Both Thomas Hardy and Nadine Gardimer deal with the relationships that break the social convention. How does each writer portray these relationships and how successfully do they challenge the conventions of their respective societies?

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Both Thomas Hardy and Nadine Gardimer deal with the relationships that break the social convention. How does each writer portray these relationships and how successfully do they challenge the conventions of their respective societies?

        The stories I am going to compare are ‘Country Lovers’ and ‘The Withered Arm’. The book ‘Country Lovers’ was written by Nadine Gardimer, and was published in 1975. ‘The Withered Arm’ was written by Thomas Hardy, and was published in the 1870’s although it was about the early 19th century.

        Both stories are about couples breaking social conventions of their time. These social conventions were what your community expected. For example in marriage and relationships, in ‘The Withered Arm’ farmer Lodge has a relationship that breaks their social convention with Rhoda. This broke their social conventions because the rich class (farmer Lodge) were only supposed to have relationships with other rich people not poor. In ‘The Country Lovers’ Paulus and Thebedi’s relationship also broke social conventions as they were black and white people and at that time it was not encouraged or allowed by the community.

        Social conventions still exist today as some countries and religions are not allowed relationships outside of their race (nationality or religion) if they do they become outcast and their family disown them.

        The two stories are set in very different times and places as the ‘Country Lovers’ is set in Africa and in the 1920’s. ‘The Withered Arm’ on the other hand is set in England in the very early 19th Century.

        Some particular features Nadine Gardimer shows are the differences between white and black, for example they go to different schools (if the blacks went to school) “but once the white children go away to school they soon don’t play together any more.” Another example is where they live the black people live in mud huts in very close communities with many different families. The white people on the other hand are rich and live on big farms and hire blacks to do labour.

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        In ‘The Withered Arm’ Hardy concentrates on the different classes and how different they are as Rhoda lives in a house made of mud and wood “It was built of mud walls the surface of which here and there in the thatch above a rafter showed like a bone protruding through the skin.” She lives in this house even though her ex-lover Mr. Lodge is rich and owns the dairy and probably a big house.

        The social conventions that govern the relationships in ‘Country Lovers’ is that whites are not allowed to mingle with the blacks. But the one in ...

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