition to adult forms of address, beginning to call their rare playmates missus and baasie light master (Clungston, 2010).Theres loss of innocence and forbidden love as described here when Paulus watches Thebedi wade in the water The schoollady friends he went swimming with at dams or pools on neighbouring farms wore bikinis but the sight of their crying(a) bellies and thighs in the sunlight had never made him feel what he entangle now when the girl came up the bank and sat beside him, the d rops of water form off her dark legs the only points of light in the earth scent deep shade (Clungston, 2010). This love would by any other meat be normal, but since it is during the apartheid it is against the law.Eventually, Thebedi becomes pregnant at eighteen with Pauluss child. In order to protect herself Thebedi marries another man, Njabulo a laborer on the Eysendyck farm, alike(p) her father. When Paulus returns home on holiday he learns of the child, fearing that it is his, knowing the legal issues he could face, he goes to see the child. When Paulus sees the child He struggled for a moment with a grimace of tears, anger, and selfpity. He said, You havent been near the stick out with it? (Clungston, 2010) Both Paulus and Thebedi know the consequences if the child is found out about.Two years later Paulus returns to Thebedis hut and drowns the child. The baby had been given a kosher burial until someoneone of the other labourers? their women? had reported that the baby was almost snow-covered, that, strong and healthy, it had died suddenly after a visit by the sodbusters son(Clungston, 2010). In the end, a trial resulted in a not guilty verdict because of insufficient proof. Each one of these events is dramatic. The main themes of The Welcome Table are impartial Christ-like love and racism.Walkers story The Welcome Table never mentions a table notwithstanding under the title it quotes an old spiritual. We are never given a name of the old adult female in this story. This creates anonymity about the cleaning woman this is tragic because she is unknown. Based on the description of the womans uniform the idea is given that Perhaps she had known suffering (Walker, 1973). In the story of the old black woman is described as, the color of poor elderly Georgia earth, beaten by king cotton and the extreme brook (Walker, 1973).This old Black woman is on a mission. Even though in that location is no table in this story, the pick up table is a meta phor for impartial love. The old woman heads into a house of deity expecting it to have impartial love. The church service people discriminated against her because she is black. The good church house are shocked. The reverend reminds her gently saying Auntie, you know this is not your church (Walker, 1973). The old woman thinks as if one could choose the wrong one (Walker, 1973). She brushes past them all and finds a seat near the back.Inside it is really cold, colder than usual. She ignores the request of an usher, referring to her as grandma, who asks her to leave. The ladies, who are celebrating the impartial love that they presumably have, at long last insist and their husbands hurl her out. She is stunned, bewildered, and starts to sing a sad song. Then she notices something flood tide megabucks the long gray highway. She grins toothlessly and giggles with joy. For it is none other than Jesus, and he is pass toward her.When he came close, he said, Follow me and the old woman bounded down to his side with all the bob and speed of one so old(Walker, 1973). The two of them walk on together. She tells him her troubles, and he listens kindly, smiling warmly. Jesus provides her with the welcome table. The people in the church never knew what happened to her. Some said they byword her jabbering to herself and walking off down the highway all alone. They guessed maybe she had relatives across the river, some miles away, but none of them really knew. The theme in this story is racism and hardship.Smiths rime gives the audience a view into a young girls transition from universe a black girl into befitting a black woman during a time when both being a black girl and a black woman are unwelcomed. An Explication From transition to disappointment. The meter What its like to be a Black Girl (for those of you who arent) by Patricia Smith, is exactly as it is described in the title. Smiths poem gives the audience an insiders view into a young black girls tr ansition into black woman-hood at a time where both being a black girl and a black woman was not as welcomed.Puberty is usually described by the biologic changes a young boy or girls torso goes through. Smith writes, Its being 9 years old and judgment like youre not finished, and like your edges are wild, like theres something, everything, wrong (Smith, 1991). Though all teens have these thoughts in Smiths poem the black girl also have the added pressures of a racially below the belt society. This black girl she refers to in her poem is feeling the awkwardness of her freshly changing body and the hope of something different and maybe better to come.The poem tells the story of a young black girl exploring and experiencing what it is to become a black woman in a society that tells her to be white is better. Its dropping food coloring in your eyes to determine them blue and suffering their burn in silence. Its popping a bleached white mophead over the kinks of your bull and prim ping in expect of the mirrors that deny your reflection. (Smith, 1991) The food coloring in her eyes and the bleached hair symbolize her need to be accepted by societys idea of proper. Its flame and fists and life according to Motown (Smith, 1991). The life she knows is Motown music, racial slurs, and fighting.Between jumping double Dutch until your legs pop and growing tallish and wearing a batch of white (Smith, 1991) the poem tells us how a young black girl balances her changing body, with her child-like mentality. The wearing of a lot of white is her wearing of the wedding gown often seen as a symbol of womanhood. On that day, shes starts the next chapter in her life, as a married woman. When Smith talks about having a man reach out for you and caving in around his fingers (Smith, 1919) it gives the reader a better observance of the subservient mentality women dealt with during the 1960s.Finally, this young black girl is now a woman. Throughout the poem, Smith has helped us to see the transition from a black girl to a black woman. With Smiths attention to detail, the reader is able to stick to the girls changes, both biological and psychological. This poem tells the story of a young black girls journey and her experiences while fitting a grown black woman in an era of racial uncertainty. All three women are survivors of a life of racial unjust. These stories are common to everyday life changes and lessons.These hardships, that everyone normally sees, are much more dramatic in a society that discriminates against color. References Clugston, R. W. , (2010). Journey into Literature. San Diego Bridgepoint Education, Inc. Retrieved March 20, 2011 from https//content. ashford. edu/books/AUENG125. 10. 2/sections/h3. 2? search=Country%20Lovers Walker, A. , (1973). In Love & upset Stories of Black Women. New York Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 81-87. Smith, P. , (1991). Life According to Motown. What its Like to Be a Black Girl (for those of you who arent). Tia Chucha Press.