In the story the author describes the ladies ululating and shaking their buttocks in the air and then later quotes “this is going to be a modern wedding”
in the readers eyes it sounds extremely customary, but to those in the story they see their wedding as something modern and minimalist to what they have been brought up with. To have their wedding in a police camp and not serving the wedding breakfast, must be quite a change to what they did before as it was said to be a quick marriage ceremony but it didn’t end until the sun set; so the reader then wonders how long the traditional wedding took and how much preparation there would have been. so again compared to today’s modern weddings it seems extremely traditional and there is a complete contrast in views.
It is also quite startling to think that women were bought and sold using cattle as something to trade them with. Again, in Britain this would never happen as women are now equal to men and much more independent. This shows another clear contrast in the cultures and also the development of the country, it is clear that their culture is dominated by men.
The second story “a road to Rhodesia” is also a dominated culture but the difference is it is dominated by race. The white people clearly have control of the country and its people; this is a result of apartheid. In this short story the writer portrays the culture clearly and the obvious separation of the two races is also shown.
In the second paragraph the train is said to call out, but the small village did not answer: “I’m coming…I’m coming…” it called to the small village. This line symbolises the daily routine and normality, which the people who are waiting for the train, feel. It shows that this is part of there life and so, the answer is not necessary because they know it will come whether they answer or not.
It is clear at the beginning that the old man selling the pieces of craftsmanship had been earning his money by that alone, as he showed great pride in his work: “…the artist had delight in the lion…” The domination of the white people’s culture is extremely noticeable, as the woman commands the old man quite rudely and she speaks very differently towards her husband who is white.
The people inside the train act almost like an audience, as they just sit and watch all of the bargaining and exchanging of items that are the black people’s only chance perhaps for a meal that night. The people on the train act isolated from what is going on around them, as if in there life it is almost a foreign culture, perhaps, one they hadn’t seen before, but really they had. “Those sitting inside looked up: suddenly different, caged faces, boxed in cut off after the contact of outside.”
Later on in the story the husband decides that he will buy the lion for his wife and says to the old man that he would buy it for half the owed price, this happens as the train is leaving and the white man makes the old man run along side the train selling his piece of work for less than half of what it was worth. This part of the story shows how cruel the white culture was and the fact that the man was pleased and proud that he cheated the poor man into selling his craftsmanship for so little money, shows how spiteful and unaware the white people were of what the black people were going through.
In the final section of the story the author shows the woman feeling terrible guilt as she knows what she did was wrong and this is where the culture of the white people is contradicted as she shows remorse about being hurtful towards the man and cheating him out of the honest wage which he deserved. She seems to care about the blacks and doesn’t just simply see them as souvenir sellers.” she sat down again in the corner her face slumped in her hands…” this body language shows that she is feeling sad and guilty.
In conclusion I believe that the authors of both stories portray the difference in cultures and traditions extremely well, between my own culture and the various cultures included in the both stories. It shows the expectations and what different races and different people believe what is right and wrong and also what is modern and what isn’t. In each story the author shows how differently the people think of them selves and it’s also clear how different the culture we live in today is, as it is unlike those traditions of other countries.
Emily Smith 10ajs
