Disempowering the White Afrikaans Women in Selected Farm Novels "J.M. Coetzee "

     This article investigates the main problems that led to disempowering the white Afrikaans women and hindered the acknowledgment of their social identities and hopes.  Unfortunately, the Africans saw them as the authentic substitutes for colonialism with its aggressive apartheid rule.  Therefore, they aimed at erasing the white Afrikaans women's lineage and heritage from South Africa.  However, colonialism, as a political phenomenon, has manifold ramifications.  It has irrevocably altered the course of history by deeply scarring the psyche of the colonized people.  Accordingly, the social equilibrium has been disturbed and peoples' cultures have been distorted.  Not only has it tainted the lives of not merely the colonized but also that of the colonizers.
     Descendants of the colonizers, who embrace the colonies as their homeland, find themselves in an indeterminate state.  The natives do not welcome them into their fold.  This theme finds its expression in the two selected novels for this study: In the Heart of the Country and Disgrace.  The two novels depict the historical facts of colonialism by means of fictional presentation.  However, the sequences of events narrated in the novels are not altogether imaginary.  They are rooted in reality.  Magda, her father, Hendrik, his wife Anna, Lucy, David and Petrus are not as much fictional characters.  The novelist makes a concerted effort to re-affirm the fact that these characters are representatives of a larger populace.  Accordingly, his powerful imagery paints a picture in words where one can virtually see the action of fragmenting the Afrikaans women's identitiesoccurring.