Out Of Bounds

Cultural ConflictHow do you know what’s

right?

Cultural Conflict

Knowing about the area’s history and culture can be helpful when reading a story set in another country

Cultural conflict: is a struggle that arises because of the different values, customs, or circumstances between groups of people

This story takes place in South Africa

Apartheidwas a system of legal racial segregation en

forced by the National Party government in South Africa between 1948 and 1994, under which the rights of the majority 'non-white' inhabitants of South Africa were curtailed and minority rule by white people was maintained.

ref: wikipedia

Squatters

Are people who take over public land and stay there, where they set up their own homes

Background Cities in Post-Apartheid South Africa The passage of the Groups Areas Act in 1950 led

to the segregation of the business and residential areas of South African cities and towns. Africans, “coloureds”, and Asians were forced to live on reserves, or “homelands,” which were designated for each ethnic group. Most of these were established far from South Africa’s major cities. Non-whites also lived on the periphery of the cities in segregated public housing called “townships.” People were crowded into very small areas relative to the size of their populations, and most residents experienced high unemployment and poor living conditions.

After apartheid ended, people were free to live wherever they wished. Huge numbers of people moved to the cities from rural areas, hoping to find jobs and better quality of life. The cities, however, were not prepared for these migrants. Because of a severe shortage of affordable housing, the migrants built squatter’s camps, where many still live in unsanitary conditions and without clean water.

In some cases, the government has been forced to supply housing to squatters. Unfortunately, this housing is often far from the urban areas where most of the jobs are found.

Comprehension

1) Squatters have taken over the land where Rohan’s hideout used to be.

2) Rohan has seen Solani in the street with his wire cars.

3)Sketches should show the solidity of Rohan’s house and the temporary nature of the camp. They should also show Rohan’s house on top of the hill and the camp below it.

Literary Analysis

5)Cultural Conflict: Causes of discrimination: legacy of apartheid-Indians and Africans mostly live separately; high crime rates – residents worry that having poor people nearby will increase crime; neighborhood crimes – residents think the squatters’ camp is the source of these crimes; competition for resources - residents resent the squatters asking for water.

6) Rohan’s parents display signs of prejudice toward the squatters, although his mother has some sympathy for the poor and seems to have good intentions. (She gives them water and thinks something should be done to help them.) His father, however, expresses no sympathy. He builds the garden wall higher and discourages his son from helping the poor. The squatters also show signs of prejudice against Rohan when they make negative assumptions about him.

Vocabulary in Context1. [d] stroll2. [b] distract3. [d] excess4. [b] free5. [a] maroon6. [d] everyone7. [b] lead8. [d] weakly

Vocabulary Strategy: Homographs

1. group2. herded3. wrinkled4. circular openings in the centers of

the irises5. cattle

Denotation: A word’s denotation is its dictionary definition.

Connotation: A word’s connotations are the ideas and feelings associated with the word, as opposed to its dictionary definition. For example, the word mother, in addition to its basic meaning (“a female parent”), has connotations of love, warmth, and security.