The Function of Symbolism in Nadine Gordimer's "The Ultimate Safari" (PDF)

Seminar paper from the year 2014 in the subject Didactics - English - Literature, Works, grade: 2,0, University of Salzburg, language: English, abstract: People are different all over the world. Some are rich, some are poor, some live in peace, some live in war, some have a dark skin, and some have a bright skin. Nadine Gordimer describes in "The Ultimate Safari" the life situation and experiences of some African inhabitants of a little village, called Mozambique, during wartime. The characters of the story are not only confronted by racial segregation and oppression by the white people but also by hunger, death and sorrow.

In order to survive, they have to leave their home country and to go on a dangerous trip through Kruger Park to a refugee camp, where they are kept in peace and safety. Gordimer manages to convey the terrible circumstances of these people through her way of telling. In "The Ultimate Safari" many characters, objects, animals, and places become highly charged with symbolic meaning because they are described by a naive child narrator. This paper starts with the general effects that the use of this kind of narrative technique has on the reader and continuous with detailed descriptions of the different functions of symbolism.