The Effects Of Apartheid On Nigerian And South Afr

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The Effects of Apartheid On Nigerian and South African Writing Apartheid is now generally recognized as a flagrant violation of international law, and the literature of Nigeria and South Africa presents the world with an encapsulated package of subject matter, perfect for examining this issue. Apartheid has influenced every angle of Nigerian and South African life, and literary works—as expected—have become a sounding board and an unofficial registry of fact-based opinion concerning race, class and gender issues of these areas. Governmental control over the other races has influenced the people and, as a result, the literary trends of these countries. It is with great and obvious impact that literature by both Blacks and Whites has become influenced as a result of the overwhelming effects of apartheid. An excellent example of such a work was produced by South African writer Alan Paton in his short story entitled “A Drink in the Passage.” This story is an obvious comment on the awkward, embarrassing state of society after apartheid. The two main characters—a white man and a black man—spend a brief portion of an evening together in the early 1960s, trying to make sense of their roles in relation to each other. Although both men genuinely respect each other inwardly, they are uneasy about the “correct” way to interact in the tense social setting they have inherited. The ending of this story summed up the entire theme: “Then after a time he said to me, ‘Do you think we’ll ever touch each other? Your people and mine? Or is it too late?’ But I didn’t give him any answer. For though I may hope, and though I may fear, I don’t really know.” This uneasy attempt at social unification was difficult for all cultures trying to make sense of the new, colonized state during this era. An example of this can be found, in abundance, in Wole Soyinka’s autobiography
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