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metallicbranch 's review for:
July's People
by Nadine Gordimer
One of the undersung themes of the book is the power of structural racism to override the liberal/progressive motives of people within those systems. The Smales decry the Apartheid system and attempt to treat their servant with dignity, but they function within an inherently oppressive system, and this system infects the way in which they define their relationship to July, the methods through which they can offer him respect. Consider the fact that July comes from a village in which people subsist on maize meal and scavenged vegetables, live without electricity, plumbing, roads-- any amenities-- yet pay taxes to the South African government who fail to provide any services in return. July's family cannot migrate to the city with him because of the passbook system that keeps people in their original regions. He is allowed to return to his family for a span of time every two years. In Johannesburg, the Smales attempted to address the oppression July faced through individual acts-- encouraging him to forgo language and actions that highlight his deferential status, like calling them "sir", allowing him some freedom to have friends and a mistress over to his servants quarters. But against the backdrop of a system that is inherently unfree, these gestures are paltry-- if anything, they seem to blind the Smales to the broader system that gives them freedom and power and gives July and his family none.