You Can’t Get Lost in Cape Town (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Zoë Wicomb
- First Published: 1987
- Type of Plot: Psychological
- Time of Work: Probably the 1960's
- Setting: Cape Town, South Africa
- Principal Characters: The narrator, Michael, Tiena, Mrs. Coetzee
- Genres: Short fiction
- Subjects: 1960’s, Africa or Africans, Class conflict, Twentieth century, Interracial relationships, Betrayal, Class consciousness, Poverty or poor people, Abortion, Domestic work or workers, Bible, biblical imagery, or biblical symbolism, South Africa or South Africans, Students or student life, Apartheid
- Locales: Cape Town, South Africa
The Story
“You Can’t Get Lost in Cape Town” is an intense personal interior monologue of a young Coloured woman who aborts her unborn child, the offspring of a two-year relationship with her white boyfriend.
The story begins with the nameless narrator sitting on the bus into Cape Town, South Africa, clutching her purse and worrying about how much the fare is, if she will need change, what the lining of her handbag is made of, and where she should get off the bus. The entrance of two women who cook and clean for white women, on their way home from their jobs, offers...
[The entire page is 1342 words long]
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