"The Moment before the Gun Went Off"

A detailed Summary of "The Moment before the Gun Went Off"

In the following essay I will analyse the persona in Nadine Gordimer's story "The

Moment before the Gun Went Off" I will debate whether this character; Marais is consitent

and reliable. Furthermore I will explain whether the persona's views coincide with those of

Marais Van der Vyver is a farmer in South Africa who inherited his father's (Willem

Van der Vyver) best farm . He is a regional party leader and Commandant of the local

security commando. Van der Vyver at one point shoots one of his farm-labourers by

"accident" while they are out to "Cull a buck from the family of kudu"(NA II, 2574). The

persona knows the news will reach many papers all over the world due to the current state of

affairs in South Africa, "He and the black man will become those crudely-drawn figures on

him hunting with me" (NA II, 2573). This implies the amount of sympathy the persona has

In what way do the views of the persona on Apartheid coincide with those of the

black man's mother share a sort of unspoken language. This, as well as the very last sentence

was more than a mere accident. For instance, why did the persona take his father's disused

Approximate Word count = 583
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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