Describe symbolism in Mrs. Plum by Ezekiel Mphahlele

The living conditions of dogs in African communities, compared to those of white communities, represent the contrast between the lives of African people and white people. Chimane tells Karabo a funny story about a dog belonging to an African man in which the dog jumps out of its master's arms to get at a pot of meat cooking in a market.This anecdote, which contrasts the behavior of an "African dog" with a dog owned by white people, symbolizes the difference between the living conditions of black Africans and the "spoiled" lives of white people. Chimane concludes the story by stating, "That is a good African dog. A dog must look for its own food when it is not time for meals. Not these stupid spoiled angels the whites keep giving tea and biscuits." Karabo goes to see her friend Chimane in an impoverished black area, which she describes as "that terrible township where night and day are full of knives and bicycle chains and guns and the barking of hungry dogs and of people in trouble." Whereas the dogs in the white neighborhoods are "fat," the dogs in the black neighborhoods are "hungry."