Theme Of Racism In Entre Les Murs

People who come from different ethnic backgrounds, for example, children of immigrants, can be viewed as not ‘truly French’, regardless of their nationality and whether they were born in France. Religion has also become a racial indicator as certain religions are associated with specific ethnicities. Religion and cultural identity are closely linked and religious faith is often another way to convey or express one’s cultural background. In this way, religion contributes to the separation of the population and lack of integration in France, as it is emblematic of cultural differences. These differences between various ethnic groups causes a lack of identification, creating a cultural rift. This partition between races ‘consists of identifying

Issues such as racism and xenophobia consistently surface and there is a mutual distrust and resentment of other races amongst the pupils. This results in the teachers struggling to do their jobs in a tense environment and having to tackle complex issues such as discrimination. They are forced to attempt to unite students of differing ethnicities who are completely unaccustomed to co-existing with each

The impact that racism has on the staff in Entre les murs is noticeable when two of the teachers are conversing in the staff room around the coffee machine. One of the teachers, Géraldine, is discussing the opinions of her student, Djibril. She recounts how she was shocked at his gross generalisations as he calls all Spanish people racist. She says ‘il m’fait ouais les espagnols c’est des racistes. J’lui dis écoute Djibril des racistes y’en a partout, mais en Espagne pas plus qu’ailleurs’ (Bégaudeau, 2006, 105). She is completely disgusted and upset when the rest of the class agree with Djibril and she refers to her students as ‘des vrais sauvages’ (Bégaudeau, 2006, 105). Géraline is met with the reply stating that the students are racist towards white people. ‘Ils sont aussi racistes que les autres. Ils ont une espèce racisme anti-Blanc’ (Bégaugeau, 2006, 105). From this exchange, it is clear that the pupils in Entre les murs harbour a deep resentment towards other races, particularly Caucasians. This racist attitude is attributed to colonialism in the text. Both teachers and students in this novel are acutely aware of all ethnic and cultural differences that separate