Fiction †Love Essay

The two literary works that I have chosen were â€Å"Country Lovers† and â€Å"What It’s like to be a Black Girl†, to me they share the same theme of Race and Ethnicity. Country Lovers was a really good short story that described lovers of the country. What it’s like to be a Black Girl was a short poem that talked about the background of race and the dilemma of ethnicity. To me the poem and the short story both talked about race and ethnicity, they were both represented and distinguished by the black female. She was considered as the main character in both poems. After reading the short story Country Lovers and the poem, What It’s Like to Be a Black Girl I concluded that they were using the same theme like race or ethnicity. The short story and poem were briefly explained, and the two literary works were based on a black female. The short story Country Lovers written by Nadine Gordimer in 1975 happened on a South African farm, I found this story to be very heartfelt; about true love between Thebedi and Paulus. Thebedi was a black girl who worked on a farm, and Paulus was a young white boy in South Africa. Paulus was the son of a farm owner, and once I read the story it was evident that the theme was about the interracial problems and relationships. The Story was based on love, which is something I loved about the story. The main characters were Thebedi and Paulus, as they grew they started spending more time together. Something that stood put to me was that Paulus was the son Thebedi’s farm owner. Thebedi’s father was the servant of the owner of the farm Mr. Eysendyck’s, so Thebedi had grown up as a farm girl working as a servant for Paulus father. When Paulus was about twelve or thirteen he wanted to go off to school for higher studies, so they will be separated. This story mainly describes their interracial relationships, the innocent love they share for each other, and the gifts they shared. Later on in the story the narrator clearly explained about the couples break ups, that takes place when it comes to the side of education. Later on in the story Thebedi became pregnant, Paulus did not know she was pregnant. She told her friends in the carol that she has a boyfriend or a sweetheart in the farm, and nobody knew about it. Thrbedi’s friends teased but admired her, the story also talks about another boy named Njabulo who liked her and wanted to buy her a belt and some earrings. The word love in this short story to me was considered to be lust; lust played a great role in the story. Lust takes over as described here when Paulus has no regards, the story talks about how he gets into water with other girls. â€Å"The schoolgirls he went swimming with at dams or pools on neighboring farms wore bikinis but the sight of their dazzling bellies and thighs in the sunlight had never made him feel what he felt now when the girl came up the bank and sat beside him, the drops of water beading off her dark legs the only points of light in the earth smelling deep shade. They were not afraid of one another, they had known one another always; he did with her what he had done that time in the storeroom at the wedding, and this time it was so lovely, so lovely, he was surprised and she was surprised by it too, he could see in her dark face that was part of the shade, with her big dark eyes, shiny as soft water, watching him attentively: as she had when they used to huddle over their teams of mud oxen, as she had when he told her about detention weekends at school. † (Clugston, 2010). The racial and ethical dilemma occurrence also becomes a noticeable factor as we read further into this short story; Paulus Eysendyck arrives home from the veterinary college he was attending for the holidays. Upon drinking a glass of fresh milk in his mother’s kitchen he over hears a conversation between the servants in the house say â€Å"where they could get a reliable substitute to help out now that the girl Thebedi had a baby† he became shocked and had to find out the truth immediately for himself, so he goes to Thrbedi’s hut by the kraal to see for himself and also a place he had never been since he was a small boy. When he reaches the hut and see’s the baby first hand â€Å"He struggled for a moment with a grimace of tears, anger, and self-pity. She could not put out her hand to him. He said, â€Å"You haven’t been near the house with it? â€Å"’ (Clugston, 2010). So now in this part of the story we can truly see that it is illustrated, that the truth is and was a racial and ethical dilemma. Back then it was forbidden to have a mixed child, being of black and white ethical backgrounds. Paulus also has thoughts of killing himself and his certain reactions, his tone and choice of words reflect on racial dilemma, they both smelled trouble brewing in the air . Their forbidden relationship shows how he knew that such thing was not tolerated in his community; it was unacceptable in this ethical society. References Clugston, R. W. (2010). Journey into literature. San Diego, California: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.