AMNESTY By Nadine Gordimer

                                AMNESTY
                           Nadine Gordimer


Introduction

Nadine Gordimer (20 November 1923 – 13 July 2014) was a South African writer, political activist and recipient of the 1991 Nobel Prize in Literature. She was recognized as a woman "who through her magnificent epic writing has – in the words of Alfred Nobel – been of very great

benefit to humanity".

Gordimer's writing dealt with themes of love, politics, moral and racial issues, particularly

apartheid in South Africa. Her works always question power relations and truth, she tells stories

of ordinary people, revealing moral ambiguities and choices. Her characterization is nuanced,

revealed more through the choices her characters make than through their claimed identities and

beliefs. She also weaves in subtle details within the characters' names. Under that regime, works

such as Burger's Daughter and July's People were banned. She was active in the anti-apartheid

movement, joining the African National Congress during the days when the organization was

banned, and gave Nelson Mandela advice on his famous 1964 defense speech at the trial which

led to his conviction for life. She was also active in HIV/AIDS causes.

About the short story “Amnesty”

“Amnesty” describes the miserable conditions black people in her country had to cope with

for several years. The story is at the same time both sad and encouraging, because it describes the

enormous courage and will of the blacks to fight against apartheid, the inhuman practice of racial

segregation practiced in South Africa since the beginning of the last century. The story takes place

in South Africa during the time of apartheid.

Summary

A young woman narrates the story of her potential husband's freedom from imprisonment.

The man, never named, had left their village on the grassy plains of South Africa nine years

earlier to work as a construction worker among the unfinished tops of skyscrapers in an obscure

but not too distant city. The woman had little contact with his urban life (for 2 years he sent home

money and visited one weekend each month) but she learned he had joined a union. A bright man,

he began making speeches and marching for the causes of workers and civil rights in general. In

the third year she learned that he was in prison. During the trial that followed a baby daughter,

which he named Inkululeko, was born. He was sentenced to 6 years on the "Island." She

attempted to visit him once: she and his parents saved for 2 years and made the journey to Cape

Town, but they got as far as the ferry because they had no permit. After 5 years, he has returned,

changed. His young daughter doesn't recognize him from the old photo she has grown up with; the narrator finds herself as distanced from this man maybe less sure of where his thoughts are as

when he was away from her. Now, carrying a second child, she finishes the story, thinking

figuratively that she's still waiting for him to come home.

EXERCISES

I. Answer the following questions:

1. In which magazine was the short story “Amnesty” first published?

The short story “Amnesty” first published in The New Yorker, 1991

2. Who is the narrator of the short story “Amnesty”?

The narrator of the short story “Amnesty” is a young South African woman, the fiancée of

the nameless protagonist.

3. What is the meaning of the term “Amnesty”?

A general pardon especially for those who have committed political crimes.

4. For how many years was he sentenced to in the trial?

He was sentenced to in the trial for six years.

5. What name was given by the trade Unionist to his daughter?

Inkululeko was the name given by the trade Unionist to his daughter.

6. Why are the black people kept down, according to the protagonist?

According to the protagonist the black people were kept down because of ignorance.

II. Answer the following questions in a sentence or two:

1. What was the profession of the narrator's life partner?

He was a worker in a construction company.

2. Why was he one of the men who went to talk to the bosses?

He was a member of the union and he is the one who spoke well in English. Some workers

were laid off after the strike so he and others went to talk to their bosses about it.

3. Why couldn't the narrator go often to the court to follow the trail of her potential husband?

By that time she had just passed her 8th standard and was then working in a farm school so

she couldn't go often to the court to follow the trail of her potential husband.

4. Why, according to the narrator didn't her brothers who had gone away to work in town send

home any money?

The narrator thought that her brothers were living there with their girl friends and had to

buy things for them. So they did not have any money to send home.

5. How did the man respond in the court when his baby daughter was brought therefore the first

time?

When she brought their baby to court the first time to show her fiancée, his comrades

hugged him and then hugged her across the barriers of the prisoners dock and they had clubbed

together to give her some money as a present for the baby. He chooses the name Inkululeko for

the baby.

6. Why was the narrator, alongside with her potential husband's parents, not allowed to enter the

boat meet the man?

They did not have a permit to go to the island to meet prisoners. To meet any prisoners on

the island, a prior permit from the police was needed.

7. What was the content of the 'such a good letter' sent by the protagonist from the prison?

In the letter protagonist wrote that he was in the island so that his people could have money

and all the other things they needed like land, food and the end of ignorance. He had also written

“power” in it. But that was blacked out by the prison authorities.

8. What, according to the protagonist, is the difference between working in the Movement and the

Union?

In the union he works every day and after the work they have meetings. In the movement

they never know where they will have to go and what is going up to come up next. The same was

the case with money. There is no regular payment in the movement.

9. Why was the narrator's father against the meeting of the comrades in their place?

If the Boer, in whose land they are squatting, comes to know some political meeting are

being held in the home of the narrator's father, he would ask her father to leave the place taking

his family with him. Thus he will lose even his livelihood and his house to stay. So the narrator's

father was against the meeting of the comrades in their place

10. What was the protagonist's reply when he was informed of the second 'child coming'?

He said that this one, the coming child, belongs to the new country, and he would build the

freedom they had fought for.

11. Explain: 'I'm waiting to come back home.'

The narrator has the habit of sitting down on a stone and thinking about the future by

attending the meeting of the comrades. Being a South American black, she has no proper home

and all the land belongs to the whites. So she is waiting for the day when South Africa will be a

free country and where she can have her own home.

III. Answer the following questions in a paragraph:

1. The treatment of racism in “Amnesty”

Racism is the main theme of the short story “Amnesty” by Nadine Gordimer. She explains

the struggle of black South Africans to challenge apartheid. The entire South African people were divided according to races. This deep racial division made the life of common people horrible;

mostly the women were emotionally and physically affected. The land was owned by whites and

the blacks are working for them and only paid very poor wages. The natives have no proper home

and all the land belonged to the whites. The condition of black people in their own country is

very pathetic. The story is at the same time both sad and encouraging, because it describes the

enormous courage and will of the blacks to fight against apartheid.

2. Describe the circumstances that led to the protagonist's imprisonment.

Nadine Gordimer’s short story “Amnesty” examines the struggle of black South Africans to

challenge apartheid. The story focuses mostly on the imprisonment and eventual release of an

African worker who leaves a farm to earn money in the city. The protagonist was a member of the

union and he is the one who talk for the rights for the workers. So one day with some workers, he

went to talk to their bosses that some workers were the laid off after the strike. While there, the

protagonist is arrested for supporting the union and placed in Prison for being a dissident.

3. Narrate the journey to the island by the narrator and the protagonist's family.

After the two years of imprisonment of protagonist, the narrator and the protagonist family

had saved up enough money to visit the protagonist. They went by train, slept on the floor at the

station, asked the way to the island to the people they find. And finally reached the sea, just like

them there were many people are waiting for the ferry, which is only for the island. They had

brought sweets, biscuits trousers, relaxer cream and warm coat for him. When the ferry was ready

they all stood together like a cattle waiting to be let through a gate. At the very last moment when

the policeman asked the permit, they showed their empty hand, they didn't know about such

things. The policeman told they should bring a permit to visit a prisoner on the island. So they

were sent away.

IV. Answer the following questions in about 300 words:

1. Nadine Gordimer's “Amnesty” examines the struggle of the black South Africans to challenge

the apartheid. Discuss.

"Amnesty," a short story by Nadine Gordimer, takes place in South Africa during the time of

apartheid. The story is about a woman whose fiancé is imprisoned on the Island because of his

political beliefs. At the end of the story, the woman is waiting for her fiancé's return and for a

better life in South Africa. But much has changed in South Africa since the time in which this

story takes place. The short story's settings cut across the whole spectrum of South African life.

She writes about black village life and black urban experiences. Racism is the main theme of the

short story “Amnesty”. The writer explains the struggle of black South Africans to challenge

apartheid through a woman character.

The entire South African people were divided according to races. This deep racial division

made the life of common people horrible, mostly women were the real victim of the events. They

actually did not know the real situation and they were emotionally and physically affected. The

land was owned by whites and the blacks are working for them, who were paid very poorly. The

natives had no proper home and all the land belonged to the whites. The condition of the black

people in their own country is very pathetic. The story is at the same time both sad and

encouraging, because it describes the enormous courage and will of the blacks to fight against

apartheid.

The men who raised their voice against the whites had been taken to prison and sentenced

for long years without any reason. To visit a prisoners one should get special permission from

police. The life of the prisoners is a horrible one, many prisoners died while they were in the

island. The women, who were waiting for their beloved ones is a very common story in South

Africa. They dream for a better future which is actually far away, however the struggle of the

black south Africans to challenge the apartheid won't end till the last breath of their life.

2. Critically examine “Amnesty” as the story of a young woman whose ambitions are thwarted by

social inequalities.

The story “Amnesty” by Nadine Gordimer is the story of a young woman whose ambitions

are thwarted by social inequalities. The narrator is a woman, who had passed 8th standard and was

working in a farm house to support her family. She has 3 brothers, two of them who worked in the

town but they did not send money home and one brother who worked with her father for the

Boer. The narrator's fiancée, the protagonist went nine years ago to a town to work in a

construction company. For first two years he came home for vocations and the narrator’s father

fixed their marriage after 3 years. Then she heard he had joined union and conducted strikes.

Because of union activities he was arrested and sent to jail. During the trail they met and she

became pregnant and had a baby whom he named Inkululeko.

The narrator is a woman she had so many ambitions - she wanted to marry her beloved and

live in her own house but her dreams were destroyed because of social inequalities. She tried to

meet him in prison but because of lack of permission from police she missed that opportunity

also. The protagonist always thought about the freedom of his society, but the young woman

thought about the free life with her husband.

In the end we see the narrator sitting alone in the late afternoon and talking to herself about

the Boer's farm, which actually belongs to nobody. Everything is nothing on the back of the earth.

The sun's colors are changing in the sky and it going to be evening soon. She was waiting for his

arrival and for a better life in South Africa.

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