Nadine Gordimer

"Some Are Born to Sweet Delight" by Nadine Gordimer examines themes of complicity, class division, and predetermination. Vera's desire to escape her low-class status leads her to naively accept Rad's...

The moral of Nadine Gordimer's "Once Upon a Time" is that fear can be the greatest obstacle to happiness. The family's increasing fear of crime and the outside world leads them to isolate themselves,...

In "The Moment Before the Gun Went Off," there are various important symbols, such as the main character's rifle, the barbed wire fence that surrounds the main character's property, and the grave of...

In "Happy Event," situational irony is evident when Ella, a privileged white woman, easily obtains an illegal abortion, while Lena, a poor Black servant, is condemned and imprisoned for infanticide...

"Happy Event" by Nadine Gordimer exposes stereotypical social attitudes of whites towards Blacks in South Africa through various instances. Ella treats her Black servants like children by giving them...

The type of irony in the story "The Moment Before the Gun Went Off" by Nadine Gordimer is situational irony. This is where the opposite of what we'd expect to happen happens. In the story,...

"Africa Emergent" explores ethical and political implications of oppression through mistrust. The narrator's reluctance to associate with an imprisoned man highlights how social standing and...

Gordimer's short story, "Crimes of Conscience" touches upon the themes of Political Transition, and Love. In this story, the male character from whose perspective the story is told, although he is...

In Nadine Gordimer’s “The Moment Before the Gun Went Off,” the relationship between Lucas, his mother, and the van der Vyvers suggests the continuity of racially based oppression in South Africa. The...

In "Happy Event," Ella's prejudices limit her understanding of Black South Africans. First, she assumes that servants from the same tribe will naturally get along, reflecting her simplistic views on...

The short story "The Moment Before the Gun Went Off" is about a white South African farmer during the apartheid era who accidentally kills a young Black man. As one can imagine, the killing generates...

The first and second parts of "Once Upon a Time" are connected through irony. The author initially dismisses the idea of writing a fairy tale, yet ends up doing so. The first part's significance lies...

"Letter from His Father" by Nadine Gordimer gives voice to Franz Kafka's father, responding to Kafka's "Letter to His Father." A PowerPoint presentation could start with a title slide and context...

Nadine Gordimer critiques South African apartheid in "The Moment Before the Gun Went Off." Social issues raised are white exploitation of Black labor, whites not investigating a death involving a...