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Forbidden Love

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Forbidden Love

Felicia Bell

English 125:Introduction to Literature

Instructor Kamisha Kirby

July 10, 2012

In “Country Lovers” by Nadine Gordimer the reader is told the tragic love story of Paulus and Thebedi. We follow the seemingly innocent beginnings of their mutual attraction to the incomprehensible ending that leaves an infant dead. Although the ending is unexpected it is not shocking because from the start of the story it is foreshadowed that Paulus and Thebedi will not live happily ever-after together. The main theme of the story is forbidden love. The setting, race and class of the main characters makes it impossible for the reader to imagine the story ending in any other way then those characters being separated.

The story is told from the point of view of an omniscient third person narrator. This allows us to know how the main characters feelings for each other build and diminish. In the first line of the story the narrator tells us that,” The farm children play together when they are small, but once the white children go away to school they don't play together anymore, even at holiday(N. Gordimer,1975).”.The line signifies that although the characters themselves are not aware of what awaits them in the future the narrator is aware. The narrator also gives the reader insight into the social formalities of the time. The reader learns from the narrator that the story is set in a society where someones position in life is largely determined by their race.

The setting of the story is South Africa a country that has historically had deep issues in relation to race. In the opening line of the story we also learn that the main characters live on a farm. That additional fact tells the reader that along with race making the main characters love forbidden; the fact that one is of means and the other poor plays a part in the relationship being frowned upon. In this way setting is also a literary device that plays into the overall theme of the story.

The fact that Paulus and Thebedi often meet in secret belies the forbidden nature of their relationship. Throughout his formative years Paulus tries to start relationships with girls that are more socially accepted than Thebedi but somehow he continuously goes back to Thebedi. The feelings he has for Thebedi are different and stronger than he has for those girls and are expressed by the narrator: “The schoolgirls he went swimming with at dams or neighbouring farms wore bikinis but the sight of their dazzling bellies and thighs in the sunlight had never made him feel what he felt now when the girl came up the bank and set beside him.....(N. Gordimer,1975)”. Thebedi also allows her parents to arrange a marriage between her and a boy from the farm. She goes as far as to allow him to believe she is a virgin and that he is the father of her child to protect her secret.

The main conflict in the story is the birth of Paulus and Thebedi's daughter. Although Thebedi's husband believes he is the child's father the narrators description of the child makes it clear Paulus is the father, “But the infant was light and did not quickly grow darker as most African babies do(N. Gordimer,1975)”. It is when the main characters discover that their relationship can not be kept secret any longer that the story takes it's tragic turn. It is alleged through the narrators account that Paulus was so afraid of his forbidden relationship coming to light that he poisons the child.

The fact that Paulus was willing to murder a child and that Thebedi, the child’s mother, stood by and let it happen, shows how fearful they were of other people knowing the feelings they felt for each other. There relationship was shaped by the setting in which they lived. It is quite possible to surmise that had they not lived on a farm in South Africa they could have loved each other openly. The measures that they take to shield their love from society makes what could have been a love story about the strength of true love; a tragedy about forbidden love.

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