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Erica, Adela, Hilda, Emily, Sara Revised by Cecilia Liu
Nadine Gordimer (1923~ ) Erica, Adela, Hilda, Emily, Sara Revised by Cecilia Liu
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Nadine Gordimer Above: the lower section of the map shows the area still owned by Britain to this day. images taken from <powayusd.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/. ../pages/April_14.htm>
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Nadine Gordimer (i) Born in 1923 in Springs, South Africa
Daughter of Isidore and Nan Gordimer (Jewish immigrant parents) Has witnessed how the minority white people weakened the rights of the majority black people since she was a child.
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Nadine Gordimer (ii) Received education in a convent school and spent a year at Witwaterstrand University, Johannesburg without taking a degree. Has also taught in the USA in several universities during the 1960s and 1970s. Was awarded Nobel Prize for Literature in 1991. Never considered going into exile even at the height of the apartheid regime Has lived in Johannesburg since 1948, and continues to live in South Africa.
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Nadine Gordimer’s Works (iii)
Issue: mostly about South African, apartheid, a racially divided home country, and post-apartheid “…her writing… to give a number of different perspectives on a situation, in some cases most poignantly those of apartheid's supporters, and in this way to represent the broader anatomy of a diseased politics. Gordimer's subject, as she emphasizes, is much more than apartheid; it is the human being in history.” (Abrams 2572)
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“The Moment before the Gun Went Off”
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Setting: South African farming community in 1991
Narrator: The third person viewpoint Summary: The story is about an accidental shooting of a black farm boy by a white farmer.
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Characters Marais Van der Vyver-- a farmer, who is smart but isn’t very socially adept and has problems with intimacy. Lucas--a black farm boy, who is a good mechanic and likes to go hunting with Marais. Captain Beetge--a police, a tough guy, who can’t stand to see a man crying. Alida Van der Vyver --Marais’ wife, who cares about gardening and having a high social status Willem Van der Vyver—Marais’ father
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An accident? Coincidences
without checking rifle if it was loaded or not the fast driven car over a pot-hole the black boy sitting on the top of the truck In The Moment Before the Gun Went Off Gordimer tells the story of a farmer, Marais van der Vyver, who shoots one of his farm-labourers, Lucas, by "accident" while they are out culling a kudu on his farm. Yet there are too many "coincidences" in the text to suggest that the shooting was a mere accident. Why, for instance, did the farmer pick the disused rifle of his father without checking if it was loaded, although his father always warned him, never to leave a loaded gun lying around? And why does the farmer drive a little too fast over the pot-hole in the dirt-track that will trigger the fatal shot? These uncanny coincidences unsettle the narratorial control over the fictional reality and prevent the closure of the text.Yet in this instance the improbable appears to be the real. There is the further clue of a secret sign language that points to special relationship between the farmer and his labourer. This is echoed by the communication between the farmer and the dead man's mother: "The dead man's mother and he stare at the grave in communication like that between the black man outside and the white man inside the cab the moment before the gun went off.“ In both cases real communication occurs outside of language which constitutes the power relations between "white" and "black", "men" and "women" and "property-owners" and "labourers". The dead man reminded the farmer of his defiance of the law of his father and forefathers, which prohibits sexual intercourse between blacks and whites. Both the farmer and his son are punished by a law they did not make. This is only hinted at in the laconic statement: "The young man callously shot through the negligence of the white man was not the farmer's boy; he was his son."
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Analysis In the story the White minority are the ones in charge. In this particular society, blacks are the blue collar workers while the whites take the higher positions. Tradition will give way to changes: blacks will hold high social positions, and whites will marry blacks. One way or another this will be the eventual fate of the community no matter how hard the whites try to separate the black from the whites. In the story the White minority are the ones in charge. In this particular society, blacks are the blue collard workers while the whites take the higher positions. The main character of the story is Marais Van der Vyver. In the story Mr. Van der Vyver accidentally kills a young farm hand by the name of Lucas. Mr. Van der Vyver is more than Lucas's employer he is his father, so Mr. Van der Vyver feels truly sorry for killing Lucas. Mr. Van der Vyver does not grieve with his wife for the death of their son because he is not married to the Lucas's mother. The tradition in this story is that interracial marriages do not occur. Tradition will give way to change, blacks will hold high social positions, whites will marry blacks. One way or another this will be the eventual fate of the community no matter how hard the whites try to separate the black from the whites.
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“The Moment before the Gun Went Off” delves beneath the surface of a not unfamiliar South African scene: the fatal shooting of a black laborer by a white farmer. This particular incident is shown to have been accidental, but the sickening tragedy and horror of the episode is only revealed in the last sentence -- exposing further levels of human dependence and entanglement in an already complex situation.
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The paternity of the dead boy in "The Moment before the Gun Went Off" is a secret only between his mother and father. That there is still a bond between them can perhaps be seen in the glance they exchange. Different level of understanding or comprehension of the incident: * the community as outsiders * the people involved—the bond: Marais and Lucas’ mother; the grief of Marais Van der Vyver over the death of his “son”
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Study Questions What is the “moment” before the gun went off?
Do you think it is an accident? Why? What is the relationship between Marais and Lucas? How do you know?
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