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conspiring to overthrow the state served 27 years in prison, split between several prisons → got released in 1990 He informed the country about HIV • the country's first black head of state and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election • Was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize Mother To Mother Racism: system of Apartheid The novel shows political situation and social conditions both in apartheid (flashbacks) and post-apartheid → The forced removal of Mandisa's whole community from Blouvlei to Guguletu in the 1960s ● Common violence and hatred as answers to powerlessness, frustration and lawlessness in townships → Increasing frustration, especially felt by the younger generations, leads to political radicalisation Ethnic & cultural diversity SA is known for ethnic & cultural diversity → For many years the life in SA was characterised by domination of a white minority over the black ones, which a strict separation of different ethnic groups • One of the main topics of the novel is the legacy of the apartheid regime which is still evident in large disparities between blacks and whites, their living standards and deep-rooted mistrust of one another • Mandisa's family between their traditional culture and (negative) colonial influence ● • Role of women: blamed for pregnancies, slave-like working for in-laws Accountability & justice Mother To Mother deals with crime; the murder of an innocent young student The murderer could be seen as a victim; according to his mom he belongs to a lost generation (in her opinion his deed must be seen in a wider context of guilt & responsibility) →→→ the grew up ion a society that hated the whites in general → She also struggles with her own responsibility; she feels blamed for his deed ( her lack of time for her children and her inability to control them → because of the oppression and hard life; she has to work a lot...) The author portrays how closely apartheid & violence are connected in SA's history and how difficult it is to find reconciliation between white and non-white South Africans Life in Blouvlei and in the township of Guguletu: Blouvlei: → self-built, personal houses → decision to live there out of free will well-knit community, everyone is familiar with one another's habits → Mandisa's school with her familiar friends and teachers Guguletu: → small, impersonal, uniform shacks → "tin of sardines" (p.27)→ crowded, housing shortage → Mandisa's boys sleep in a separate tin shack → Mandisa's boys sleep in a separate tin shack → life among strangers, everyone new to the area life-less, rough environment → children walk around aimlessly and unsupervised, play with rubbish in the pools of stagnant water students miss out on school → government regulations set standards for the amount allowed per school Mandisa works for a white woman in the suburbs → absent from home all day long →lower life expectancy → consequences for Mandisa: loss of everything familiar and beloved, sense of disorientation and misery, discomfort in her current daily life 2. Short stories: Lose Change & She Shall Not Be Moved Lose Change - Andrea Levy (2005) Short Summary: ● → The (first-person) narrator; protagonist is given a few coins by a young woman, who turns out to be a political refugee (Laylor) The narrator invites her for a cup of tea to give her back her change → She feels sympathy for the girl but fails to help her • In the conversation the narrator finds out where she's from (Uzbekistan) → After Laylor's brother has left the narrator learns that both of them are homeless and live on the street → She begins to observe details about Laylor's scruffy appearance (dirty fingernails, crumpled collar) → She's thinking about helping them because her grandmother, who came from the Caribbean got help from strangers too, but then she simply leaves on the pretext of fetching tissues for Laylor Explanation of the title: few coins as element which connects the two women, symbolises the narrator's feeling of obligation, but also her final desertion of Laylor ● Laylor: ● Two women meet in the bathroom/lavatory of the National Portrait Gallery in London ● ● About 18-year old refugee from Uzbekistan (her parents were prosecuted) Black hair, wide black eyes, round face, solid jawline, speaks with an accent Partly unrefined manners (Narrator's view): speaks with loud voice in public, drinks tea despite dust in it, ,,forces" her story on stranger generous and selfless (even tho she hasn't got a lot of money either; doesn't expect something in return)