Dystopian critique and utopian projection in Nadine Gordimer’s July’s People

Abstract

Nadine Gordimer’s July’s People is the depiction of fair and equal world that continues to enchant us. However, it takes no time before the beautiful vision of an equitable and justified world collapses. July’s People makes its way in reality of the Utopian world. The ruling class rejects the notion of color bar and assumes that fairness and equity prevails in the world. Gordimer use of utopia in July's People is to depict the pitfall of the postmodern society where individuals are left in the lurch of racial, social and linguistic lurch. There is hardly a society and individual who is free of this notion at the id level. People continue to be affected by the racial supremacy that makes the mindset up of a person and a society. This has been in accord to the postmodern rejection of prescription and grand narratives. However, societies are sold of utopian dreams that narrate the grandeur of lives that hardly exists in reality. The fall of the white ruler was supposed to bring in equity of social and economic distribution with guarantee of fair and just society. But the fact remains that South Africa is still a divided society with people struggling to be treated fairly on the basis of their characters and not by birth or color of their skin. The dream of a Utopian society continues to haunt the South African people and the rulers continue to preach the notion of fair and equitable society.