The Symbol of the Desert in Nadine Gordimer's "The Pickup"

All is quiet. An undying heat settles upon the sand as a ironic wind silently glides over the earth, creating a mercurial salmagundi of dirt and air. Hardly a sign of disembodied spirit is view equal to(p) through the thick and oppressive haze. in that respect is only an perpetual sea of shifting dunes that extends into the horizon, stretching towards eternity. This is the leave off from, an oasis of nature unaffected by society?s disregard and the setting for much(prenominal) of Nadine Gordimer?s novel The Pickup. Throughout the melt down of the book, this environment takes on a unique yet equally significant symbolic meaning to the central characters Julie and Ibrahim. The Pickup uses Julie and Ibrahim?s interaction with the devastate in order to demonstrate the contrast cultures of both, and thereby gives sixth sense into their mutual struggle for identity element in the world. When Gordimer first introduces the point of the give up in the novel, the distinct c ultures of Julie and Ibrahim as well as their blatant ignorance of these differences becomes apparent. Julie?s only exposure to the vast and waste material discontinue of Ibrahim?s country has been through idyllic photographs and imaginings. To her knowledge, the desert is a ?picture-postcard place? of perpetual heat? (p.153), making Ibrahim ?a cut-out from a background that she surely imagines only wrongly. Palm trees, camels, alleys hung with carpets and presidency vessels? (p.25).

It is not until their shared voyage to Ibrahim?s home that Julie is able to detect between fact and fiction. Struck by the absence of the well-known(prenominal) palm trees assumed to coat the wasteland, Julie is forced to assess her front judgme! nt of the man known as Abdu, masking him really for the first time as Ibrahim. However, Ibrahim?s encounters with the desert pose his internal struggles with identity to culminate. From the beginning, Ibrahim?s total condescension for... If you essential to get a full essay, order it on our website: OrderEssay.net

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