Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Is There Nowhere Else Where We Can Meet ?

The story begins with a clever prophetic metaphor, ‘reversal of elements' where the white sky is blackened by smoke. This speaks of the role reversal that is about to take place between the races of the boy and the girl. It warns us that there is going to be meeting and it won't be a particularly pleasant one. The title itself incurs thoughts of a romantic meeting, similar to the title of a Hollywood film. This gives the reader a clue that there is a sexual theme in this story.II)an initiation story1) Little red riding hood : journey/ hostile nature / sexual threat / big bad wolf Particular attention should be drawn to smells, they play vital role inthis story. e.g. the strong smell of old sweat burned at her nostrils, a filthy rag,a dusty green scent, he was clean, unhuman, the smell of him choked her.2) A regression process : turning into an idiot (absence of speech)3) Balance and imbalanceViolence is contained by fear.III) (south-african white) girl meets (black) boy : a tale of racial, spacial, sexual, social segregation :1) Irrational instinctive reaction on the girl's part2) Sense of place/displacement3) Fear of the UnknownThe story gets complicated with every minute, the heroine sees some red eyes, she does not knowwhether they belong to a dog or to a person. These red eyes evoke fear andsome interest, her hurt starts beating faster and faster. The author on purpose did not give any names because she wanted to generalize thatsituation and foreground some oppositions: white and black ( racial  context ), educated – uneducated, civilization – veld.

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