An Apartheid Story: Country Lovers by Nadine Gordimer

When discussing Disgrace and Apartheid South Africa, I was reminded of a short story
I read last semester entitled Country Lovers by Nadine Gordimer. The story revolves
around a black South African servant girl Thebedi and a local white farm boy, Paulus.
As children the fact that they are black and white does not matter, and they are friends.
As they get older though, the racial differences become more apparent due to Apartheid.
Thebedi and Paulus can no longer associate as they used to, but Paulus cannot accept
this. While he is home from college over the summer, they couple. After he leaves,
Thebedi marries a black South African man who works on the farm, but she births a
light skinned child. The baby is Pauluss. When Paulus finds out he asks if she has gone
out in public with the child and tells her that she must give it to someone. Paulus visits
Thebedis house one day and after he leaves the baby is dead. The baby was reported to
the police as being almost white and that it died after a visit from Paulus. The police
take the baby away and he is charged with murdering the child. The case is tried a year
later. The judge declares Paulus not guilty because there was insufficient proof that he
killed the child. The judge also says that Thebedi may have been an accomplice in the
murder of the child. Thebedis husband was commended for not rejecting his wife and a
child that was not his. The story ends with Pauluss father saying that he will try his best
to carry on. Thebedi says that it was a thing of their childhood and that they dont see
each other anymore.
This story is just another example of how deeply rooted the differences over blacks and
whites was during Apartheid. Mostly though I was struck by some of the material
preceding the story in the collection it was in. An interview with Nadine Gordimer was
published in 1989s Women Writers Talk edited by Olga Kenyon. She says about the
political revolution in South Africa: [T]here are some extraordinary black and white
people who are prepared to take a Pascalian wager on the fact that there is a way, that
there must be a way. It goes beyond polarization, it cannot happen while the situation is
what it is. It can only be after the power structure has changed. But the fact is that if
whites want to go on living in South Africa, they have to change. Its not a matter of just
letting blacks inwhite life is already dead, over. The big question is, given the kind of
conditioning weve had for 300 years, is it possible to strike that down and make a
common culture with the blacks?
Kenyon also asked her in the interview what it means to be a white South African.
Gordimer replied, You have to show that you support change. In my case that you
support a complete revolution, if possible, a peaceful one. I use revolution in a broad
sense, a complete change of the whole political organization, from grass roots. Its not
enough for a white to say, Right, Ill be prepared to live under black majority rule, and
sit back, waiting for it to come. You also have to work positively, in whatever way you
can, as a human being.

Country Lovers
Summary
Country Lovers is a short story about a black girl and a white boy who lives in
the same town. The setting of the story is in South-Africa. At the time this story
happens, South Africa was under a strict apartheid regime.
The girl works on the farm of the boys father. Her name is Thebedi. Thebedi is a
very good person, but lives under hard circumstances. Her family is poor and
she has to work instead of going to school. The boys name is Paulus. Paulus is a
tall, generous and rich boy, but he is also selfish and ruthless. Thebedi and
Paulus was friends for a long time. They used to play together when they were
kids, but when Paulus started at school they didnt see each other more. They
only met when he was home for holidays.
When Paulus was 15 years old he started to meet other girls from the school. He
meets a girl at a wedding. They are sleeping together in a bedroom in the house.
But even though he meets new girls, he buys gifts for Thebedi. When he comes
home, Thebedi and Paulus meet at the river where they used to play together
when they were kids. Paulus tells of all the things he has done at school and how
the school is. One day in the summer they meet at the river again. After a bath in
the river Paulus and Thebedi make love on the riverbed. After that night they
meet a lot of times that summer.
When Paulus is 18, he gets his drivers license and the parents start to let him
take care of the farm when they are gone in the weekends. Then Paulus and
Thebedi stays a lot in the house together. When Thebedi is 18 she gets married
to a man called Njabulo. At the same time Paulus is going to a veterinary college
and doesnt know about the marriage.
Two months after the marriage Thebedi gets a daughter. The baby is not dark as
other African babies are. When Paulus comes home from school and finds out
that Thebedi has got a baby, he gets very angry. He walks straight to the house
where Thebedi lives. He sees the baby and gets very mad. He says he wants to
commit suicide.
Two weeks later, when Paulus parents are away, he walks down to the baby and
takes poison in the milk that Thebedi feeds the baby with. Later Thebedi finds
her baby dead and goes to the police to tell what has happened. After one year

the case comes up in court. But the court doesnt have enough proof to say that
Paulus is guilty. The result was not guilty.

Important information / educational value

This short story tells a lot about the situation in South Africa during
the apartheid regime. Apartheid was a system of racial segregation
in South Africa, led by the National Party government. The white
population of South Africa was in charge of the country, and even
though were the minority they oppressed the rest of the inhabitants.
(Most commonly referred to as the black population). In Country
Lovers, we see how distinct the differences between blacks and
white were. The fact that Paulus was found not guilty, even though
there was enough evidence against him, shows how the white people
protected each other. The story also tells how the white children get
to go to school, while the black children hardly gets educated at all.
You have to know some things about the apartheid period in South
Africa in order to understand the short story fully. The educational
value is definitely present.
Theme / message
The main theme in Country Lovers is how racial segregation and
social differences affect peoples lives.