Summary of “Six Feet of the Country”

“Six Feet of the Country” by Nadine Gordimer is a short story set in apartheid-era South Africa, narrated by a white man who owns a small farm near Johannesburg. The story highlights the divide between the white landowners and their black farmworkers, focusing on a tragic event that underscores this racial and social disparity.

The narrator and his wife, Lerice, moved from Johannesburg to a farm located ten miles outside the city. They were hoping that the move would improve their strained marriage. The narrator expected that Lerice, who was an amateur actress, would soon get bored of the quiet farm life and want to return to the city. However, Lerice surprises him by taking a deep interest in the farm and its operations. She becomes involved in the daily activities, cares about the land, and is concerned about the well-being of their black farmworkers.

The narrator, on the other hand, is not as enthusiastic about farm life. He continues to work as a travel agent in Johannesburg and only spends his evenings and weekends on the farm. He views the farm as an escape from the city, but he is not as committed to it as his wife. He is also somewhat detached from the lives of the black workers on his farm, seeing them as part of the landscape rather than as individuals with their own stories and struggles.

The main event in the story begins when one of the black farmworkers, Albert, wakes the narrator in the middle of the night by knocking on his window and asking for help. The narrator follows Albert to the workers’ huts, where he is shown the dead body of a young black man. The young man is the brother of Petrus, another farmworker on the farm. Petrus’s brother had walked all the way from Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) to South Africa in search of work. He fell ill during his journey and, despite Petrus’s care, died shortly after arriving at the farm.

Petrus, Albert, and the other workers had been too afraid to ask for help from the narrator or Lerice while the young man was still alive, because he was an illegal immigrant. Now that he is dead, they seek the narrator’s assistance. The narrator, though irritated by the inconvenience, agrees to help with the situation.

The narrator contacts the local authorities, who come to the farm to deal with the body. The health officials take the body away and make arrangements for its burial. However, Petrus is distraught because he wants to bury his brother according to their traditional customs. He tells the narrator that his father is coming from Rhodesia for the funeral and asks for his help in retrieving the body so that it can be buried properly. Petrus even manages to gather 20 pounds—a large sum for him—to pay for the exhumation and return of the body.

The narrator, who views the entire situation as an unnecessary burden, agrees to help but does so with little enthusiasm or urgency. He sees Petrus’s concern for his brother’s burial as overblown and doesn’t understand why Petrus is making such a fuss. Nonetheless, the narrator contacts the authorities again, and they eventually agree to exhume the body and return it to the farm.

Two weeks later, the narrator is playing golf on the farm when he notices a group of people, including Petrus, his family, and some friends, carrying a coffin toward the nearby graveyard. As they are about to begin the burial, the group suddenly becomes upset. The narrator, curious about what has happened, approaches them and learns that the body inside the coffin is not Petrus’s brother. The authorities have given them the wrong body.

Despite the narrator’s attempts to fix the mistake, it is too late. The body of Petrus’s brother is lost forever, buried somewhere in an unknown grave, and there is no way to locate it now. The narrator, who never fully grasped the seriousness of the situation, is relieved that the ordeal is over and feels no deep sense of responsibility for the error. He remains detached from the emotional and cultural significance of the loss for Petrus and his family.

As a final gesture, Lerice gives Petrus’s father an old suit before he leaves to return to Rhodesia. She hopes the suit will offer some small comfort to the grieving family. The narrator, however, sees this gesture as more than sufficient compensation for the mix-up with the body. He is glad to be done with the situation and does not think much about the impact it has had on Petrus and his family.

In the end, the story leaves Petrus and his family without closure, as they are unable to bury their loved one according to their customs. The narrator returns to his life, largely unaffected by the tragedy that has unfolded on his farm. The story concludes with the narrator’s life continuing as it was, while Petrus and his family are left to cope with their loss in a society that offers them little dignity or respect.

Analysis of “Six Feet of the Country”

Nadine Gordimer’s “Six Feet of the Country” is a powerful short story that delves into the complex and often painful realities of apartheid-era South Africa. Through the experiences of a white farmer and his black farmworkers, the story examines themes of racial inequality, detachment, and the dehumanizing effects of apartheid on both the oppressed and the oppressors.

Racial Inequality and Apartheid

At the core of the story is the stark divide between the white landowners and the black farmworkers, which mirrors the broader racial inequalities entrenched in South African society during apartheid. The white narrator and his wife, Lerice, live in relative comfort on their farm, while the black workers, including Petrus and Albert, live in poverty and fear. This power imbalance is evident throughout the story, particularly in how the narrator interacts with the workers.

The black workers are portrayed as almost invisible to the narrator, who views them as part of the farm’s background rather than as individuals with their own lives, emotions, and concerns. This lack of recognition of their humanity is a direct reflection of the dehumanizing effects of apartheid, where black South Africans were treated as second-class citizens, with their rights and dignity systematically stripped away.

The tragic death of Petrus’s brother, an illegal immigrant from Rhodesia, brings this inequality into sharp focus. The young man’s journey to South Africa in search of work, only to die upon arrival, symbolizes the desperation and harsh realities faced by black Africans during this period. Despite the narrator’s relative wealth and power, he shows little empathy or understanding for the plight of Petrus and his family, further highlighting the deep divide between the races.

Detachment and Lack of Empathy

The narrator’s detachment from the workers’ lives and struggles is one of the most striking aspects of the story. He is a man who is emotionally and morally distant from the people who work for him, viewing them as mere tools rather than as human beings. This detachment is evident in his reaction to the death of Petrus’s brother. Rather than seeing the situation as a tragedy that requires compassion and support, the narrator views it as an inconvenience that disrupts his life.

This lack of empathy is also reflected in the narrator’s interactions with his wife, Lerice. While Lerice becomes genuinely involved in the farm and cares about the workers, the narrator remains indifferent. He is more concerned with maintaining his lifestyle and escaping the tensions of Johannesburg than with forming meaningful relationships or addressing the injustices happening on his farm. His detachment is a coping mechanism, allowing him to avoid confronting the harsh realities of the world around him.

The narrator’s response to Petrus’s request for help in retrieving his brother’s body further illustrates his emotional distance. He agrees to help, but only out of a sense of obligation, not because he truly cares about Petrus’s loss. When the authorities return the wrong body, the narrator is more relieved that the situation is over than concerned about the impact on Petrus and his family. This indifference to their suffering highlights the moral and emotional emptiness that can result from living in a society built on racial inequality.

The Dehumanizing Effects of Apartheid

The story also explores the dehumanizing effects of apartheid on both the oppressed and the oppressors. For the black workers, apartheid strips them of their dignity and reduces them to mere laborers who must live in fear of the authorities and their white employers. The death of Petrus’s brother and the subsequent mishandling of his body by the authorities underscore the lack of respect and humanity afforded to black people during this time. Petrus’s desperate attempts to retrieve his brother’s body and give him a proper burial are a poignant reminder of the deep cultural and emotional wounds inflicted by apartheid.

For the narrator, apartheid dehumanizes him in a different way. It allows him to live in a bubble of privilege and detachment, where he does not have to confront the suffering of those around him. His lack of empathy and moral indifference are products of a system that encourages white South Africans to see themselves as superior and to ignore the humanity of black South Africans. In this way, apartheid not only oppresses the black population but also corrupts the moral fabric of the white population, leading to a society where basic human compassion is eroded.

The title of the story, “Six Feet of the Country,” is deeply symbolic. It refers to the six feet of earth that would be used to bury Petrus’s brother, but it also represents the small piece of land that the narrator and his wife occupy. This land, while providing them with a sense of escape from the city, is also a place where the injustices of apartheid play out. The title suggests that even in a seemingly peaceful and remote part of the country, the deep divisions and inequalities of South African society are present and inescapable.

Moral Responsibility and Guilt

Throughout the story, the narrator struggles with a sense of moral responsibility, although he never fully acknowledges it. He is aware, on some level, that what has happened to Petrus’s brother is wrong, but he does not have the moral courage to confront this truth. Instead, he rationalizes his actions and convinces himself that the situation is not his fault. This avoidance of responsibility is a common theme in Gordimer’s work, where characters often struggle with their roles in an unjust society.

Lerice’s gesture of giving Petrus’s father an old suit at the end of the story can be seen as an attempt to provide some comfort or compensation, but it is ultimately inadequate. The suit, like the narrator’s actions, does nothing to address the deeper injustices that have occurred. It is a symbolic gesture that highlights the superficial ways in which the white characters attempt to ease their guilt without making any real changes to the system that perpetuates suffering.

In conclusion, “Six Feet of the Country” is a poignant exploration of the harsh realities of apartheid-era South Africa. Through its portrayal of racial inequality, detachment, and the dehumanizing effects of apartheid, the story offers a powerful critique of a society built on injustice and oppression. The narrator’s lack of empathy and moral responsibility serves as a stark reminder of the corrosive effects of living in a system that denies the humanity of others.