STORY
#1 & 2 From Chart - What Happened?:
Marais Van der Vyver left his house at three in the afternoon to cull a buck from the family of kudu4 he protects in the bush areas of his farm. He is interested in wildlife and sees it as the farmers' sacred duty to raise game as well as cattle. As usual, he called at his shed workshop to pick up Lucas, a twenty-year-old farmhand who had shown mechanical aptitude and whom Van der Vyver himself had taught to maintain tractors and other farm machinery.
He hooted, and Lucas followed the familiar routine, jumping onto the back of the truck. He liked to travel standing up there, spotting game before his employer did. He would lean forward, braced against the cab below him.
Van der Vyver had a rifle and .300 ammunition beside him in the cab. The rifle was one of his father's, because his own was at the gunsmith's in town. Since his father died (Beetge's sergeant wrote "passed on") no one had used the rifle and so when he took it from a cupboard he was sure it was not loaded. His father had never allowed a loaded gun in the house; he himself had been taught since childhood never to ride with a loaded weapon in a vehicle. But this gun was loaded. On a dirt track, Lucas thumped his fist on the cab roof three times to signal: look left.
Having seen the white-ripple-marked flank of a kudu, and its fine horns raking through disguising bush, Van der Vyver drove rather fast over a pot-hole. The jolt fired the rifle. Upright, it was pointing straight through the cab roof at the head of Lucas. The bullet pierced the roof and entered Lucas's brain by way of his
Throat. (363-62).
#2: The moment before the gun went off was a moment of high excitement shared through the roof of the cab, as the bullet was to pass, between the young black man outside and the white farmer inside the vehicle. There were such moments, without explanation, between them, although often around the farm the farmer would pass the young man without returning a greeting, as if he did not recognize him.
When the bullet went off what Van der Vyver saw was the kudu stumble in fright at the report and gallop away. Then he heard the thud behind him, and past the window saw the young man fall out of the vehicle. He was sure he had leapt up and toppled- in fright, like the buck. The farmer was almost laughing with relief, ready to tease, as he opened his door, it did not seem possible that a a bullet passing through the roof could have done harm.
The young man did not laugh with him at his own fright. The a farmer carried him in his arms, to the truck. He was sure, sure he could not be dead. But the young black man's blood was all over the farmer's clothes, soaking against his flesh as he drove.
#3 From Chart:
There will be an inquiry; there had better be, to stop the assumption of yet another case of brutality against farm workers, although there's nothing in doubt-an accident, and all the facts fully admitted by Van der Vyver. He made a statement when he arrived at the police station with the dead man in his bakkie. Captain Beetge knows him well, of course; he gave him brandy. He was shaking, this big, calm, clever son of Willem Van der Vyver, who inherited the old man's best farm. The black was stone dead, nothing to be done for him.
Beetge will not tell anyone that after the brandy Van der Vyver wept. He sobbed, snot running onto his hands, like a dirty kid. The Captain was ashamed, for him, and walked out to give him a chance to recover himself (361).
#4 From Chart:
Van der Vyver is quoted saying he is "terribly shocked," he will "look after the wife and children,".
... "He was my friend, I always took him hunting with me." Those city and
overseas people don't know it's true: farmers usually have one particular black boy they like to take along with them in the lands; you could call it a kind of friend, yes, friends are not only your own white people, like yourself, you take into your house, pray with in church and work with ... (360).
It is obvious from the quality and fittings of the coffin that the farmer has provided money for the funeral. And an elaborate funeral means a great deal to blacks; look how they will deprive themselves of the little they have, in their lifetime, keeping up payments to a burial society so they won't go in boxwood to an unmarked grave. (362-363).
#5 From Chart:
The dead man's mother is a woman who can't be more than in her late thirties (they start bearing children at puberty) but she is heavily mature in a black dress between her own parents, who were already working for old Van der Vyver when Marais, like their Daughter, was a child. The parents hold her as if she were a prisoner or a crazy woman to be restrained. But she says nothing, does nothing. She does not look up; she does not look at Van der Vyver, whose gun went off in the truck, she stares at the grave.
Nothing will make her look up; there need be no fear that she will look up; at him. His wife, Alida, is beside him (363-364).
He, too, stares at the grave. The dead man's mother and he stare at the grave in communication like that between the black man outside and the white man inside the cab the moment before the gun went off (364).
#6 What is Ironic about the situation?
How could they know what they do not know. Anything. The young black callously shot through the negligence of the white man was not the farmer's boy; he was his son (365).
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March the number of questions, to the paragraphs above and answer the questions below in 3-4 sentences.
1. Shares a moment of "high excitement with the young black man, as he has before.
While reading the story: What do you think the action tells us about the Farmer & Apartheid before you finish the story? (Why does Van der Vyver react in this way?)
After reading the story: Irony: What do you think the action tells us about the Farmer & Apartheid after you have finished the story? (Why does Van der Vyver react in this way?)
2. Passes the young man "without returning a greeting, as if he did not recognize him"
While reading the story: What do you think the action tells us about the Farmer & Apartheid before you finish the story? (Why does Van der Vyver react in this way?)
After reading the story: Irony: What do you think the action tells us about the Farmer & Apartheid after you have finished the story? (Why does Van der Vyver react in this way?)
3. Cries in the office of Captain Beetge
While reading the story: What do you think the action tells us about the Farmer & Apartheid before you finish the story? (Why does Van der Vyver react in this way?)
After reading the story: Irony: What do you think the action tells us about the Farmer & Apartheid after you have finished the story? (Why does Van der Vyver react in this way?)
4. Tells the paper he will take care of the wife and children and that the boy "was my friend, I always
While reading the story: What do you think the action tells us about the Farmer & Apartheid before you finish the story? (Why does Van der Vyver react in this way?)
After reading the story: Irony: What do you think the action tells us about the Farmer & Apartheid after you have finished the story? (Why does Van der Vyver react in this way?)
5. Stares at the grave, as the dead man's mother does.
While reading the story: What do you think the action tells us about the Farmer & Apartheid before you finish the story? (Why does Van der Vyver react in this way?)
After reading the story: Irony: What do you think the action tells us about the Farmer & Apartheid after you have finished the story? (Why does Van der Vyver react in this way?)
6. What is Ironic about Van der Vyver’s actions.?
1. While reading the story: The farmer's high excitement with the young black man suggests that there may be some level of friendship or camaraderie between them, despite the racial and social barriers imposed by apartheid. It shows that the farmer sees the young man as more than just a farmhand.
After reading the story: The irony is that the young black man who was shot and killed in the accident turns out to be the farmer's own son. This reveals the deep-seated hypocrisy and contradictions of the apartheid system, where the farmer could have a close relationship with a black person but still perpetuate the system of racial segregation and inequality.
2. While reading the story: The farmer's disregard for the young man and failure to acknowledge him could be seen as a reflection of the racial hierarchy of apartheid, where white people often ignored or rejected interactions with black individuals.
After reading the story: The irony lies in the fact that the young man who the farmer didn't recognize or greet was actually his own son. This highlights the absurdity and dehumanization caused by the apartheid system, where families could be torn apart and relationships strained due to racial divisions.
3. While reading the story: The farmer's tears in Captain Beetge's office could suggest feelings of genuine grief and remorse for the young man's death.
After reading the story: The irony is that while the farmer may be genuinely distraught over the death of the young man, he is still complicit in perpetuating the system of apartheid that devalues and dehumanizes black lives. His tears and sorrow cannot absolve him of his role in maintaining the oppressive system that led to his son's death.
4. While reading the story: The farmer's statement to the paper about taking care of the wife and children and considering the young man his friend could demonstrate a sense of responsibility and compassion towards the young man's family.
After reading the story: The irony is that while the farmer may feel a sense of responsibility towards the young man's family, his actions as a white farmer in a racially segregated society contribute to the systemic and structural inequalities that perpetuate the suffering and hardships faced by black families. His words of care are hollow in the context of the larger system of apartheid.
5. While reading the story: The farmer staring at the grave, alongside the dead man's mother, could suggest a shared sense of grief and loss.
After reading the story: The irony is that the farmer and the dead man's mother are both trapped within the confines of the apartheid system, which not only took the young man's life but also perpetuates the separation and division between white and black communities. Their shared grief highlights the tragic consequences of the racial divide imposed by apartheid.
6. The irony of Van der Vyver's actions lies in the contradictions between his personal emotions and his support for the apartheid system. He genuinely grieves for the death of the young black man, who turns out to be his own son, but he still upholds and benefits from a system that devalues black lives and perpetuates inequality. His actions and emotions reveal the deep-rooted contradictions and hypocrisy of those who both benefit from and suffer under apartheid.