Racial Segregation
Since many of her stories take place in the Apartheid world of South Africa, it should not come as any surprise that racial segregation and its consequences upon the populace takes a position as a predominant theme throughout the short stories of Gordimer. In the twin stories which together comprise “Town and Country Lovers” the direct effects of racial segregation take center stage. Even when this aspect of life is not driving the narrative as it does in this case, however, the racial divide usually acts as a controlling force looming over the actions and behavior of characters almost like the presence of God. The edict outlawing mixed marriages which became law in South Africa in 1949 and its immediately follow-up know as the Immorality Act of 1950 become essential plot mechanism in the two “lovers” stories, but in the various ill-fated attempts at forbidden love which inform the narrative of other stories, these legally codified standards of conduct are always lingering on the fringes as an always-present borderline separating what is possible and what is dangerous.
White Supremacy
Although life under Apartheid has many parallels which can be drawn to life under Jim Crow America for black citizens, there remains always and forever one singular differentiation which underlines everything: the overwhelming majority of the population of South African has always been black. The result, of course, and that during the white rule marked by Apartheid, the ruling power was actually the minority. Gordimer targets expression of white supremacy with a laser-like intensity to reveal how even the actions which are not typically oppressive toward blacks by whites are invested with a deep-rooted belief in white supremacy.
“The Train from Rhodesia” a famous and nearly perfect exemplification of literary manner in which Gordimer approaches the everyday expressions of white power: it really just a simple tale of a wife considering the purchase of a carving of a lion made by an old black man who decides the price is too higher and how at the last minute before their train leaves her husband gyps the old man by underpaying for the carving. The final image of the wife overcome by the shame of the unseemly demonstration of superiority through humiliation her husband exhibits says everything about this system impacts both sides of the equation in various ways that wind up demeaning the humanity of everyone involved.
Blacks and White Together
The theme of how the black characters and white characters in her stories interact is worthy of an entire book of analysis. To suggest that it is complicated does not even begin to hint. In addition to stories of forbidden interracial love like “Town and Country Lovers” there also exists a wealth of stories revealing the tension between white guilt and white supremacy under Apartheid such as the story of the young wife and husband on the train. Of course, when a minority holds a majority under control through repressive authoritarian techniques, there is always bound to be fear among the minority of that day inevitable day when the natural course of things is reset, most often through violent overthrow.
The fear of a black nation is revealed thematically through stories like “Is There Nowhere Else Where We can Meet” which features a tense confrontation in the woods between a young white woman and a young black man intent on stealing her purse. Meanwhile, “A Soldier’s Embrace” is probably the foremost of Gordimer’s stories which present the possibility of the end of white rule and reconciliation and how such hopes seemed doomed to disappointment. It is the tale of a white liberal couple’s disillusionment with their dreams of equality in the face of the reality of black majority rule finally coming to fruition.
