Social and Racial Discrimination

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"The Children of the Poor" written by Mervyn Thompson in 1990 was based on a true story about John A.Lee's (Albany) 1934 autobiography about his Mother, Brother Douglas and Sister Rose. His Mother struggled to build a better future for her family, whilst his Sister sold herself on the streets and his brother stole goods for money and food. Despite the Bleak poverty that Lee lived in and the circumstances surrounding his family, education and job opportunities, he later on became a successful author, Politian and social spokesman of the New Zealand society in the 20th century. However, the text shows a "social and racial discrimination" which is shown throughout the text in contrast to discrimination in the past as well as discrimination in today’s society. The text was set in the early 1900's in Dunedin, where there were a lot of new immigrants moving within the areas of Dunedin and Christchurch. At that time, social and racial discrimination was seen in the streets of Dunedin. Mervyn Thompson uses “social and racial discrimination” as a factor to open the eyes of the audience to the issues that were being dealt which people are still facing today. An example of racial discrimination is seen when Mr.Himmell, who was a German Boot Shop owner, narrates to the audience that “all he wants to do is play his Mozart, but they break his windows because he’s a German”. This is shown because the author directly opens the eyes of the audience to the fact that Mr.Himmell was only receiving discrimination from the people because of the stereotypes attached to Germans. People thought that Germans were themselves racist to everyone. Thompson emphasizes to the audience that we live in a world where people make judgments because of a stereotype. He alternates the audience and forces them to question if they make judgments about others or discriminates people around them because of
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