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Nov 24, 2024
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African History Paper
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The history of an individual determines how the person conducts their life.
This case
comes in with how they would respond to things or how they conduct their lives.
Historical
happenings such as war, the political systems, and the economic activities of a place play an
important role in the lives of people.
The book "To My Children's Children" is a good example
of text that covers the historical context of the author, Sindiwe Magona; the paper, therefore,
shall focus on the book by looking at Magona's history, the themes of hard work, pain, and
suffering that exhibit the historical context of the book and after that look at how "Abina and the
Important Men" and "Africa since 1940" relate with Magona's text.
The background of Magona gives the outlook of the historical context of her text.
The
South African village of Gungululu is where the writer came from, being born there in 1943.
her
talent is portrayed in how she was a good storyteller, a poet, and an inspirational speaker.
Sindiwe was born when the British granted Afrikaners colonial authority, and they took up to
implement the apartheid rule in South Africa.
Her upbringing was pleasant and happy because
she belonged to a neighborhood where everyone was treated fairly without regard to ethnicity or
way of life.
When the Afrikaans people assumed control and created policies that divided
resources for people of different races, things changed.
The advent of apartheid made the
movement challenging.
Sindiwe spent over twenty years serving the United Nations. Her
experiences while in power under apartheid influenced the themes of her writings.
Suffering and
adversity are the book's main themes.
Throughout the text, the author encounters many
challenges and suffering.
"To My Children's Children" is the title of the author's book, which
expresses her intention to carry on a message to the next generation.
Sindiwe feels that the next
generation needs to hear from her as she has a great conviction that she had experienced
apartheid firsthand and through much sorrow in her adult years.
The author's recounting of
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actual events from her early years until her adolescence gives the book believability.
The book
aims to depict the life of the writer in South Africa under apartheid and her struggles as she rises
to success.
The book comes up with the theme of pain in the society.
"To My Children's Children"
examines the author's experiences from her early years up until age 23.
Her grandparents raised
her since her parents were working hard to make a living. Additionally, children feel safe living
with their grandparents because they are in a safe environment.
The whole novel is filled with
suffering for Sindiwe Magona. When her grandmother passes away, her childhood is cut short.
Losing someone you care about is a terrifying event for kids.
She has to relocate and go back to
her parents.
The change is challenging, especially in light of how young she was. Due to
numerous police raids and being restricted from moving from one place to another, the
environment for the native South Africans became hostile.
Sindiwe Magona is raised in a setting
that is rife with anxiety.
The depiction of misery demonstrates how the apartheid government
brought about the disorder, which was the source of misery for the native South Africans.
Her
ambitions are nearly dashed when she gets pregnant, and her spouse leaves her.
She remains
alone to raise her kids, which teaches her valuable lesson.
A woman who is expecting feels the
great pain of having a broken marriage.
The fact that many girls conceive and are abandoned to
raise their children alone by unsupportive men reflects society as a whole. Women who are in
these precarious situations are compelled to give up their careers and take whatever job that is
offered in order to support their families.
The novel is a fantastic representation of how hard work is and how women scale up to
get a position in society.
In the apartheid system, a way out was through hard work.
After her
spouse left her, she did not deprive herself.
She instead becomes the sole caregiver for her
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children.
The most notable case in the book is when Sindiwe Magona chooses to work at a local
fishery prior to her becoming a teacher (Magona,1990).
The author exemplifies hard effort by
working to rise from her position as a tutor to spending twenty years employed in New York.
Education was crucial because it would help people escape poverty and ensure a better quality of
life.
As a teacher, Sindiwe encounters difficulties because many parents cannot afford to
purchase books for their kids.
Because of his impatience, the author chooses to work in a nearby
fishery.
Her agreement to work in a low-paying job supports the novel's main idea.
The author
faces many difficulties after being later awarded a teaching position. After she falls pregnant, her
husband leaves her.
Sindiwe Magona understands that white higher learning is the sole means of
defeating apartheid.
She had to integrate her studies into society.
The ability to adjust to change is visible in the whole of the book.
Sindiwe illustrates a
number of situations where people had to adjust to significant changes in their life
(Magona,1990).
For instance, South Africa remained a great place to reside under British
control. However, significant changes happened when the Afrikaans remained in control of the
nation.
Thirteen people of various races were segregated.
In South Africa, the governing body
drew a clear distinction between native South Africans and those who were Afrikaans. The
government instituted a state in which the blacks were deprived of the freedom to walk to all the
places, given limited health care, and denied the right to education and white-collar jobs.
They were also denied basic rights such as freedom of expression and representation in the
government. Sindiwe understood that to belong to society's upper class, and she must further her
education and use it to fight against the odds.
The book has some similarities to other literary works, which have their main themes as a
struggle for the place of women and historical events dominate.
They include their struggle for
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freedom and their quest for justice. The book "Abina and the Important Men: A Graphic History"
presents the story of Abina, a bold woman who has to struggle for justice after being charged
with escaping from her master, Eddoo (Getz et al.,2015).
To her, she claimed that she was
wrongfully enslaved and thus needed justice for all the days she had to undergo suffering at the
hands of her master.
The text entails more of a historical context to present its ideologies with
the use of historical documents to defend Abina. The text also shows the suffering of the blacks
in West Africa under British colonial rule, with problems concurring with those of Sindiwe's
book, such as being denied the right to receive education, movement restriction, and lack of
adequate healthcare to them.
The book also presents how a woman can stand out against all odds
and fight for their freedom in a male-dominated society where the fight for freedom is seen as
the responsibility of men.
The article "Africa since 1940: The Past of the Present," by Fredrick Cooper, highlights
the history of the African nations as they strive to decolonize the issues they had to undergo
during colonial times (Cooper,2019).
The text looks into the case of apartheid in South Africa
and the case of genocide in Rwanda.
To him, the extent to which the suffering and the cruelty
were exceeded all in African history.
The text also makes review of the events that happen in the
history of African countries and ensures that it looks at the case of discrimination and the place
of women in society.
In conclusion, Magona's book presents the historical themes of some aspects that took
place during the colonial era.
The text highlights the issue of hard work, struggle, and pain.
The
same concepts also come in through other literary works, such as those of Cooper and the writers
of the story of Abina.
Through the texts, one can understand the historical contexts of the issues
during colonial rule.
As a result, it vividly explains the happenings in the society.
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References
Cooper, Frederick. (2019). Africa since 1940: The Past of the Present. Cambridge UP
Getz, Trevor and Liz Clarke (2015). Abina and the Important Men: A Graphic History. Oxford
UP:
Magona, S. (1990).
To my children's children
. New Africa Books.
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