Abstract

BARNARD, Lianne. Children's identity, race and sexuality in Ons is nie almal so and Die reuk van appels. Tydskr. letterkd. [online]. 2008, vol.45, n.2, pp.87-100. ISSN 2309-9070.

This article discusses the self-narration of two children, Marnus in Mark Behr's Die reuk van appels (translated as The smell of apples, 1993) and Gertie in Jeanne Goosen's Ons is nie almal so nie (1990), translated as We're not all like that(2007). These children integrate stereotypes about race and sexuality to form complex, richer narratives about their role in society. Both Gertie and Marnus take contradictory discourses (Coloureds both inferior to us and human like us) and form richer narratives. Both characters are exposed to an alternative non-racist discourse, but "choose" to stay within the dominant racist discourse because their identity as male and female respectively is bound within it. Marnus' choice involves masculinity, violence and sport, and Gertie as Little Red Riding Hood is metaphorically swallowed by the fox of Christian values about women and sex.

Keywords : Afrikaans literature; child identity; Jeanne Goosen; Mark Behr; race; sexuality.

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