Deconstructing Racial Tension in the Post-Apartheid South Africa through the Prism of Nadine Gordimer’s the Pickup

Abstract

This paper has probed into South Africa’s newly constructed identity subsequent to the dethronement of the apartheid system. The democratic administration upon taking the reins from the apartheid regime heartened South Africans to champion oneness, equality and human virtues in an effort to dismantle the racial division that the preceding government sought to eternise in the country. The apartheid government perpetuated the colonial dogma of separation amidst diversified racial groups in South Africa until 1994 when the country saw a political transition from apartheid to democracy. Despite the democratisation of South Africa, racial spells, which the apartheid system engineered, are still menacing the country in the democratic dispensation. This is reflected in Nadine Gordimer’s The Pickup, which is a neat fit for this qualitative study that aimed to deconstruct racial tensions in South Africa from a literary perspective. Gordimer’s post-apartheid narration above, inter alia, reveals that the country is still experiencing extreme racial problems due to select individuals whose reluctance to reconcile engenders a delay in terms of social transformation and attaining an undisputable democratic identity.