A World of Strangers

If ever a writer told things as they were, without the trappings of self-righteousness, romantic illusion or overwrought interpretation, it is Gordimer. In A World of Strangers, she is a keen reporter of the minutiae of daily life in 1950s South Africa. Gordimer juxtaposes the dim sameness and shallow veneer of the lavish excess of white South African society life with the restricted and sometimes chaotic lives of the South African blacks. Gordimer contrasts these polarities facilely, telling the story through the eyes of her reluctant protagonist, Toby Hood, an outsider who arrives from England to work in South Africa. Toby slides in and out of the two realities, noticing the differences from the point of view of someone who is never quite on the inside.In a general sense, Toby embodies but also exposes the hypocrisy of South African society: he recognizes its injustices but accepts them nevertheless. After reading a tourist pamphlet, Toby observes,"I felt as if I were reading of another country, from seas away. But then the country of the tourist pamphlet always is another country, an embarrassing abstraction of the desirable that, thank God, does not exist on this planet, where there are always ants and bad smells and empty Coca-Cola bottles to keep the grubby finger-print of reality upon the beautiful." Toby is conscious of the plastic unreality of the society life but like a tourist chooses not to involve himself deeply in the reality.Gordimer's lasting impression lies in the voices of her characters. All multidimensional and playing key roles in Toby's life. Anna Louw, an attorney, voices parts of Toby's conscience. "`What had you expected?' she asked with patient interest. With her you felt that your most halting utterance was given full attention .This scrutiny of the cliches of perfunctory communication, the hit-or-miss of words inadequate either to express or conceal, embarrassed me. Like most people, I do not mean half of what I say, and I cannot say half of what I mean; and I do not care to be made self-conscious of this. Much that is to be communicated is not stated; but she was the kind of person who accepts nothing until there has been the struggle to body it forth in words."By contrast, Toby's lover, Cecil Rowe, a vain and shallow society woman,is the gloss of Toby's life, the one of all too human desires. He cares for her, makes love with her, is part of her life, but even so, she is not really a part of his because there is so much of himself that he cannot convey to her. Most important in the fabric of Toby's life is an African friend, Steven Sitole. Sitole's refusal to abide by the rules white society dictated for him, inspired Toby to thought. Until something unexpected happens, Toby's thoughtful meanderings are only idle thought. Toby never reevaluated his life and how he lived it until a tragedy forced Toby to see things in a new way.Toby's exploration of the two sides of life in South