A Chip of Ruby Glass free essay sample

FocusTheoryâ€Å"A Chip of Ruby Glass† Thesis Essay Take a moment, imagine your life without learning opportunities, knowing no matter how hard you try, your life will still end up being a shoe-shiner, or maybe worse. Once you finished, take a look at history, see what the life of the black was like and relate to them. Many have died, sacrifice their life for the banishment of racism, and so did the people who agrees with it; the oppression they were under was unbelievable, it drove thousands crazy and finally, somewhere, somehow, someone will stand up and fight for justice, even if it costs his life. In the short story â€Å"A Chip of Ruby Glass†, Nadine Gordimer created a courageous character, Mrs. Bamjee, Girlie ; to send us a message saying that fighting for the weaker is everyone’s responsibility, we must not quit fighting even though we failed at times. Everything started to get serious when the duplicator machine was brought into the house. We will write a custom essay sample on A Chip of Ruby Glass or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page â€Å"When the duplicating machine was brought into the house†¦ Let them go ahead with it. † (630). This is where the story begins, Mrs. Bamjee brings a duplicating machine home with a black taxi driver as Nadine described. This machine was used to print or produce protesting leaflets against the government. Her plan was to tell the natives to stay at home during workday, burn their pass to fight for freedom and let the government see. Mrs. Bamjee here, she’s not just a believer who agrees with people, she’s the one who’s willing to fight, to bring troubles upon herself for other, which is bringing the duplicator home and print illegal leaflets to show the government that they are wrong and the black deserves to be treated equally as the white even though the situation doesn’t affect her and her family a bit. Mrs. Bamjee clearly recognizes that fighting for others is her responsibility as well as others’. Mrs. Bamjee’s plan to pass out the leaflets failed, she was taken away to prison along with her duplicator. Mrs. Bamjee just wouldn’t give up just yet for justice, deep inside, she knows at some point she was going to succeed if she keeps trying hard. â€Å"The hunger strike at the prison went into the second week†¦ Devils who will burn and kill us. † (638) This quote tells us the status of what’s happening in the prison, there was a hunger strike during the two weeks since Mrs. Bamjee was taken to prison. As a brave believer, Mrs. Bamjee decided to participate in the hunger strike herself, along with others. This was a heroic action from Mrs. Bamjee, which could make a big impact to the government’s perspective of the black and how a normal white citizen could be sympathetic and perceive no differences of the both ethnics. After Mrs. Bamjee was arrested, Bamjee was devastated. He has to take care of nine children while having a full time job. The feelings he had for her was resenting, â€Å"It was only when relations and neighbors came to the house that Bamjee would suddenly begin to talk†¦ The lump of resentment and wrongness stopped his throat again. † (637), the neighbor stopped by, trying to persuade Bamjee that his wife’s action was noble and generous. Although she failed, but later on Girlie persuaded him to take a better look at Mrs. Bamjee and how she is. â€Å"No, He said. I didn’t know, didn’t think†¦ like the fact of the belly that lay between him and her daughter† (640), Bamjee finally realized who Mrs. Bamjee is. All of this was because people kept persuading him about his wife, how great she really is, they didn’t give up on Mrs. Bamjee and finally they succeeded. Nadine Gordimer’s purpose was to persuade readers to keep fighting for what they think is right through the characters she created and their actions. After these evidences, you can conclude that what people fought for continuously have finally paid off, black people have finally gained equality because of people like Mrs. Bamjee. It was a great lesson she taught us and that’s what we should teach others.