Theme and Narrative Elements in the Nadine Gordimers Short Story Country Lovers - Assignment Example

?Theme and Narrative Elements Nadine Gordimer’s “Country Lovers” tells of the complicated love story between Thebedi, a young black woman, and Paulus, the son of her white masters. The relationship among the two began as a simple childhood crush, a phase that, for the other children in the farm town, came to an end once the white children started school. For Thebedi and Paulus, though, their love continued well into adulthood, when their love became forbidden, and a pregnant Thebedi became desperate for security and promised her hand in marriage to a black man. Gordimer uses character, setting, point of view, and symbolism to show how the influence of segregation subjected a girl in love to a life of torment. The theme of “Country Lovers” is forbidden interracial love as a result of the apartheid system of racial segregation. This short story centers on the illegal love between a black slave, Thebedi, and the white son of her masters, Paulus. After their relationship becomes sexual and Thebedi discovers that she is pregnant with Paulus’s child, she takes precautions to ensure a safe life for her child by marrying Njabulo, a black farmhand. Unfortunately, Paulus recognizes the similarities between himself and Thebedi’s infant daughter. Not wanting to reveal that he had sexual relations with a black slave, Paulus kills the child. A trial is held to convict him of the murder, but, given a lack of proof, which can also be translated as to him simply being white, Paulus is judged as not guilty. Due to the prevalence of apartheid, the central theme of this story, what would have been a pleasant time for a couple of another race was a time of devastation and heartbreak for Thebedi. Gordimer utilizes an array of literary elements to accentuate the theme of her short story. Character is the foremost element, and Gordimer uses all three main characters - Thebedi, Paulus, and Njabulo - to emphasize the unfairness that exists under apartheid. Thebedi is the primary character, an attractive eighteen-year-old girl who is the daughter of a slave, making her a slave by relation. She is essentially the underlying consequence of apartheid, a role that she fully assumes after her baby is murdered and the suspect is allowed to roam free. Paulus Eysendyck is the nineteen-year-old farmer’s son, rich and privileged because he is white and his family are slaveowners. Paulus was the “epitome of the oppressive white man in the context of this story (Rochman, 1990)”, taking advantage of Thebedi, then abandoning her when his own reputation is at risk. He cares only for himself, and even after declaring his love for Thebedi, reinforces his superiority over her based on race. Njabulo is the complete opposite of Paulus, from his skin color to the loving way that he tends to Thebedi before and after the death of her daughter, showing that race does not determine responsibility. Setting is another literary element that helps to ground the plot and theme of the story, as well as to provide an understanding as to the importance of social class during the apartheid. The story takes place in South Africa, and the three primary locations are Paulus’s farmhouse, the river where Thebedi and Paulus maintain their relationship in secret, and the rundown village where Thebedi lives. Paulus and Thebedi live in homes respective of their social status. Since Paulus is white and rich, he gets the pleasure in living in a luxurious home. Thebedi, on the other hand, is the black daughter of a slave, meaning that luxury is not an option. Since their love is unacceptable in their society, they cannot be seen in either home, forcing them to resort to meeting in secret by the river. There is shamefulness in their interracial relationship, represented by the way they hide themselves from their respective worlds. Gordimer employs the literary element of third-person point of view for the purpose of the readers. By using third-person narration as opposed to first or second, Gordimer is giving her readers the opportunity to take their own side of the story. Since the story is told from the perspective of a bystander, someone who is not part of the action, there are no flavors of bias. Though we know who is morally right and wrong in the story, the point of view does not influence our own decisions. The apartheid was a trying time in South Africa, and tensions were running high between the races. If the author utilized first or second person perspective, we might receive a biased point of view; the third-person point of view lets the readers form their own opinions about the events of the story. Finally, Gordimer’s use of symbolism helps us to better understand the social structure of apartheid. The primary symbol is Thebedi herself, and she symbolizes both female exploitation and racism. In regard to female exploitation, Thebedi lived through the experience of birthing an illegitimate child, an experience that many slave women went through. Thebedi was young and pretty, which were what caught Paulus’s eye, but even knowing that he was not allowed to be with her, he did so anyway. In the end, he abandoned Thebedi and his responsibilities to his daughter. During the course of the story, through symbolism, Thebedi was every slave woman who found herself in that neglected position (Gordimer, 2010). Similarly, Thebedi symbolized the essence of racism. No matter how she was treated, especially by Paulus, the behavior would change when the other person remembered that her African American background would get them into trouble. In this sense, Thebedi was abandoned by her lover, lost her child to his destructive hands, and sat by as Paulus was found not guilty of the murder . . . simply because she was black. “Country Lovers,” at once a story of love and heartbreak, revealed the deeper ramifications of apartheid on the simple lives of country slaves. Gordimer, an opponent of the apartheid herself, used many literary elements to show how convoluted something as simple and precious as love became for those who were not white and privileged. Though this short story was fictional, the theme of forbidden love during the apartheid was as real for many as our own lives are to us. References Gordimer, N. (2010). Telling times: Writing and living, 1954-2008. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company. Rochman, H. (1990). Somehow tenderness survives: Stories of Southern Africa. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers. Read More