On The Theme Of Escape In Gordimer’s Novels Gender

Nadine Gordimer is a famous writer in South Africa,who has made great contributions to the development of South African literature.In the novel,Gordimer shows the various dilemmas faced by the characters in their lives,and the various actions taken by the characters to get rid of the dilemmas.Escape is one of the main actions taken by the characters in the novel.Therefore,the theme of escape is one of the themes that can not be ignored in Gordimer’s novels.The theme of escape is reflected in many characters in Gordimer’s novels.The escape behavior of the characters reveals the hardship of people’s life under the chaos of apartheid in South Africa and the individual’s dilemma under the trauma of life.In many of Gordimer’s novels,the setting of plot and the shaping of characters run through the clue of escape theme.Gordimer expresses the predicament of the times and individuals,as well as the ways to break through the predicament through the characters’ escape behavior.Through the close reading of Gordimer’s novels,we can find that the theme of escape in Gordimer’s novels can be divided into three types: escape from family relationship,escape from ethnic identity and escape from political disaster.First,escape from family relationships.It is mainly manifested as husband and wife’s cheating behavior and family members’ fleeing behavior after the family relationship is destroyed.Second,escape from racial identity.This paper mainly discusses the escape behavior of black and white South Africans in Gordimer’s novels in different periods when they are faced with their own racial identity crisis.Finally,escape from political disaster.It is mainly manifested in the occupation of political space to personal living space,the threat of political struggle to personal survival,and the escape from the survival dilemma caused by political conflict in South Africa.There are two reasons for the formation of the escape theme in Gordimer’s novels.One is the violent rule under the social unrest in South Africa,which includes the apartheid system in South Africa,the political conflict between black and white people,and the struggle for political power and cultural discourse power in the post apartheid period.On the other hand,it is the spiritual crisis faced by the loss of characters’ rights in Gordimer’s novels,which is mainly manifested in the identity crisis within and between races and the emotional crisis among family members.The significance of Gordimer’s escape theme writing is mainly reflected in three aspects.First of all,the escape theme writing is the characters’ active resistance to the family trauma and the loss of home in Gordimer’s novels;Secondly,the theme of escape is a new cognition and reconstruction of the self in Gordimer’s novels;Finally,escape from the theme writing is an active exploration of the characters in Gordimer’s novels to seek their own belongings.In South Africa,the white and black groups are constantly seeking their own new belongings in the changing environment.The theme of escape in Gordimer’s novels reveals the reality and spiritual dilemma of the characters in Gordimer’s novels,and shows the characters’ active resistance to the dilemma and suffering.Escape is a new life for the characters in Gordimer’s novels to seek for themselves.Although the escape behavior reveals sadness,helplessness and confusion,the characters in Gordimer’s novels actively resist the predicament and explore the way out through the escape behavior.