51 pages • 1 hour read
Nadine GordimerA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Roughly 80% of South Africa’s white population supported the segregationist policy of apartheid, a cornerstone of the country’s minority-rule regime, while Gordimer was writing her book. The remaining 20% opposed it to various degrees: Some took bold political action such as forming opposition parties like the Progressive Political Party. Others, though they disagreed with apartheid’s racist, exploitative policies, didn’t let their progressivism interfere with their material comforts or professional success. Gordimer, a fiercely committed anti-apartheid activist, felt particular scorn for such “weak-tea liberals,” who she felt wanted it both ways: priding themselves on their progressive, egalitarian opinions while giving up none of the financial and social advantages of belonging to the white ruling class. In the hypothetical scenarios of July’s People, which follow the violent overthrow of the white regime, Gordimer’s novel forces two representatives of this liberal but hypocritical subset (Bam and Maureen Smales) to delve into their past behaviors under apartheid—along with their true feelings about themselves, each other, and the subject people they always claimed to support.
Born to white privilege, Bam and Maureen rarely questioned the liberal probity of their sentiments and actions. Bam, a descendent of the original Dutch colonizers of the region, built a lucrative career as an internationally known architect, designing buildings for the government and for important figures in the white-dominated financial sector, such as a bank accountant, who in gratitude passed along privileged information to Bam about a banking crisis.
By Nadine Gordimer
Burger's Daughter
Burger's Daughter
Nadine Gordimer
Jump and Other Stories
Jump and Other Stories
Nadine Gordimer
None to Accompany Me
None to Accompany Me
Nadine Gordimer
Once Upon a Time
Once Upon a Time
Nadine Gordimer
Six Feet of the Country
Six Feet of the Country
Nadine Gordimer
The Conservationist
The Conservationist
Nadine Gordimer
The Moment Before the Gun Went Off
The Moment Before the Gun Went Off
Nadine Gordimer
The Pickup
The Pickup
Nadine Gordimer
The Train From Rhodesia
The Train From Rhodesia
Nadine Gordimer
The Ultimate Safari
The Ultimate Safari
Nadine Gordimer
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection