It is when we find out that the family in The Gold Cadillac is black that we find that the story is about racism. We find out the reason for Wilbert having bought the Cadillac, and it was because he “liked it” and “it meant something to” him. He came from Mississippi, probably quite poor, then worked very hard, made quite a lot of money, and has bought the Cadillac so that he can stop being “heedful of white folks thought”. Another possible reason is that it may show other black people, that if they too work hard, they can achieve something great, The American Dream.
In Country Lovers, it is obviously about racism from line 10 onwards. We are constantly finding out how the white people have a far better life than the black people: in education, belongings, housing, and general life. For example, while Thebedi and Njabulo live in a “hut Njabulo had built in white-man’s style, with a tin chimney, and a proper window with glass panes set in straight as walls made of unfired bricks would allow”, the farmer and his son lived in a house “thick-walled, dark against the heat.”
It is interesting to note that Njabulo has attempted to copy the white man’s house, but doesn’t have the resources available. The way we are told, it seems that having a “proper window” is something he is very proud of. However the white man has big thick walls on his house, which appear to act as a form of barrier from anything to do with the black world.
At the end of the Country Lovers story, we find that the farmers son is allowed to get away with murder, and that the press and public congratulated for him. He won the case, because Thebedi had decided that it wasn’t worth it, as white people run the court, that she can’t win.
One very effective method for talking about racism in The Gold Cadillac is by having a narrator who cannot understand why white people treat black people in the way that they do: “They searched him [Wilbert] and I didn’t understand why. I didn’t understand either why they had called my father and didn’t believe that the Cadillac was his.” Seeing racism through the eyes of a child really show how ridiculous it is.
When the family are stopped on the side of the road because their father was tired, ‘Lois took a knife and was defending her family, even though she did not know from what or why, she just knew that she had to. In Country Lovers, it was a clear story, that the white man lived a better life, and then the farmer’s son kills his baby and gets away with it. However in The Gold Cadillac, the story is a bit more complex, as we are looking through the eyes of a child, who cannot understand everything. As a result of this, we don’t know either the mother’s or the father’s reasoning behind their actions unless they tell ‘Lois.
So in conclusion, I believe that The Gold Cadillac reveals racism far better; mostly thanks to the way it is put forward with a child narrator.
