In Julys People, Nadine Gordimer gives a very detailed and knowledgeable explanation of the political turmoil within South Africa. By expressing the emotions of a family involved in the deteriorating situation and the misunderstandings between blacks and whites, she adds a very personal and emotional touch, which allows the reader to understand the true horror and terror these people experienced. Gordimer writes of how the Smales family reacts, survives, and adjusts to this life altering experience. She makes obvious throughout the book that prejudice plays a major role in uncovering the reactions of Bamford and Maureen Smales. The Smales were a suburban, upper middle class, white family living in Southern Africa until political turmoil and war forced them to flee from their home and lives. Rebel black armies in Soweto and other areas of Southern Africa revolted against the government and the minority white race, attacking radio and television stations and burning the homes of whites. The Smales needed to get out quickly. Their servant July, whom they had always treated well and had a very uncommon relationship with, offered to guide the family to his village.
The Smales, having no other options, accepted Julys offer and ran in haste and confusion to the dearth village. They knew little of the drastic adjustments they would have to make in order to survive in Julys rustic village. These adjustments would soon threaten their relationships with one another and their familys structure. The three Smales children, Victor, Royce and Gina, had not experienced, and therefore had not expected to live a life of luxury amongst people of their own kind. This innocence contributes greatly to the rate and comfort in which they adjust to living in Julys village. Bam and Maureen may not have felt prejudice towards the black race, but were certainly prejudice about the lifestyle in which they must now live, a lifestyle completely stripped of any and all luxuries they once enjoyed.
The Essay on Family And Kinship Life One Ratakote
The Significance of Family and Kinship One of the most important and essential things that everyone must have in order to live a great and joyful life is family. One must follow values to be successful in life, and one must also support their family to keep that success advancing toward the future. In David W. McCurdy's article, "Family and Kinship in Village India," it discusses the significance ...
All of the family members, facing a new way of life, adjust to their situation in radically different ways. Each one drifts in their own direction in search of comfort and acceptance throughout their experiences living amongst Julys people. The first adjustment the Smales family had to make was the realization that they no longer had all of the luxuries they were used to. July says, They looked different there-you should have seen the clothes in their cupboard. And the glasses-for visitors, when they drink wine. Here they havent got anything-just like us(22).
The Smales no longer live in their luxurious seven-roomed house equipped with a library, garage, swimming pool, and white china lavatory. Due to their situation, they are now subject to living in a single room hut constructed of mud walls and roofed in thatch. Dirt and cobwebs adorn the interior as well as an iron bed, parts to a broken Primus stove, and seats to their vehicle that now served as a bed for the children. The pink glass cups that July brought home to his village from the Smales is a constant reminder of the life and the luxuries in which they were forced to leave behind. They must now live on bare necessity, carefully rationing, reusing, and saving any bit of scrap and food they can. That was how people lived, here, rearranging their meager resources around the bases of nature, letting the walls of mud sink back to mud and then using that mud for new walls, in another clearing, among other convenient rocks(26).
Bam and Maureen react to their situation in extreme ways, some similar and some not.
The most radical adjustment in which the couple has the greatest trouble accepting is their newfound subservience to July. He has become their host, their savior, and their keeper. When July realizes the power he now holds, he takes advantage of the situation. Whether it is done innocently or with deliberate intent, it is hard to decipher. July ends up taking control of the bakkie (the Smales car) and its keys, which greatly upsets the Smales. The keys symbolize power in this novel. This lever of power gives July greater control over the Smales who are reluctant to ask him to give back the keys.
The Term Paper on Children Parents and Family needs
E1 Explain the needs of families which may require professional support. Families may have a variety of needs, in which they need professional support. Families with a large number of children may not have the required amount of living space, this could mean that children are sharing beds, or parents are not sleeping in a room. Children will lack of sleep are proven to concentrate less and develop ...
Bam doubts his decision of letting July keep the keys when he says, There was the moment to ask him for the keys. But it was let pass(57).
July also puts upon the Smales an eternal gratefulness owed to him for his allowance of them into his home and for his years of service. This aggravates Maureen more than Bam as she cannot believe that he could lay such a burden upon her shoulders. She defends herself and her family from the accusation that they acted typically towards July, treating him like a common servant. Bam and Maureen are extremely frustrated over their loss of superiority and control and their true racist views are uncovered and made far more obvious than when they were living in the city.
Despite the fact that the Smales are the more intellectual people of the black community in which they now live, they remain subservient and have almost no influence on the village. The husband, and emotional leader of the Smales family, Bam was disturbed by the change in stature, but he quickly realizes that its the only way for his family to survive. Throughout the entire story, Bam is a very loving father and husband. He is confused over his new position with July who becomes a necessity for the Smales rather than a luxury. Even with all of the problems he and his family have to deal with, Bam manages to control himself and his emotions attempting to make the most of the situation. He contributes to the village by always lending a hand in the man work that has to be done and even builds a water tank for all to use. He participates in the drinking of beer with the men of the village and stays as long as is polite(35).
After returning from his night with the men of the village, Bam came back to the hut with something of the appropriate, slightly foolish expression of good-natured participation on his face(35).
The Term Paper on Cultural Family History Essay
Sto lat, sto lat, Niech zyje, zyje nam. Sto lat, sto lat, Niech zyje, zyje nam, Jeszcze raz, jeszcze raz, Niech zyje, zyje nam, Niech zyje nam! As a child I heard this jumbled collection of words flying out of my family’s mouths in song, directly after the celebration jingle ‘Happy Birthday’. Other children would ask me what it meant and all I could comprehend was that it was Polish. I was mildly ...
His attempts to become a part of the community are his way of coping with and trying to improve his situation. It makes him feel good about himself and takes his mind off of the unfavorable aspects of his new life. Bam constantly listens to the ra ….
