...LITERARY ANALYSIS - THE MOMENT BEFORE THE GUN WENT OFF It wasn’t easy to be black during apartheid in South Africa. And though the whites were superior to the blacks, one moment can make your life as white turn from being a good life into a terrible life. ‘The Moment Before the Gun Went Off’ is a short story written by the South African short story writer and novelist, Nadine Gordimer, and it is published in Harper’s in 1991. The main plot in the short story is about a white man, Marais Van der Vyver, who by an accident shoots one of his farm labourers, Lucas, while they are out hunting. Marais and Lucas were driving in a truck on a dirt track; Marais was in the car, and Lucas stood on the back of the truck to look for kudus. Marais had a riffle beside him in the truck, and unfortunately, the gun was loaded. In the same moment as a kudu passed Lucas’ sight, Marais drove over a pothole, and the jolt fired the rifle. The bullet went trough the roof of the truck and straight into the head of Lucas. This became the last moment of Lucas’ life. Marais Van der Vyver is an Afrikaner farmer, leader of the regional party and Commandant of the local security commando. He is in his late thirties and he has three children, Magnus, Helena and Karel, and a wife, Alida. He is the son of Willem Van der Vyver, and he inherited his father’s best farm. Marais takes really good care of the farm, but he is a white man in a community where both withes and blacks are settled, so he has, as many...
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...Worksheet 3 Nadine Gordimer Biography Gordimer was born near Springs, Gauteng, an East Rand mining town outside Johannesburg, the daughter of Jewish immigrants. Her father, Isidore Gordimer, was a watchmaker from Lithuania near the Latvian border, and her mother Nan was from London. Gordimer's early interest in racial and economic inequality in South Africa was shaped in part by her parents. Her father's experience as a Jewish refugee in czarist Russia helped form Gordimer's political identity, but he was neither an activist nor particularly sympathetic toward the experiences of black people under apartheid. Conversely, Gordimer saw activism by her mother, whose concern about the poverty and discrimination faced by black people in South Africa ostensibly led her to found a crèche for black children. Gordimer also witnessed government repression firsthand when yet a teenager; the police raided her family home, confiscating letters and diaries from a servant's room. Gordimer was educated at a Catholic convent school, but was largely home-bound as a child because her mother, for "strange reasons of her own," did not put her into school (apparently, she feared that Gordimer had a weak heart). Home-bound and often isolated, she began writing at an early age, and published her first stories in 1937 at the age of fifteen. Her first published work was a short story for children, "The Quest for Seen Gold," which appeared in the Children's Sunday Express in 1937; "Come Again Tomorrow...
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...each row line. As I finished my work, I asked my classmate Oscar, who was sitting in front of me, to let me borrow his portable radio cassette player (better known as Walkman). Then I proceeded to scan through the radio stations and that's when I started listen to power 106 with Jay Thomas. He was usually playing old school rap, funk and freestyle or whatever the new style of music was at that moment. My close classmates followed finishing the classwork as I was enjoying the sound of a good song, when I noticed one of my classmate ,can't remember his name but for now I’m going to refer to him as Mario, sitting two seats up on my right side of the aisle pulling a gun from his backpack. I am not an expert in guns, but from far away it looked like .22 caliber pistol. The small gathering got quiet as they were astonished by the heavy cold metal object since some of us have never seen a gun before. Avilio, one of my close classmates, was sitting right behind Mario's desk and by the movement of his lips; I could almost read the words coming out of his mouth asking Mario why would he bring a gun to school? I can't recall if i...
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...The Moment before the gun went off In the short story, the moment before the gun went off, written by Nadine Gordimer, we hear about a white man shooting a black boy by accident. The white man, Marais van der Vyver, describes in his statement, that it was an accident, that his gun went off through the roof, shooting the black man dead. The story tells us about apartheids fall, black mobs burning down buildings and the tireless fight for equal rights, in the cities. Marais van der Vyver has his farm wired with huge fences around, and we’re told they have a 24/7 radio system with the other farmers to be able to scout for the black mobs or other possible treats, to kill the whites as an act of revenge for the black suppression. Marais is trying to express in the press and in his trial case, that he cared for the boy, and took him hunting now and then. But even though he bought a nice coffin for the boy, he knew that the black people and the whites that are fighting for the black’s rights, would tear him apart and use the incident in the papers and their anti-apartheid propaganda. No one will be able to know whether he shot the boy on purpose or by accident, apart from what the white farmer had said. The narrator is telling the story from the view of white people. How terrible things have become for them, after the fight for equal rights really has taken off. She is showing us a picture of whites trying to do everything to be superior, even when the apartheid is falling, the...
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...Carries A Gun. Linda Hasselstrom is a peaceful woman but feels safer when she is carrying a pistol. When she travelled alone she found herself and many women nearby in some fearful and dangerous situations. She believes that getting a gun changes the balance of power and provides a measure of safety. So due some events in the past she has been convinced to own a pistol so her reasons for getting a gun is fear, vulnerability and her main reason is getting harassed. She is scared for her safety especially when travelling alone because there was a woman on a street she lived by, her car had a flat tire so she called for help on the CB radio only for her cry for help to be responded by a man who left her raped and beaten. There was also a time when she got home from a teaching class only to find tire marks in her yard, garbage in her driveway and an empty gas tank just the a light shone from inside her house which made her take caution before entering her house. After that day she decided to take martial art training with her husband but gave up after considering the possibility of her winning against an attacker and seeing a news article where well-trained female martial artists still got raped and beaten. Vulnerability, she feels defenceless and powerless. She saw a man with a shotgun walking through a field below her house she tried to get him to leave so she asked nicely but instead he pointed his gun at her...
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...By The Name Of Windyburg. It Seemed Like It Was Heaven Sent, Being They Needed More Supplies. Splitting Off Into Smaller Groups Everyone Headed Into Different Houses To Search. Daryl And Carol Ended Up Paired Together, Like Usual They Did A Quick Sweep To Make Sure There Were No Walkers Before Scavenging The Supplies The House Had. Carol Looked Through The Kitchen While Daryl Headed Over To A Door That Led To The Basement. Slowly Opening The Door, He Readied His Crossbow In Case Any Unwanted Guests Were Down There. Pausing A Few Minutes Before Turning His Flashlight On And Walking Down The Steps That Creaked With...
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...Enter Diplodocus, a man, in his 20s, bald, well-defined musculature, and introspective to an extreme. Diplodocus wasn’t a single, coherent identity; rather, he was conglomeration of whatever his experience exposed him to, as he adapted to it, struggling to put on an identity he could call home. But at his core was a man seeking for the truth, an observant man who saw things others didn’t, a man who had a special ability. Here we meet Diplodocus at work, in the privacy of his own thoughts. Say hello, he just might hear you. There was always something a little off about him; off-putting in a way that had you scratching your head. You were never quite sure if you were reading too much into it. Sometimes you were able to ignore it, but there was...
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...Katrina My family and I were living in New Orleans at the time and it was less than 24 hours before the hurricane hit. You could hardly tell though, the weather was beautiful outside. The sun was out and there wasn’t a single cloud in sight. So my friend and I went to Seven Eleven to grab some junk food we could take to the shelter with us before the storm hit. As I walked into the store, I couldn’t help but notice a suspicious looking guy standing over by the Slurpee machines. He gave me the most intimidating look and stared at me for a good minute. That’s when I got the feeling that something wasn’t right. Something really bad was about to happen. I grabbed my friend and insisted that we leave . I told her how the guy was about to do something but she figured I was just being paranoid, and so she just continued to look for junk food. I looked over to see if the guy was still standing there but he was gone. All of a sudden I hear people screaming. I look over to see an man pointing a gun at the cashier and another guy waving a gun at the customers. My heart fell into my stomach. I grabbed my friend and ran to hide in the next aisle. I pulled out my phone and started to dial 911, but right then and there, the guy spotted me. I froze in fear as he came toward me with his gun. He pointed the gun at me. I knew that was the moment my life was going to end. All of a sudden, loud sirens began to go off throughout the whole town. They were warning sirens for Hurricane Katrina. The gunman...
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...All this leading up to one pull of a trigger, sending a message to your brain that tells you you’ll be a hunter for the rest of your life. This image was a very important part of my life. My brother started hunting when he was around 12 or 13 years old with my dad and I was too young to hunt. It all started with only being able to go out with them and watch them shoot deer, rabbits, turkey, and birds. I was always anxious to be able to do it myself because I thought I would be good at it and enjoy it. All I had was a pellet gun, and I was limited to showing my skills shooting by shooting bottle caps from a distance. I loved impressing my dad with my shots and looked forward to showing him how I could hunt when I was of age. Eventually I was 12 years old , got my hunting license, and a permit and that November I was ready for my first hunt. That weekend I went down to my dad’s it was all preparation. We had a checklist to make sure the night before we had everything laid out for us in the morning. We needed gloves, pants, shirts, coats, ammo, flashlight, seats, and of course the rifle. We couldn’t afford to forget anything in the morning because there was no turning back for once we got started. I could hardly sleep that night because I was so excited. My dad woke me up at 4:30 a.m. to get ready and so it began. We got dressed and gathered all the essentials to go hunting. My father and I hopped into his little blue truck which was no stranger to a tornado. It was beat up...
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...my last second decision to join the Navy would haunt me for the rest of my life. Where I went from being an innocent kid that was invincible to the world, to bleeding for my country and losing lives of friends. There were moments that led up to this unforgettable situation. It started with General Quarters, which means to man your pre-assigned battle stations, once at your battle station; you must look for all targets while preparing your weapon. Then after all is said and done, I had a point in my life that changed who I was as a person. I had to learn to cope with taking lives and the loss of my best friends. Each of these moments had a lasting effect on me. This situation happened in the Middle East and is where I felt I lost my youth and changed who I was as a person. The day was calm and peaceful in the Persian Gulf about 12 miles off the coast of Iran, when all of a sudden general quarters sounded. The Captains voiced echoed through the hallways, “Man your battle stations; this is not a drill.” In an instant adrenaline pumped through my body as I made my way to the armory. As I was issued my side arm, Kevlar vest, and helmets, I inspected each to make sure they would server their purpose. Once my gear checked out, I moved to the port side bridge wing, where my M60 awaited my arrival. Arriving to my station I had to become alert to my surroundings and locate all targets. Before fully engaging the target I waited for my orders from my commanding officer (CO). My loader...
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...then says that there was “Fuck him”, “Fuck that”, and “Fuck you`s” said. He claims to have heard “kill him” before rolling down his window and asking “Are you talking about me?” followed by “kill that bitch”. He says that even at this point he did not react until one of the boys leaned down and sat back up with what appeared to be a shotgun and says, “You’re dead bitch” and opens the car door. Dunn says this is the point that he felt threatened and for sure that he was going to be shot. He then reaches over to the glove compartment and gets his gun which he says he shot four times and then four more times as the SUV was pulling out because he was “still...
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...Indrid and Ingrid's sisters boyfriend. While sitting down with Mr. Stevenson as he filled out the school report, Tyler views the security cameras and asked if he always did school security, Mr. Stevenson’s response was, “I used to be a cop, actually.” Mr. Stevenson explains that he quit the force a while back and that at the time it seemed like the best thing. Tyler then proceeded with, why Mr. Stevenson had quit, the response was, “I had a close call one night when I was out patrolling alone. It was a home invasion and the guy was attacking the women who had a young daughter and a gun as well.” Mr. Stevenson explains how he tried his best to talk some sense into the guy but things deteriorate pretty quickly and people got hurt. While Mr. Stevenson was filling out the school report he wrote, “acted too late,” while underlying late as a reference to himself at the time of the home invasion. In this moment, Tyler created a bond with Mr. Stevenson...
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...Personal Narrative- Track Competition The moment of truth was upon me. The official times, this includes whom qualified for finals, for the 400m relay had been posted. My eyes scanned the page for the bold letters that spell ANDERSON. As I ran my finger across the page to where the times were posted, my ears began to shut out all outside noises, leaving me alone with the thump of my heart and the inhale and exhale of my lungs. Both began to increase in speed as my eyes narrowed in on the time. My sophomore year had begun and I wasn't sure whether or not I was going to do track this year. Last year I played football in the fall and soccer in the spring. Not really enjoying it, the decision was made to play " real futbol" (soccer) in the fall, leaving the spring sports season open. My friend kept telling me how fun track was, so I decided to give it a try. As the first meet neared, things were going well. I made it onto the 4x100 team making me the third fastest kid on the team. The other members of the relay were Jason Schmidt, Jeremy Willard and Rodney Schmidt. Jason and Jeremy were both the top dogs and Rodney and I were second from the bottom of the barrel. The 400 relay was my best event. We placed in every meet and even took home some medals as the season progressed. As the track year rounded for the home stretch, we had only three more meets to compete in: the Tiger Invitational, regionals, and state. As the Tiger rolled around, there arose a question...
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...between the years of 1861 and 1865 is one of the most famous and remembered events in the history of our country and perhaps the World. It is also the deadliest war ever fought in the Western Hemisphere with over 600,000 Americans killed over both sides, military and civilian. The War is so well documented, studied and recreated that it is surprising that there is still debate to this day over the causes and reasons for this bloody conflict (“American Civil War”). One of the most popular ways of remembering this critical event is through Reenactments. While many wars from throughout history are reenacted, the American Civil War is by far the most re-enacted war in the US and possibly the world today. This war has been reenacted since before the war ended, but did not become very popular until the second half of the 20th century, with the success of a few large scale commemorative events on important anniversaries starting in the 1960s, such as the reenactment of the First Battle of Manassas/Bull Run on its 125th anniversary in 1986(“American Civil War Reenactment”). These reenactment events are usually open to the public and generally involve fairly large numbers of reenactors organized into reenactor units which spend time in authentically recreated camps if they are not engaged in combat. Most people reenact as a part time hobby for a variety of reasons, such as historical interest or having had ancestors who served in the war. There are different kind of reenactors, with...
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...Dante Greene is your average degenerate except for that he has a life that is broken beyond compare. He lived with his mom, dad, and younger brother Ezra until the incident. His brother was bullied at school but he would never tell a teacher or any person. The stress started to build up to the point of where he slowly started taking pills. He slowly eased up towards the idea of just ending it all until one day a student from his school told a teacher about what he was going through. Word went around the school that he had ratted out the bullies even though he didn’t. The bullies didn’t seem to like that because eye witness reports say that after the final bell rang the next day they took him into their truck and drove towards the old...
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