Question

In “No Witchcraft for Sale,” what belief prevents Gideon from sharing his people’s knowledge with the Farquars?

Answer 1

Answer:

The belief that prevents Gideon from sharing his people's knowledge with the Farquars is:

(b)He thinks white people are only interested in making money for themselves by exploitation.

Explanation:

The Farquars are a family living in South Africa and Gideon is their native cook in Doris Lessing's short story "No Witchcraft for Sale". Gideon uses his knowledge of healing plants to prevent Teddy Farquar from getting blind after a snake spit in his eyes. However, when a scientist comes to their home and asks to be shown the miraculous plant, Gideon feels betrayed by the family.

He does not understand the family does not care about the possible money to be made from this. In truth, when they are told about the money by the scientist, the Farquars are annoyed. All they wanted was to help others the way Gideon helped their son. But, to Gideon, white people only care about money, selling what has been passed on from generation to generation. There is prejudice from both sides: The Farquars see Gideon as their inferior and are unable to understand his stubbornness; Gideon sees white people as greedy beings who only care about exploiting others.

In the end, he does not reveal which plant it is that did the trick. Still, he and the family go back to their original relationship, caring about and respecting one another.

Answer 2

The correct answer is the following: option B. Gideon thinks that white people are only interested in making money for themselves by exploitation. This belief prevents him from sharing his people's knowledge with the Farquars.

"No Witchcraft for Sale" is a short story written by Dori Lessing first published in 1951. It tells the story of an African American cook called Gideon and his relationship with the white family he works for. Gideon had always had a close relationship with the family;s young son, named Teddy. But once Teddy starts to grow, his attitude towards Gideon changes, and he starts to act like the majority of white people. He believes that Gideon must obey him no matter what. When Teddy is bitten by a snake and his eyes are in danger, Gideon uses medicinal plants to save him. Later on he is inquired byabout his knowledge by the Farquars and other scientists. But Gideon decides to stay true to his heritage, and he does not share his knowledge with them, as he believes they are just using him to gain money.