The Bench By Richard Rive Analysis
Literary analysis of “The Bench” by Richard Rive
Each race has their own place to be. The only problem is; they do not get to decide where to be or not to be. Each race is not placed equally in the society. This is how apartheid in South Africa is explained. Your whole life revolves around your race and there is literally nothing you can do to improve your situation. The story “The Bench” follows significant themes such as racial segregation, racism in general, discrimination and an average day during apartheid in South Africa.
The story “The Bench” by Richard Rive follows Karlie, who is a colored male listening to a speech that changes his life. Karlie is standing in a crowd and listening to a black speaker who is proclaiming the rights of the black people. A white woman also holds a speech. Karlie is, impressed by what the speakers are saying because he has never considered the possibility of having any rights. Based on what he hears in the speech, he decides to sit on a bench for Europeans only. The people around Karlie have different perspectives on whether he has the right to sit on the bench or not. At the end of the story, Karlie is arrested by the police. “The Bench” was published in 1963, which is the time where apartheid was the everyday life for all South
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The event in this story is not a new one that has not happened before but rather a reminder of the continued struggle for equality. The author does manage to keep us interested even though we may already know how the situation is going to end for Karlie. My overall conclusion is that this text has a realistic view of what truly went on during apartheid. I particularly appreciate that even though horrible things went on during this period of time, the author still manages to present it as an everyday occurrence. He does not exaggerate the situation which he easily could have
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