Gordimer (Blog #3)

    Nadine Gordimer has very strong opinions in her writing. She influences her reader to have a strong opinion in what she is saying also. In “Six Feet of the Country” she explains how the white man (who represents all white men in Africa) thinks of the African people as “babies” and thinks that he is much higher than they are. I think the African men are much higher than the white man. The white man did not help with anything; the wife and the African men did all the work. They worked on the farm in harsh conditions while the white man worked at a travel agency. It frustrated me when the white man said that the farm did not bring much into the household. The farm may not have brought much money into the household, but it brought in crop that fed them all; the farm brought much more to the household than the white man's job at the travel agency did. It also troubled me that the white man was embarrassed of his wife because she worked with the black men and did not have her hair done.

In the world today there is much racism. Some people in America think that they are superior to other countries simply because they live in America. Many people feel "sorry" for the people in third world countries, but don't care enough to help them. These people that say that they "care", don't really care. They watch the news and think that what goes on in these third world countries is sad, and then after they're finished watching the news they change to channel to watch the royal wedding and worry about how pretty the bride's dress is and who is wearing what hat. 

As Americans, our minds are twisted in the wrong direction, just like the white man in "Six Feet of the Country". Americans complain about not being thin, or not being beautiful, when in Africa they worry about gaining weight, and not starving to death, making enough money to keep their land, and (If they complain at all) they complain about how their crop isn't growing and that they are not going to be able to keep what the need to survive. Like the white man wanted his wife's hair to be done, women in America worry about their hair and their make-up more than what is necessary. With all of the make-up that women buy, we could be sending money to Africa or other third world countries that need food and clean water, not make-up and hair products to make your hair look "bouncy". As Americans, we need to worry less about our appearance, and more about the health and safety of the world.