The Waste Land by Alan Paton | Analysis

Skal du lave analyse af novellen "The Waste Land" af Alan Paton er denne study guide det perfekte hjælpemiddel. Her giver vi dig nemlig et fuldstændigt overblik over novellens temaer, personer og øvrige væsentlige analytiske elementer. Novellen findes i lærebogen The Lift (s. 84).

Præsentation af teksten

Titel: “The Waste Land”
Forfatter: Alan Paton
Udgivet i: “Tales From a Troubled Land” (novellesamling)
Udgivelsesår: 1961
Genre: Novelle

Alan Paton (1903-1988) var en sydafrikanske forfatter, men er mest kendt for sin aktivisme mod apartheid-regimet i Sydafrika. Denne indsats har ført til at en årlig non-fiction pris er opkaldt efter ham, The Alan Paton Award. De fleste af hans litterære værker er relateret til sociale temaer i forbindelse med racisme.

Uddrag

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Current issues

“The Waste Land” by Alan Paton explores some issues related to the decadent, violent and anarchical society in the communities of Africans in South Africa during the apartheid regime. Although the story dates from 1961 and it deals with a specific historical context, it remains very relevant today for a series of reasons.

First of all, because the narrative only makes subtle allusions to the fact that it is about South Africa, it makes it valid for any third world country or any violent community in the world, even in more modern times or today. This is because extreme poverty and social isolation are triggers of violence. When your life and your survival depend on a small amount of money, you will probably do whatever it takes to take it or keep it. Poverty deprives people of opportunities and their only options remain stealing or doing whatever it takes to survive. Think of life in American ghettoes, which is probably just as violent as the episode described in the short story.