Racism: Society's View About Ethnic

Racism: Society's view about ethnic

Literature helps us understand the past and creates a clearer picture of the world around us. Through literature, we explore the human condition and analyze how and why people think the way they think, act the way the way they act and feel the way they feel. Literature enables us to develop our minds analytically and promotes open minds. We see the world through the eyes of different writers from different cultures and in turn learn the ways to deal with things happening around us. The insights that can be gained from reading Alice Walker's "The Welcome Table" and Nadine Gordimer's "Country Lovers" are how skin color played an important factor in one lives and how far society came from with racism.

Racism is a powerful word. It was an issue way back in the day and nowadays; it's still an issue to a certain extent. Racism is when someone thinks people who don't have their skin color or religious beliefs appear to be considered lower than them. This action is usually done by name-calling or violence.

Just like many issues in life, racism has been an ongoing issue ever since a long time ago. "The Welcome Table" however, presents a great example for this issue. In the story, the author expressed how white people treated a black elderly woman in a church. The woman in this story, The Welcome Table, was certainly different. She was not like any of the others in the church. She was treated differently than everybody attending the church. The author painted a clear image of the way they were talking about her and treated her, for example,

"Some of those who saw her there on the church steps spoke words about her that were hardly fit to be heard, others held their pious peace; and some felt vague stirrings of pity, small and persistent and hazy, as if she were an old collie turned out to die". (Clugston R. W. 2010, section 3.1, para. 1)

But through it all, the author pointed out her careless attitude about the church people who were saying cruel things about her. Even the Reverend of the church tried to stop here from entering the church but she acted like she did not want to deal with anyone. Her goal was to see Jesus. The Author pointed out how bold and smart the old woman was. She knew that with her being black was an issue and she not accepted in the church but she ignored everyone and everything that was said about her, she knew not to seat up front in the front roll, that's why she sat in the back. "Inside the church she sat on the very first bench from the back, gazing with concentration at the stained-glass window over her head. They stared at her as they came in and sat down near the front". (Clugston R. W. 2010, section 3.1, para. 4)

After several unsuccessful attempts trying to get her thrown outside in the cold. Finally, it was the women in the church that got their husbands' attention about the problem they had with the old black woman sitting in the back of the church. This proves how racism doesn't really matter of religious belief or religion to make people act a certain way about others. The author specified that no one ever turned anyone out of the church before even the ushers in the church never considered the thought of not letting someone in the church before, let along throwing them out, but after all, they didn't see a human being, they were blinded by her skin color being different than theirs. (Clugston 2010)

Finally after their husbands' action, the author stated how happy the wives were because the old black woman got thrown out in the cold and she was out of the church. While standing outside in the cold weather, confused about the situation. She thought that racism wasn't existed in the church of God but she was wrong to think like that. Her imagination took over her and she started daydreaming.

Yet again,

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