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The Middle Children

The Middle Children was written by a South African woman, Rayda Jacobs, and is a collection of fourteen short stories mostly based on her experience living through apartheid. Through these short stories the reader learns about apartheid, exile, and living as a black person who can pass as white (referred to as middle children) through the main character’s eyes.

Plot

Many of the short stories in The Middle Children follow Sabah, who is mixed race, through various life experiences before and after her banishment to Canada. Not all the stories in this collection feature Sabah, but all the stories are centred around South African people and their lives as they experience racism and other hardships during apartheid.

The first story of the collection called The Middle Children describes the moment where Sabah, the focus of the stories, is discovered to having a white card and is called into the criminal investigation office where she is told she will not be arrested alongside her card provider if she moves to Canada .

The Doekoem, Madula, Masquerade, are all stories from Sabah’s childhood in South Africa. These stories vary from describing a traditional Muslim sacrifice of a cow in her backyard in Madula , a visit to a wiseman called The Doekoem . Masqurade is split up into two parts the first part is her describing her Grandfathers death and seeing his body as they cleaned it in the morgue and the second part describing an incident she had at a place called the the Caliphas house where it is implied that she is going to have some sort of vaginal exam before she runs out .

Billie Can’t Poo, Don’t Mention it, and Make the Chicken Run or stories that feature Sabah after she has moved to Canada. Billie Can’t Poo is one of the more humorous stories told from the perspective of Sabah’s Canadian friend Billie on a month-long visit to South Africa . Don’t Mention It is about Sabah’s mothers first time visiting her in Canada and Make the Chicken Run features an inner monologue from Sabah before she votes in Canada .

Almost all of the other short stories that don’t feature Sabah are stand-alone stories. The Starlights describes a group of men and their brief encounter with racism from a police officer . I Count the Bullets Sometimes follows the story of presumably wealthy black family the son, Nazeem who makes a white friend at the private school he goes to. He’s family is at first polite with a noticeable tension only eased when the family realizes that Jeremy despite being white is less privileged than them in some ways .

Characters

Sabah – A coloured South Afrikaner who is forced to move to Canada for having a white card. We read multiple stories from her childhood to her young adulthood until she is grown with children of her own. Through Sabah’s perspective we learn about her specific experience of living in South Africa as a coloured person who passes for white. Billie – Sabah’s friend from Canada. Mrs. Dollie – Sabah’s mother Mr. Solomon – Sabah’s father Riaaz – Sabah’s brother Mrs. Abrahm’s – Sabah’s maternal grandmother Grandpa Doels- Sabah’s Paternal Grandfather The Levy family – Nazeem(son), Ruby(daughter), Layla(daughter), Soraya(daughter), Mr & Mrs Levy. A well off coloured family in Cape town. Jeremy Vosloo- a young, white private school boy, friend of Nazeem Miles- Sabah’s husband whom she meets in Canada.

Themes

Racism: The Middle Children has a central focus around the division between Black people and White people caused by apartheid. Attached to the theme of racism is the identity crisis faced by South Africa’s mixed-race citizens. The first story of the collection, also titled The Middle Children discusses the privileges that come with being white passing, such as being able to go to university or allowed to sit at the front of the train. This story also expresses the fear that comes with being caught pretending to be white.

Home: Jacobs revealed in an interview with Daniel W. Lehman that the polarities between home and exile was one of the themes of The Middle Children

Family: In the same interview, Jacobs discusses her own family life and it is revealed that the short story in The Middle Children titled Masquerade (also the title of Jacobs’ personal memoir) was based on the relationships she shared with her grandparents. Reviews The reviews on this collection are sparse however those that do exist praise Rayda Jacobs prose as well as the message of her stories. It is regarded as a valuable resource on the lived experiences of South African people particularly surrounding the issues of race and The Apartheid.

Reviews

The reviews on this collection are sparse however those that do exist praise Rayda Jacobs prose as well as the message of her stories. It is regarded as a valuable resource on the lived experiences of South African people particularly surrounding the issues of race and The Apartheid.

 Malepe, Lesego. Damage Control. The Women’s Review of Books, Vol. 12, No. 4, Jan 1995, pp. 18-19. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4022045
 Jacobs, Rayda. (1994). The Middle Children. The University of Michigan: Second Story Press.
 Ibid.
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 Ibid.
 Crawford, Sharon. Short Stories Reflect Life of Author in South Africa, Toronto Star, November 24th 1994
 Lehman, Daniel W. “Born From Restlessness”: A Conversation With Rayda Jacobs. World Literature Today, Vol. 84, No. 6 Nov/Dec 2010, pp.13-16. EBSCOhost
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 Malepe, Lesego. Damage Control. The Women’s Review of Books, Vol. 12, No. 4, Jan 1995, pp. 18-19. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4022045