Planting the Seeds of a Non-Racial Society: White Women as Agents of Change in July's People, Disgrace, and a Blade of Grass

Abstract

This thesis examines three South African novels written about the interregnum, the period marking the transition from apartheid to post-apartheid eras. Specifically, Gordimer's July's People, Coetzee's Disgrace, and DeSoto's A Blade of Grass are studied in order to explore the function of white women as leaders of change in fiction of the interregnum.After a brief introduction, the second chapter looks at Maureen Smales as she demonstrates the ability to adapt to her post-revolutionary society. The third chapter compares white male and female perspectives, as seen in the stubborn character of David Lurie, and in the accepting character of his daughter, Lucy Lurie. The fourth chapter follows the friendship between Marit Laurens and her black housekeeper, Tembi, as the white woman learns the value of non-racial friendship. The conclusion examines the implications of fictions that depict white women as the more adaptable, socially conscious gender of their race.