Last Updated on August 25, 2021, by eNotes Editorial. He also knew he would suffer the double tragedy because of this political black and white conflict, the irony of what politically dominated and infested Africa with racial hate and segregation. The story presents this scenario: "When Marais Van der Vyver arrived at the police station with the dead man. In the fourth paragraph the narrator even knows Marais v/d Vyver sobbed uncontrollably even though Captain Beetge was the only witness to that event. His own was at the gunsmith's. Marais Van der Vyver- The protagonist of the non-linear short story, The Moment Before the Gun Went Off. And Lucas followed the familiar routine, jumping onto the back of the truck. Here, the buck that Van der Vyver sets out to kill, but instead, accidentally kills Lucas, a symbolized Kudu. It is very unlikely that the people of the village kill people for the sake of killing people. However, Gordimer provides an explanation for it: although heartbroken by Lucas's death, van der Vyver also fears that the accident will result in retaliation against his family and other white people.
The main character of the story is Mr. Van der Vyver. In the moment before the gun was shot, Lucas and Van der Vyver were sharing a moment of "high excitement" of a sort which often passed between them, even though sometimes Van der Vyver would ignore greetings from Lucas when he was moving around the farm. Marais taught Lucas to maintain tractors and other farm machinery, and he took him hunting.
The jolt fired the rifle. Marais Van der Vyver had left his house at three in the afternoon to cull a buck from the family of Kudu he protects in the bush areas of his farm. I believe that the society from 'A Moment before the Gun Went Off' will suffer the same fate as that of the one from 'The Lottery. ' The persona tells how Marais, a white South African farmer, accidentally shot a black boy. The Moment Before the Gun Went off — Character Sketch. Our professional writers can rewrite it and get you a unique paper. Lucas was on the back of the truck where he loved to spot the animals first, they seemed to have a language worked out on how many thumps he would do for the direction. Thus, he only gives... She thinks her husband has not noticed the support: he is relatively cold and reserved, and she believes this is why he has never been nominated as the Party's district parliamentary candidate. Cite specific examples. He does not only keep it to the press, but also to Lucas. They see the truth of that. Overdrive Tutorial Videos.
The people from his district remember how he as child was rather shy and withdrawn, and it seems that the people around him beleives that he has conserved these personality traits as an adult. Career & Technical Education. Thus, a moment of the irony of an intense relationship between a black man and a white man. The story's plot is strongly influenced by the apartheid policy, the segregation of whites and non-whites and the white supremacy for 50 years in South Africa. This can be seen in the way she uses her narrative to give a couple of different perspectives on a particular event.
Download this Sample. The themes of racism and racial segregation are brought forth extensively in this short story which sets its background against the final years of apartheid policies in South Africa. Nothing to be done for him. However, further on it becomes apparent the boy was not just his friend: "The young black callously shot through the negligence of the white man was not the farmer's boy; he was his son. " The black was stone dead. Remove from my list. In the drunken state, Van der Vyver sobs and weeps like a "dirty kid" and Beetge promises himself that he will never talk about this to anyone. He is the regional Party leader and Commandant of the local security commando and is portrayed as embodying a strange distressful face. They also never verbally communicate with each other in the funeral, but just a mere stare as a means of communication. Early Childhood Education. The sense of racial conflict is palpable and mirrored in Gordimer's prose. In this one page activity, students will identify the stereotypes presented in the story and explain the deeper meaning of these stereotypes.
He and the dead man's mother never end up staying together, since apartheid affects the social life of all South Africans including the prohibition of marriage between white and non-white. Alida v/d Vyver, Marais' wife, cares about gardening and having a high social status. Joslin, Keith (hidden). It is evident at the end of the story that the writer has disclosed the personal issue of the protagonist. But the story of Marais Van der Vyver, a white farmer, shooting a black man will undoubtedly make its appearance in the papers. When you look at the newspaper photographs you feel like apologising; as if you had started in on some room where you should not be.
Gordimer's skillful use of the third-person omniscient viewpoint lays bare the humanity of Marais van der Vyver, the white farmer who shot Lucas (the twenty-year-old farmhand in the story). Marais Van der Vyver, a white Afrikaner farmer in apartheid-era South Africa, shoots and kills one of his farm laborers. MiTech (Modules of Integrated Technologies). Lucas liked to ride on the back of the truck so he could see the game before Van der Vyver did. Eventually the societies that are home to the lottery will deal with their sins and end the tradition of the lottery.
Option 3: Agree and Add New. She was active in the anti-apartheid movement, joining the African National Congress during the days when the organization was banned.