| dc.description.abstract | This project discusses the importance of images of motion in the selected works of Alex La Guma. Even though we concentrate on his major works A Walk in the Night, In the Fog of the Seasons' End and Time of the Butcherbird, we also include the two short stories 'Blankets' and 'Coffee for the Road'. This has been done both in order to enhance a wider view of the author's works and also because the relationship between the author's first longer work and the last suggests motion.
We approach the idea of motion in two ways. The first involves discussing it in terms of how the author places images within the context of apartheid and how the same images prophesy the end of the brutal regime. The second aspect involves how La Guma uses temporal progression as a literary tool for fighting the system. We group images of motion into five broad categories. Characters and how they contribute to motion using protest form the first group. Moreover, the images of animals are examined in order to show their relevance in the tight against apartheid.
We discuss how images of animals stand for both redemption and deterioration of the system. Sensory and abstract images of motion represent the third and fourth categories respectively: While sensory images deal with those that can be conceived of through the senses, abstract ones are experienced through imagination and are therefore mainly temporal. Empowerment of the marginalized and oppressed culture represents the fifth category of images of motion. | en_US |
