Exploring the relationship between Paton's ideology and his context

Abstract

In this article I intend to highlight some of the main ideas in Paton’s ideology in order to understand what made him an outstanding person in the white minority during the apartheid period; it is also intended to highlight what were the basic principles of his commitment to his society and to the defence of equality between races. To go more deeply into Paton’s ideology, I am going to pay attention to two central aspects that show what he considered crucial to create a better society: the importance of religion as a basis for dignity and freedom, and the defence of human rights. This paper will also emphasize that his use of language appeared clearly connected with a marked social reality, whose main characteristics were the supremacy of the white minority and the oppression of the black population. In other words, in Paton’s literary production language and society cannot be separated since language creates and builds the social situation; the author transmits his experience through language. In this sense, there is a clear interrelationship between society, ideology, culture and language use.