Six Feet of the Country - Essay Example

The short story “Six Feet of the Country” was narrated in the first person point of view, that of the white businessman living in a farm ten miles from Johannesburg. He and his actress wife Lerice were masters to black servants, including Petrus whose brother, an illegal immigrant from Rhodesia, dies of pneumonia. This business of the dead illegal immigrant brings the narrator face to face with the flawed system of his country. To better understand these power relations, there is a need to brush up on South Africa’s history.

From 1948 to 1990, the apartheid system was implemented in South Africa which segregated the people into major racial groups - white; Bantu, or black Africans; Colored, or people of mixed descent; and Asians - and determined the living and employment standards of each group. Public facilities were segregated and nonwhites were not represented in the national government. The policy ended in 1990 when then-President F. W. de Klerk released the anti-apartheid activist and African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela from prison and legalized black African political organizations (“Apartheid”).

Clearly, the story was set at a time when apartheid was at its peak as the narrator tells us about the “tensions the Johannesburg people speak of” not being the hubbub of the city but of the “guns under the white men’s pillows and the burglar bars on the white men’s windows..” and the awkward moments when “a black man won’t stand aside for a white man” (Gordimer 9). The couple chose to live in the farm to change something in them and find peace in their marriage. Although it is clear that they were not able to fulfill the latter goal, at least they were able to change.

The histrionic Lerice became engrossed with running the farm and became attached to the servants. The narrator, who was a complainant brat who did not care about his servants as long as they did their work, sees the injustice of the system in the middle of the business of illegal immigrant’s body. Upon knowing of the death, the narrator notified the health authorities and the police to be able to know the cause of death. Apparently, the young man died of pneumonia and was disposed of by the authorities.

However, Petrus insisted on burying his brother’s body and repeatedly begged the narrator, his baas or boss, thinking that because the baas is a white man, he can do anything. Petrus, together with the other servants, scraped up twenty pounds just to be able to get the dead body back which annoyed the baas because he thought of it as a waste of money which the servants are very short of. In the funeral, however, it was found out that the body inside the coffin was not Petrus’ brother but some other native no one has seen before.

For a week the narrator battled with the authorities to no avail, neither was the money refunded. When his wife asked why he suddenly felt strongly about the matter, the narrator’s answer – “It’s a matter of principle. Why should they get away with a swindle? It’s time those officials had a jolt from someone who’ll bother to take the trouble” (Gordimer 19) - lets us know that a change has taken place in him. He became aware of the injustice of the system. This was further implied when he said “He [Petrus’ brother] had no identity in this world anyway” (Gordimer 19).

By saying so, he meant that the apartheid system’s provisions for the nonwhites were almost nonexistent. They had minimal rights and no representation. They worked, yes, but with meager salaries. The officials disposed of the body yes, but they did not even bother giving the right one back even if it has been paid for. Accepting the payment but not giving what has been paid for was an utter display of corruption and disrespect. The illegal immigrant, and all nonwhite population during the time of apartheid for that matter, had no identity in the world they lived in.

Oppressed, they had no place at all.Works Cited"Apartheid." Microsoft® Encarta® 2007 [CD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2006.Gordimer, Nadine. Six Feet of the Country. NY: Simon & Schuster, 1956.