The notion that women inhabit "nonpolitical spaces" in My Son's Story is doubly incorrect. First, because the three major female characters in the novel all engage directly with politics, and second, because there are no nonpolitical spaces. The novel was published in 1990, the year Nelson Mandela was released from prison, and it was written towards the end of the State of Emergency in South Africa. The intense political activity and speculation of that era, in which apartheid was ending but democracy had not yet arrived, is reflected in the novel, with three female political activists.
Hannah would, on her own, be sufficient to refute Will's statement. In the New York Times review of My Son's Story, Robert Coles points out that Hannah comes from a similar background to Nadine Gordimer 's own and that the author goes to great pains to avoid any suggestion of her being an...
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"arrogantly patronizing white liberal activist." One of the ways in which she does this is by making Hannah's political commitment clear.
It is certainly possible to argue that Hannah is the only one of the three women who actively chooses politics. Aila is drawn into political life initially against her will, and cynical readers may dismiss Baby's activism as immature rebellion. Even if this is the case, it is significant that both mother and daughter are forced to leave South Africa for political reasons. The idea of a political or nonpolitical "space" may be figurative, but the image signifies that there is no room for the nonpolitical in South Africa, as both women are forced into exile for political reasons. They must inhabit political spaces, whether they choose to or not.
Whether you agree with the statement is up to you. It's your opinion. Yet as other Educators have already indicated, it seems quite clear that women inhabit political spaces in Nadine Gordimer's South African story.
Hannah Plowman, Baby, and Will's mom, Alia, all have relationships with politics. Hannah is a steadfast activist. Baby, after a brief wayward period, becomes a rather dedicated activist as well. As for Alia, she takes responsibility for what's in the storeroom so that Sonny and Will won't get in trouble.
As you develop your opinion, you might want to try to collapse the implicit binary between political and nonpolitical. You might want to consider if there is such a space that's not touched by politics.
Imagine that Hannah wasn't an activist—that she had no explicit link to politics. Think about Hannah's political identity if she was only a white woman having an affair with a Black teacher. You could say Hannah's relationship to politics is different now that she's not an activist. However, I don't think it'd be accurate to say that this hypothetical non-activist Hannah now occupies a nonpolitical space. Hannah's identity—her privilege and supposed superiority—is constructed through politics. It's the racist politics of South Africa that make Hannah who she is. In another country with different politics, Hannah might not be the same person.
Again, the statement seems to depend upon a rather faulty binary. It appears to take for granted that there are spaces free of politics. I'd encourage you to challenge that assertion. A person doesn't need to be demonstrably linked to politics to still be impacted by politics. Even a woman who chooses to stay home, cook, clean, and care for her children is still quite political. There's myriad politics that go into the role of housewife and stay-at-home mom.