The Waste Land
In South Africa The National Party enforces apartheid by law in 1948. It separates whites from ‘natives’, ‘coloreds’ and ‘Asians’, in every area of life from the buses they travel to work on, to the benches where they may sit at the train stations. This segregation implies that the circumstances for the coloreds and blacks turn into worse circumstances than ever before. When people hear the word apartheid, most of them think about this separating of blacks and whites and the fighting between the blacks and whites. But that is just one of many detriments apartheid has caused. This text “The Waste Land” by Alan Paton deals with a different perspective of apartheids causes – the fights in the colored races. “Mercy was the unknown word” (p. 1, l. 13). This quotation clearly inform us about the blacks’ and coloreds’ conditions below the laws of the National Party which force the black and colored people to hurt each other, so they will have a chance to survive. The main theme in the text is about apartheid’s consequence. More specifically the theme is that you cannot trust anybody – not even your family during the apartheid time: “’Freddy.’ said one. ‘Your father’s got away’” (p. 2, l. 43). It is the man’s own son who tries to rub him. Nobody cares about you. One of the other themes is everything that used to be good turns to the worst. Even your belief neglects him: “…behind him was the high wall of the convent, and the barred door that would not open before a man was dead” (p. 1, ll. 17-19). This quotation points out that his belief he trusts the most neglects him. In the start the text takes place at a bus stop next to a waste land: “The place was well chosen…On the other side of the road was the waste land” (p. 1, ll. 17-20). This indicates that the whole environment is poor. The bus he jumps off is a bus he takes when he has to work and the place is not safe at all: “It went down at the dark street like an island of safety in a sea of perils” (p. 1, ll. 5-6). The quotation proves the man is in danger from the time the bus drives away. The narrator who is called the man has a family comprised of wife and children: “His wife could be made a widow, his children made fatherless” (p. 1, l. 12). This also points out that he is in terrible danger because of the choice of words which is underlined. He is chased by the young men: “His wages were in his purse, he could feel them weighing heavily against his thigh. That was what they wanted from him” (p.1, ll. 10-11). This tell us that the young men want to rub him, and the man certainly knows what they want from him. The man is scared: “His fear was great and instant, and the smell of it went from his body to his nosetrils” (p. 1, ll.23-24). He is so trapped and scared of the young men that he almost smells the fear from himself. His fear turns to; “…strength and anger, and he ran towards the waste land…” (p. 2, ll. 1-2). This quotation tell us that he does not have any other opportunities than try to escape from the young men’s trap. While he tries to find a good hiding place, “…he plunged blindly into the wilderness of wire and iron and the bodies of old cars” (p. 2, ll. 4-5). This quotation indicates that he acts instinctively and runs desperately into wire and iron without thinking about the damages of his own body. After the man escapes the young men’s setup, he develops from being chased and scared to some kind of a messiah: “People arise! The world is dead” (p. 3, l. 19). This quotation tell us how he sees the bright light about the bad circumstances apartheid induces. The young men who are the other characters in the text are feared by all: “…the figures of the young men waiting under the tree. That was the thing feared by all. To be waited for by the young men” (p. 1, l. 3). This tell us that the young men are so dangerous that nobody wants to meet them a dark night. They are determined: “… he heard the young men walking towards him…They did not speak, their intention was unspeakable” (p.1, ll. 14-16). This quotation indicates that they know what they are about to do. They are maybe as well unfeeling because when they find the dead man and find out that it is one of their own, the young men “…lifted the body and swung it under the lorry…” (p. 3, l. 14). It points out that the young men only cares about the money they did not get. Freddy’s death does not mean anything to them. In the start of the text, the mood is shown. It is horrifying: “The moment the bus moved on he knew he was in danger” (p.1, l.1). This quotation indicates that the man is in danger which gives a hint to the whole story. The mood is also somber which is known by the choice of words in the text: “The dark street, danger, heart was pounding in his breast, protest, widow, fatherless, barred door, dead” (p.1, ll. 5-19). Those choices of words set the atmosphere in this story. In the end, the mood changes. After the young men have left the waste land, and the man says: “People arise! The world is dead” (p. 3, l. 19). This quotation is where the author speaks directly to the reader. Alan Paton wants to give the black and colored people hope and he certainly does with the last sentence in the text. With the quotation above the narrator tell us that it is insane when people hurt each other because of the bad conditions during apartheid. This text is written to make the blacks and the coloreds more conscious about how bad the things, they are doing to each other, are. In this text the man cannot trust anybody, not even his son. This is one of many causes of apartheid. But once the blacks and coloreds start thinking about the foul happenings in South Africa during apartheid, the more and more hope is arisen.