Student Question
What are the ethical and political implications in Nadine Gordimer's "Africa Emergent"?
Quick answer:
"Africa Emergent" explores ethical and political implications of oppression through mistrust. The narrator's reluctance to associate with an imprisoned man highlights how social standing and self-preservation perpetuate racial oppression. Mistrust is fueled by rumors and racial biases, leading to unwarranted suspicions and interrogations. The story criticizes society's complicity in oppression, questioning the ethicality of sacrificing trust for personal security. The ending condemns those who fail to challenge oppressive political strategies, highlighting the destructive power of suspicion.
One ethical implication which is constructed through the conflict in "Africa Emergent" is that oppression is upheld by generating mistrust between people.
As the narrator opens his story, he insists that he cannot "mention [the] name" of the man who is imprisoned. He denies any particular sense of loyalty to the man despite the fact that they had spent a fair amount of time together following the man's return to South Africa. Even more importantly, he fears that being personally associated with the condemned man "might draw just that decisive bit more attention" to himself, thus likely injuring his own social standing. Since the narrator is quick to point out that his own station in life has improved in recent days, he seeks to protect himself from destructive social influences.
When the man returns to South Africa on Elias's return airfare, rumors begin to circulate surrounding his character. Those in...
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more powerful social positions begin to question how a Black man "could travel freely back and forth" between countries. They even question how a Black man could gain access to a passport at all. These feelings of mistrust and suspicion propel ongoing conflict and racial oppression.
Suspicion grows when the man's friends are all interrogated by authorities and this man remains "impossibly ... free." Because he is Black, his guilt in unknown crimes seems certain, and "it [is] a mystery to ... whites" that his friends continue to associate with him. The narrator thus reiterates his belief that preserving one's own social comforts is of paramount importance, even if doing so furthers the oppression of others.
Perhaps the most significant line which demonstrates how this sense of mistrust destroys society is when the narrator reflects on this "mystery":
But then so much becomes a mystery where trust becomes a commodity on sale to the police.
Oppression is sustained because people fail to trust each other. Those in positions of political authority recognize this truth and foster suspicion in order to serve their own purposes, as is evidenced in the man's imprisonment without any formal charges.
The final lines end with a cynicism of the ethical implications of these oppressive strategies as the narrator questions,
We are satisfied at last. He's in prison. He's proved himself, hasn't he?
Ironically, nothing has been proven against the man at all, but the white people feel "purged" and "pure" that their "suspicions" have proven true, just as they had suspected all along. The ending is a condemnation of those who fail to resist political tactics of societal oppression.