Transition from a Despotic Racism to a Chaotic Freedom: An Althusserian Reading of Nadine Gordimer’s My Son’s Story

Abstract

Nadine Gordimer has examined two types of ideologies in some of her novels. It is because her country and generation have observed a despotic racist ideology and a newly established democracy consequently. She places herself in the middle of these two turbulent realms to diagnose the wicked parts of them. In My Son’s Story (1990) she examines the psychological impacts of prevailed ideologies upon the psyches of common people. She tries to seek some panaceas for these fractured psyches through her fictional works. My Son’s Story gives an account of endeavor and delusion of South African people in their fight for freedom. The socio-political reality of the country under a biased ideology is disclosed through the perceptions of the narrator. This paper tries to rely upon Louis Althusser’s concept of ideology to give a new reading of the novel. Althusser’s perception of freedom as an ideology in shaping people’s consciousness shows the role of ideology in the establishment of social relationships. It brings to the light the interaction between education, society, and freedom. In the novel we come across with particular situations as naturally true. Gordimer makes a significant contribution in literature by bring them into the surface. She delineates the ways of legitimating the power of the ruling class in society. Characters in the novel are unaware of the ideology which surrounds them. They try to shape their identities based on this unconsciously. The ways in which people are controlled through the prevailing ideology will be discussed in the light of Althusserian theory of ideology.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n23p2491