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Racial difference in ‘Is there nowhere else where we can meet?’
Asa Hammarborg
In the chapter on racial difference in Introduction to literature, criticism and theory by Andrew Bennett and Nicholas Royle they argued that invisibility is the main condition for the racial other. The racial other is recognized as ‘the other of humanity, unrecognizable as a human, a beast with purely animal physiognomy’ (199) and this is usually strengthened by portraying its opponent as innocent, pure, gentle and calm. Bennett and Royle continue to argue that racial difference is not only about opposites and difference but also about likeness. There would be no point in comparing something that is opposite to something else if they wouldn’t have anything in common.
I would like to argue that the short story ‘Is there nowhere else where we can meet’ by Nadine Gordimer is a great example of finding racial difference in a literary text. ... The main theme of the story is that of racial difference but also the fact that there are two worlds more or less functioning within one country, South Africa. ... He is the racial other and is portrayed as her opposite. ... The racial otherness is usually referred to as inhuman, or animal-like, ‘without a flicker of interest like a cow sees you go by’(30) He is also invisible, to follow the example discussed by Bennett and Royle, which comes through quite obviously in the way that he is not referred to as a person he is just a nothing, ‘there was a chest heaving through the tear in front of her and: a face panting’(51).
Approximate Word count = 1462
Approximate Pages = 5.8
(250 words per page double spaced)
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