The three stories I have been studying Essay Example for Free

The three stories I have been studying Essay Explore how relationships are constrained and influenced by the traditions of the different cultures evident in the short stories in section 3 of the Edexcel anthology. The three stories I have been studying are, Country Lovers, A Stench Of Kerosene and Veronica. The three stories are similar to each other, as they are all about relationships, influences that effects their decisions and how their families are put under pressure by one and other and gender segregation. This occurs in everyday life in some areas of the world. In the Country Lovers the story is set in South Africa. A Stench Of Kerosene is set in Northern India and its about a mans love for his barren wife and how his mother constrains his life, Veronica is set in Nigeria and its about a young girl growing up and how her fate was sealed and she didnt have a say in the matter and her friendship between her best friend Okeke and how he tries to persuade her to come to the city with him to live a better life but she turns it down for a numerous reasons. In Country Lovers there is a lot of segregation happening such as racial, economic and educational. We can see this because in the story we are told that at young ages black and white children are split from each other even if they had become friends they would still be taken to different schools where the white children would have been given better education for their life. In A Stench of Kerosene we can see there is more of gender related segregation in the story because when Manaks mother thinks that Guleri is incapable of giving birth she finds a second wife for Manak, from this it shows me that women are only needed for giving birth to children in this community. In Veronica we can also see gender segregation for example when Okeke goes to the city and Veronica does not want to go with him and decides to stay in the village to look after her family in her community it was important that the eldest child looked after the family as if she was the mother, another reason why she did not want to go is because she did not even have standard six (this was the same as SATS)where as Okeke a young male did not have to look after his family and was able to forward his education in the city. In Country Lovers there is a relationship between the two main characters, Thebedi and Paulus. It all starts when they were young children growing up on the farm playing together as all children do, knowing no wrong could come from it but, as they grew older there relationship starts to change in to a more intimate one, they begin to see each other in another way I can see this because in the story it says When the girl came up the bank and sat beside him, the drops of water beading off her dark legs the only points of light in the earth-smelling, deep shade. They were not afraid of one another this shows that the feelings between one and another was mutual they both started to grow fond of each other. The chance of them actually having a real relationship was made extremely difficult because of the Colour Bar making it illegal for black and white people to have relationships of any kind. They are also brought together by Thebedis charm and her own uniqueness compared to the other girls Paulus meets at his school. She also did things that meant a lot to Paulus, things that that the other girls couldnt we can see this in the text when the writer writes She gave him before he went back to school, a bracelet she had made of thin brass and the grey and white beans of the castor-oil crop his father cultivated and also when the author says his was admired, friends asked to get similar ones for them this shows that Thebedi was different to other girls and even though she didnt have money she could still give Paulus a gift that was priceless. In A Stench Of Kerosene Manak and Guleri are married in northern India In the mid 20th century where the community was largely Hindu. In A Stench of Kerosene I understood that Guleri and Manak loved each other but North Indian cultural traditions made things harder for them. Due to her culture Guleris life seems very dull. She does the same things every day of her life. She counted the days to the harvest. Shows how counting the days would make time go by and gives her something to look forward to. Guleri is different to Manak because she wont let things get in her way. Shes more out spoken. She knows what she wants. Your mother said nothing so why do you stand in my why? demonstrating her outspoken character in this story. Her character is far different to Manaks. Manak has a weaker but equally important character. He doesnt stop his mother from arranging another marriage. He doesnt speak out like Guleri. In this culture the main job for the wife to have is to have children and raise a family but Guleri cant have children and Manaks mother who is a big influence in Manaks decision make the decision to find Manak a new wife so he can start a family with her When Manaks mother finds Manak a new wife we can see that Manak is too scared to stand up to his mother but, he does not want Guleri to leave because he loves her we can see this because the author writes He begged her suggesting he is pleading with her to keep Guleri because of his love for her. She then proceeds to tell Manak to go home, this all shows us that she is accepting that she cant give Manak a child and therefore she has to leave him because of his mother, this is called fatalism meaning when you simply take all things that come your way as fate and that you cant change anything. Veronica is a story that is set in Nigeria. The culture there was meant to be very male orientated, where men did not have to cook and clean and look after the parents and siblings and therefore were given better opportunities in life than women. This causes the women in this community to have very low self belief and self expectations. In Veronica the two main characters are Okeke and Veronica, they are very good friends but nothing more, we can see that they just want to be friends by how the writer writes she still had a certain attractiveness that I knew would appeal to some men from this quote I can tell that Okeke only liked Veronica as a friend and how neither of them wanted anymore than friendship, but never the less they care very much for each other and Okeke tries to help veronica when ever he can, we can see this when Okeke is moving to the city and they are talking for the lasts time When I have qualified I will send to take a correspondence course from this quote I can see that Okeke is a caring young man and he wants Veronica to live a better life away from the country side. Okeke and Veronica are good friends, neither of them wants anymore than that, but never the less they care very much for each other and Okeke tries to help veronica whenever he can. In Veronica the friendship between Veronica and Okeke is to do with how comfortable they are with each other. They dont squabble or argue but are at peace with each other. They are true friends. But for all the misery in her own life she never seemed to envy mine demonstrates how they are casual together. They are best friends. They dont need to show each other up. Okeke is the type of person to seize life with two hands and not let go. I had won a scholarship to the university shows how he grows academically. He wants to see more of the world. His ideas of life compared to veronica are totally opposite. He seizes any good opportunity in life useful to him but Veronica is a fatalist. She waits for things to come her way. This is due to her cultural upbringings. In the story it doesnt really mention whether being a fatalist is a bad or good thing because that is for the reader to decide. Her culture may have taught her to accept what life gives so she must think its a good thing. In the story Country Lovers the rules of apartheid pull Thebedi and Paulus apart. We can see this when the writer tells us that they were not afraid of one another this tells me lots in a way of saying they kept their relationship secret because they were afraid of the rest of society would think and, what would happen to them, Paulus had a lot going for him at the time he was a young man going to college to study to become a vet, and all the other dads saw him as a suitable man to take there daughter. We can see that the rules of apartheid pull them apart a lot in the story when the writer writes They each returned home with the dark-she to her mothers hut, he to the farmhouse this show us that Thebedi lived In a poor hut well as on the other Paulus lived in a farm house shows us that Paulus was a much wealthier person than Thebedi. When Thebedi was eighteen her parents met up with a boy called Njabulo who was the same age as Thebedi and his parents to set up a arranged marriage. Th is was common for people who didnt have a lot of money they would get married and become one family and where the grooms parents give the bride a dowry, this might be money or something useful for example a cow. Thebedi and Njabulo try to have a baby Njabulo thinks that Thebedi is pregnant with his baby but she is pregnant but not with his baby. Later on in the story Thebedi has the baby and it is light skin at first Njabulo thinks after a few weeks the baby will darken up but the weeks go on and the baby is still light skin then Njabulo gets thinking and believes that its not his baby its Pauluss, but he still stands by Thebedi he evens builds a house for them to live in this tells me that he is a caring man who has a good heart and just wants to provide for his family. The innocence in two, young children became tainted as they became young adults. The young man Njabulo asked her father for her demonstrates how traditional Thebedis family is, so it would be a shock if they find what shes been doing. Her culture holds her back from what she wants to do or say. It also demonstrates that black people of South Africa during the apartheid were more traditional then the white people. I believe t his is because the white people ruled at the time so the black people were left never to develop their ideas on tradition. They couldnt change their culture just like the UK has since the early nineteen hundreds where women were seen as to clean the house and look after children where as in now women have the same rights as men. She was calm; she said she had not see what the white man had did in the house demonstrates her giving up knowing that the white man will always win. The South African apartheid has taught her that black people are unimportant in the eyes of white people. Also, she refers to Paulus as the white man and not her sweet heart any more. This demonstrates how she realized Paulus was just another white mane and to him she was just a black woman. It was as simple as that. I think that Njabulo played a huge role in Country Lovers because he supported Thebedi and he didnt care whether the baby was his or not. He just wanted to be there for her. In the story Country Lovers the rules of apartheid pull Thebedi and Paulus apart we can see this when the author (Nadine Gordimer) tells us that th ey were not afraid of one another this tells us lots its a way of saying that they kept their relationship secret because they were afraid of the rest of society, what would happen to them, their families and the rest of their lives. We can see that the rules of apartheid pull them apart more and their culture does when Nadine Gordimer says each returned home with the dark-she to her mothers hut, he to the farmhouse this shows the wealth differences and how truly different their lives really were, she lives in a hut and he lives in a big farmhouse, this is also another way of telling us that they will never be equal or be able to have a real relationship because of the law in the country at the time, their different cultures and because they live very different lives in terms of wealth and work also they have received very different educations. Also at the preparatory examination where she went to give evidence against Paulus at the end of the trail Thebedi was interviewed by a number of newspaper who spelled her name in a variety of ways she spoke in her own language this tells me that she is trying to get things back to how there were and trying to get back in to her community she was quoted beneath her photogr aph It was a thing of our childhood, we dont see each other any more she makes it seem that it was just a fling and a thing of the past which will never happen again. In Veronica we can see the problems are mainly about education and that how Okeke a young male and Veronica a young female at first live the same life but then it gradually chances to a point where Okeke moves away from the country to further his education wheres as stays in the country to further her life of cooking and cleaning for her family. Okeke moves to the city because Okeke has better opportunities in life I can see this when the writer writes I had won a scholarship to the university this shows me that he has chances to achieve something in life where as Veronica does not have any qualifications not even standard six this show her lack of education. This then brings her self expectations to drop again. Okeke and Veronica are very different, Okeke is a man and therefore has much higher self expectation where as Veronica a women has much lower self expectations, we can see this when Veronica says they are my family, that is enough this shows that she doesnt see her self leavi ng her family, and that she will never achieve anything in her life she will just farm and look after her family all of her life. Where as Okeke is much more ambitious and wants to achieve something in life we can see this when he says I won a scholarship to the university and when he says I thought I knew my worth showing us that he strived to be the best he could by getting a scholarship to the university, we can also see he says I thought I knew my own worth telling us he thought he was capable of doing well in life and could do better than he thought at that time. Veronica also states that it is her. What Ive noticed about this story is although Okeke and Veronica live in the same village they have different cultural views due to their class. Okeke comes from a richer family so he is freer but Veronica comes from a poor family and they have typical ideas in culture which are very out dated. This story tells me that culture varies in class of family. The attitudes towards education from Veronica are simply hopeless. She feels its not a womans place to work due to her culture. When I have qualified I will send you money to a correspondence course explains that Okeke knows how Veronica feels about women and work so he offers her money for a correspondence course as its thought of as a female role but she still rejects his offer. She thinks life has given her a specific job which is to look after her family. She comes from a small tight-knit community and she has no education. She has really low expectations of herself and hasnt got a lot of confidence. Okeke, I wont live to see tomorrow. Nor do I want to. My husband is dead and my child also. There is nothing left for me in this world which definitely demonstrates how weak she has become. She thinks if she stays in this world she would have nothing to do. She thinks she was put on the world to look after her family not to go out and accomplish something great. Due to her culture her friendship with Okeke has drifted away because all her life she was taught that her job is to look after people while Okeke was taught to accomplish amazing things In A Stench Of Kerosene the, lifestyle of the two main characters drives them apart, because of their beliefs in their community that the only reason two people get married is for having children and if they cant or dont want to have children they will most likely to get divorced. This is what separates Manak and Guleri because of their culture the mother is the head of the family nothing happens without her say so, this is called a matriarch culture a female dominated community. Since that Manaks mother believes Guleri is incapable of having babies. After 7 years of waiting she finds Manak a new wife making him to depart with Guleri which he never wanted to do. We can see that this family is a matriarch culture when Manaks mother specks bad mind to him here is a quote that proves Manaks mother is in control, Why do you croak like an old woman?Be a man then the writer tells us that Manak was too scared to reply to her and say you are a woman, why dont you cry like one for a change. All of these quotes shows me that Manak is very scared and intimidated of his mother and that he could only stand up to her in his head. Manak was given a new wife shortly after and he was too scared to stand up to his mother and fight for Guleri making sure that his mother knew that his love for Guleri made him not care if she couldnt have children. The attitudes towards marriage and the role of wife in A Stench of Kerosene are so old and out dated. The point Im making is that women in North India were perceived as objects. I can tell by Guleris actions. She went about her daily chores fed the cattle, cooked food for her parents in law demonstrating how bored she must have been of her life. She does the same thing every day. Her daily life is the same as a servants life. During the time of Hindu marriages women were seen to do three main jobs which are to cook, clean and carry children. The most important is to carry children. What is unsurprising in the story is why Manak married again but I know it was due to parental and cultural teaching. Manak and Guleri were married for seven years and she had never borne a child and Manaks mother had made a secret resolve that she would not let it go beyond the eighth year which blatantly points out that the whole point of a Hindu marriage is to have kids. Manak dared not to speak to his mother about this. As I analysed the story it seems to me that she makes the decisions and is the head of the house. She is the matriarch of the family and if he retorts to her it could make life harder for him. Manak and his mother dont have a strong relationship. Their relationship is based on his fear to her and she uses it against him by pushing him about. Manak is adapting to his culture as it teaches mainly to have children. He is being taught that the womans job is to cook, clean and carry children while the man provided. Finally I think that all three of the stories are well written and have good points on everyday life in different cultures and shows the problems that people are facing from different cultures on a everyday bases I also thought that it was very good how each of the three stories all dealt with different issues in there community but they all where connected to each other for example gender segregation. In the story Country Lovers it deals with the problem of racial segregation and it was sensitive on the matter but shows how difficult it was for black and white to have any relationship together and yet it told the truth and did not make up something. A Stench Of Kerosene it dealt with the problems in a part of the world about arranged marriages but it went in to detail about it and how many of the family in northern India were a matriarch one and how even if a man has his own opinion his mother would change it if she didnt like it, and how if your not the person who you love you dont have anything to live for. A Stench of Kerosene Manak didnt like the idea of marrying again but maybe as he grows he might decide to change his mind on arranged marriages. There is a huge difference between English culture and the cultures in the three short stories. We do not have the right to judge other people on their cultural beliefs as they could do the same to us. We all have different cultures and when we have adjusted ourselves to them we get used to them and keep them. In these three short stories it is clear that culture plays the biggest role and is put before love. Veronica tells the story of domestic violence and how it is for a woman in the country and the city. When she was younger she didnt have it great she was beaten at home by her father but still loved him she does everything she can for her family but they dont care about her they only care for themselves and veronica accepts this as fate and lives with it she know her only role in life is to cook and clean nothing else. From reading studying these three short stories I have realized that where I come from my culture and community is a more of an open for me, there are a lot opportunities for me even at a young age that for some wont even come in a lifetime.