Six Feet of the Country

By

Nadine Gordimer

Characters

Lerice

Actress She runs the farm

Husband

Partner in travel agency He is evenings and weekends on the farm He hates the farming activities

Farmworkers

Albert Petrus Franz Dora Jacob

Albert

Came to call them in the middle of the night to say that someone is ill.

Petrus

His brother is the one who died He continuously asks about his brother’s

body He wants the money back when he couldn’t

get the body

Franz

Franz is the worker who had a bad cough

Dora

She is the cook

Jacob

He is the gardener

The farmworkers

They are like Lerice’s children They brew beer They are not afraid of police raids They feel safe on the farm

The Plot

Lerice and her husband move to the farm to have a better life.

They want to improve their marriage. Their marriage does not improve. One night Albert knocks on the door Someone is ill Petrus’s brother from Rhodesia died

The Plot (continues)

Walked from Rhodesia to Johannesburg He contracts pneumonia and dies from exposure Too afraid to tell Lerice and husband His body must go for an autopsy to determine the

cause of death The body is buried without permission (morgue) (pathologist) Petrus wants the body back for a traditional funeral Lerice’s husband struggles with the authorities to get

the body

The Plot (continues)

They have to pay 20 pounds to get the body. Somehow the workers come up with the money The authorities return a body Petrus’s father arrives from Rhodesia for the

funeral The father stops the funeral to look into the coffin.

The Plot (continues)

They find the wrong body in the coffin Petrus wants his money back They tried to get the money back Everything was just a waste of time The father returns to Rhodesia with an old

suit.

Setting

The story takes place on a farm near Johannesburg.

South Africa is called the Union of South Africa. South Africa is still under British rule.

Workers migrated to South Africa to work on the mines.

Workers had to use passes to move around.

The Political situation in South Africa

It was before Apartheid. South Africa was known as the Union of South Africa Blacks were not allowed to own large pieces of land Blacks immigrated to Johannesburg to work on the

gold mines The blacks had to carry passes, they were not

allowed to move where they wanted Blacks could only qualify for low paying jobs Crime was horrible in Johannesburg.

Unexpected events

You do not expect Lerice to embrace farm life. Lerice’s husband did not expect to find the body of a strange

African in the hut. Lerice’s husband did not expect that he would ever have to

report the death of an illegal alien Lerice’s husband did not expect to exhume the body. Lerice’s husband did not expect the workers to bring him 20

pounds. Lerice’s husband did not expect Petrus’s father to come to the

funeral. Lerice’s husband did not expect that Petrus wanted the 20

pounds back when they discovered it was the wrong body.