Maureen between Criticism and Praise: Reading the Ending of Nadine Gordimer’s July’s People
Abdullah K. Shehabat, Hussein H. Zeidanin
Abstract
The final scene in Gordimer’s July’s People is controversial. Most critics presented convincing thoughts and ideas about the scene, but Gordimer’s unsaid expressions and unexplained cultural and social codes kept the reading of the scene perplexing and hard to interpret. We argued that this text, objectively, accuses Maureen the colonizer, for holding some racist and capitalist opinions, thus distancing her from the world in which she lived. Even when she switched roles with her husband, she failed to live to the expectations of her people and the other. S as not to be enlisted with the highly optimistic about the final scene, we also argued that Maureen simply tries to escape her real present into the world of unknown in the hope of finding a world that might accept her as she is, not as she should be.
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