Essay: A Patch of Blue.
             The novel, A Patch of Blue, by Elizabeth Kata does explore a number of issues. The issues of racism and discrimination effectively relate to the topic of friends and foes.
             Friendship is defined as "the relationship between friends", or so states the Australian Concise Oxford dictionary. The reader discovers that the main character, Selina, has a limited amount of friends as a result of her disability and social standing.
             A foe is defined as" an enemy or opponent". Selina's disability and social standing result in her being discriminated by not only strangers but also by her immediate family. Her disability has left her seeing one colour- black. This is her most hated colour. She despises everything black. She considers this darkness an enemy.
             "Black I hate. I hate everything black."
             "Black! I hated Pearl. I had enough black in my life. If only Pearl had been red or blue..."
             We see from the text from the book that Selina hated black in many forms, even human. Although Pearl had befriended her, Selina disliked her colour- and wanted nothing more to do with her.
             During the 1960's African Americans were discriminated on a regular basis- purely because of their colour- black. Sometimes they would have been discriminated in public, being called names such as "nigger" which was very degrading. Ole Pa influenced Selina's thoughts on black people. Ole Pa was the only "solid figure" in her life. Ole Pa was Selina's friend. What he said and did influenced Selina greatly.
             Even though Selina hated everything black, she was probably not racist. Selina was a kind, and caring person. Since she had been blind from the tender age of five, she wouldn't have properly understood how someone could be racist over the colour of one's skin. Selina is young and naive
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