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Van der Vyver may sometimes walk past his son on the farm and fail to acknowledge him, but there is a bond "shared" between them which others cannot penetrate, a level of enjoyment which exists...
Family: The story depicts complex family relationships, including Van der Vyver’s relationship with his son Lucas and with his wife, Alida.
- Marais Van Der Vyver
- Alida Van Der Vyver
- Lucas
Marais Van der Vyver, the protagonist of the story, is a white SouthAfrican, a farmer who is also a regional Party leader and the Commandant of thelocal security commando. He is genuinely upset when he accidentally shoots andkills one of his Black farmworkers, Lucas, during a hunting trip. He is upsetbecause he has killed a man, but he is also upse...
Alida Van der Vyer is the wife of Marais Van der Vyver. She has threechildren with him: Magnus, Helena, and Karel. She is presented as beingsomewhat concerned with appearances; she dislikes the security fence around thefarmhouse and garden because she believes it "spoils the effect of herartificial stream with its tree-ferns beneath the Jacarandas....
Lucas is a young Black man whom Marais Van der Vyver shoots and kills byaccident. Van der Vyver describes Lucas as his "friend," noting that he was the"one particular black boy" he preferred to take with him when he went hunting.Lucas was twenty years old and had displayed an aptitude for mechanics, as aresult of which Van der Vyver had taught him ...
Throughout most of the story, it appears to readers that Van der Vyver, a white Afrikaner farmer, has killed a Black farmhand named Lucas during a game drive. Only in the last line of the story does Gordimer reveal that Lucas “was not the farmer’s boy; he was his son” (Paragraph 16).
The ironic closing lines reflect on how the newspapers, on seeing Van der Vyver’s face and calling him guilty, will be correct, but for the wrong reason: Lucas was not just a farmhand, but Van der Vyver’s son.
Van der Vyver has a moment of connection with Lucas just before the unfortunate incident, comparable to the one he had with Lucas' mother as they were both gazing at Lucas' burial site. This emphasizes the three of their familial connection.
People also ask
Does van der Vyver have a bond with his son?
What happened between Van der Vyver and Lucas?
Does van der Vyver have a black son?
What is the premise of Van der Vyver?
What does van der Vyver believe?
Who is Marias van der Vyver in the moment before the gun went off?
His observations of Black people at large, especially those who are involved in the anti-apartheid movement, cast them as greedy, loud, and violent. These views are ironic given that Lucas, who Van der Vyver does not mentally acknowledge as part of his family, is in fact his son.
