Racism :: English Literature

Racism Racism, the belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others. All across the world racial discrimination has been a serious problem. In Africa 80% of the population is black and the 20% that are white have all the power, is it not true that all men are created equal? Three stories: Afrika Road, The Prisoner who Wore Glasses, and Why don't you Carve Other Animals, tell about Africa and how racial discrimination is a big problem. A more dramatic story is the movie "The Power of One" about an English boy growing up in Africa and his struggles. In these short stories and in the movie racial conflicts are evident in the form of white against white, white against black, and black against black. Not all white people believed that they were superior to the blacks, this concept made the racist whites turn against other whites. In the movie, PK, the main character, suffers ordeals which no one should ever have to go through simply because he is English. At his boarding school the other kids do not like his presence and they make sure he knows it. Another white kid spits in PK's face and even takes it as far as peeing on him in the bathroom. Sadly enough those weren't even the more serious of the acts of hate shown in the movie. PK gets hung up by his feet and stoned with a slingshot, all this because he is English. In The Prisoner Who Wore Glasses, the only real instance of white against white was when the guard took the prisoners side. Even though he was forced too, the guard took the prisoners side and treated them as equals, going completely against what the other guards believed was right. Other than that there weren't many instances of white against white discrimination in the stories, they were mainly about the conflicts between blacks and whites. Racial conflict between blacks and whites is definitely expressed more in the short stories than in the movie. In Afrika Road, it is said how even though 80% of the population is black, the white people still have the power. This idea is also expressed metaphorically in Why Don't You Carve Other Animals? When it says " The elephant has ruled the forest for a long time, he is older than the forest, but the giraffe extends his neck and struts above the trees, as though the forest belonged to him. He eats the topmost leaves, while the elephant spends the day rolling the mud. Do you not find it interesting?