The story The Journey to the brothers’ farm is a short story written by the British author Pippa Gough. The short story is from Once Upon a Time There Was a Traveller.

The Journey to the brothers’ farm tells the story of a woman named Annelie Louw who runs Louw Stores on her own since her husband, Vernon Louw, died three years ago. Every Monday she drives to Tweekopfontein to stock up on good for the store from Van Riebeck Wholesalers. Her journey takes her past the turn-off to Veldplatt, the Krugers’ farm. During her car journey she gets flashbacks of her childhood, when she used to live at Bloumeer Farm, the farm closest to the Krugers’ Farm. On her way to the Tweekopfontein a figure grabs her attention. On the ground lays one of her good childhood friends, Thabo, injured. He tells her about the accident that took place last night at the Krugers’ Farm and drives off to the farm. She finds two of the Krugers’ brothers dead and the third, Hendriks, lying on a path. She pointes the gun at him and tell him about his brothers death and he kills himself.

The main character in the short story is Annelie Louw. She is a woman in her late thirties perhaps. In the begging of the story she is a seven years old girl and in the present time it is 30 years later. She was married to man who died three years ago. She owns a store and is doing the job on her own. Throughout the story we learn to know her better. We learn about her past and her present. Her actions prove to the reader that she is a firm and fearless woman. An example could be that she has taken care of the store even after the death of her husband. She takes her husbands rifle with her. Instead of calling the police she drives off to the farm with no fear getting hurt by Hendriks. All these examples proves to the reader that the can take care of herself.
Thabo Kefents is South African “Bloody kaffir…” . He is good friends with Annelie. He works for the Krugers. His farther was the Head Herdsman but he has always been seen as underclass. “Play with the kids form your school. Leave the workers now, hey?” He is polite and respects Annelie. He calls her madam.
Hendriks is a farmer man. His father used to own the Krugers’ Farm but after his death
Hendriks tool his position as the leader. Hendriks has never been a male with good manners. As young he used to be rude and cruel. “ You asked for that, you little tease. Tell anyone and I le them know how easy you are.” As adult he has not changed. He is still cold-hearted and racist. “You’ve got to treat the like animals,”

The story has a first-person narrator throughout the whole story. Annelie is the narrator. We have free access to her thoughts and mind. She is descriptive and adds all the details. For example “He was five years older than me. His younger brothers, the twins Jacob and Isaac, never went to school. They had brain damage from birth. They hardly ever left the farm.” and “He indicated the direction of the farm limply with his right arm. Blood, a lot of it, was dried on to his shirt and smeared across his hands and arms.” Annelie is a reliable narrator. Everything she says or thinks or describes is something she was been through or going though. She is a first-hand source. We get introduced to the characters before they appear in the story.

Without the language it would be hard to find out where the setting is. The language is simply and easy to read. Pippa Gough uses South African words and expression like meisie, Tswana, Panga knife and tsala ya me. Most of these words are used by Annelie witch indicates that she must be from South Africa.

The story starts In medias res. The text is build with a mixture of present and past. The reader gets many flashbacks from her childhood. Nearly half if the story is flashbacks. With the flashback we learn more about the characters and their personalities. We learn about their old relationships and what actions affected their relationships. We know for example that the reason Annelie tries to keep a big distance between her and Hendriks is the way he used to behave and still does. There is also part of the text that is written in italics. The text written in italics is facts about people or places. But sometimes the text in italics is a more detailed summary of what have just happened in the main text.

The first part of the story is important. The message is given to us. Miss Kotzee tells the story of a young and very beautiful girl, Dulcina, with the most beautiful hair and fine-boned body and milk-white skins and her face was her fortune. When Annelie ask Miss Kotzee about who would she reckon the prince would want to marry between Annelie and pale Bettina, she explains that our fortune is not always in the way we look. Some people have their fortune in the way they look others have their fortune in the way the threat others or the way they behave in certain circumstances.

After reading the first part the story begins. After understanding the message, Pippa Gough makes the reader understand the message even more when reading the experience and the situation Annelie has been placed in. We learn that Annelie did not have her fortune in the way she looked but rather in the way she took care of her friends, her strong and brave heart. Skin colour cannot tell anything about a person’s fortune. Black people are not cruel and white people are not always sugar sweet. What characterize a human are their actions and not the way they look or the amount of money they have under their hands.

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