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Nadine Gordimer (1923~ )
Erica, Adela, Hilda, Emily, Sara
Revised by Cecilia Liu
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>
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)
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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.
Nadine Gordimer’s Works (iii)
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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)
“The Moment before the Gun Went Off”
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
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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
An accident?
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Coincidences
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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
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.
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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”
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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