Blankets
by Alex La Guma
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At a glance:
- Author: Alex La Guma
- First Published: 1964
- Type of Plot: Social realism
- Time of Work: The 1950’s and 1960’s
- Setting: A shantytown in Cape Town, South Africa
- Characters: Choker, His woman friend
- Genres: Short fiction
- Subjects: 1950's, 1960's, Africa or Africans, Blacks, Love or romance, Crime or criminals, Twentieth century, Despair, Poverty or poor people, Violence, Adultery, Cruelty, South Africa or South Africans, Isolation, Apartheid
- Locales: Africa, South Africa, Cape Town, South Africa
The Story
“Blankets” is told in the third person, interspersed with dialogue and the main character’s thoughts. The main action takes place in a tiny, stifling bedroom and in the walled-in yard of one of the “box-board-and-tin shanties” of a suburban slum. Like most of Alex La Guma’s short stories and novels, “Blankets” records events that deal with apartheid in South Africa.
The story begins when Choker wakes up irritated in the hot, stifling bedroom of a woman friend with whom he has just spent the night. Feeling ill and angry because of the room’s...
(The entire page is 1279 words.)
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