The Pickup: A Critique of Capitalism Anonymous College

Nadine Gordimer’s novel The Pickup tells the story of one couple: Julie, a well-to-do white woman from a wealthy family living in South Africa, and her lover, Abdu, an illegal immigrant from an unnamed Arab country, also living in South Africa and working as a mechanic. When Abdu’s visa is denied and he is forced to leave South Africa, he and Julie return together to his homeland, and she experiences the reversal of her role in society as she becomes the outsider, the alien, the other. Julie’s experiences in this and other foreign lands define the purpose of the work, and explore the theme of displacement and division and the impact of class and economic power on human thought and relationships in the neoliberal era. The Pickup comments on the way that wealth, capital, and the movement of finance affects class systems across the world, and explores the ways that the rise of financial capitalism has changed migration, specifically that of low-wage migrant workers, and the social repercussions that accompany this shift. This idea can be surmised through exploration of one question: why does Julie decide to stay in South Africa at the end of the novel instead of returning to the United States with Abdu?

Gordimer’s critique of the...