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."

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.

To summarise I must state that Selina's loneliness or limited amount of friends were due to her disability, physical appearance and social standing. Perhaps of Selina had not had acid spilt on her face, and didn't turn out blind, she may have been more respected socially and physically to others, and mentally respected to herself.

"Black! I hated Pearl. I had enough black in my life. If only Pearl had been red or blue..."

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. S

Some common words found in the essay are:
Ole Pa's, Concise Oxford, Pa Selina's, Elizabeth Kata, African Americans, Ole Pa, Patch Blue, social standing, ole pa, limited amount friends, selina hated black, hated black, selina's disability, amount friends, disability social, disability social standing, black hated, black people, selina hated, colour- black,
Approximate Word count = 593
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)