Six Feet Of The Country By Nadine Gordimer Summary -

Below is a detailed summary and analysis of the plot, characters, and major themes of the story.

The story begins by introducing the unnamed narrator and his wife, Lerice. Tired of their strained marriage and the racial tensions of Johannesburg, they have purchased a small farm ten miles outside the city. The narrator, a partner in a travel agency, believes they have escaped the city’s discord and established a peaceful, almost feudal, existence where their black workers “have nothing much to fear.” Lerice, a former actress, has thrown herself into the running of the farm, creating a domestic and professional distance between them.

"Six Feet of the Country" is a significant work in Nadine Gordimer's oeuvre, showcasing her skill as a storyteller and her commitment to social justice. The story has been widely anthologized and studied, serving as a powerful introduction to Gordimer's work and the complexities of South African society.

Gordimer masterfully modulates the of the story. It begins with a satirical and almost lighthearted tone as the narrator describes his and Lerice's foibles and the pretensions of their city friends. This tone slowly darkens as the dead body enters the narrative. By the end, the tone has shifted to one of weary, tragic resignation. This tonal shift mirrors the narrator's journey from complacency to a new, painful awareness, allowing the reader to feel the full weight of the story's devastating conclusion. six feet of the country by nadine gordimer summary

The authorities quickly remove the body for a state autopsy and burial in a pauper's grave. Petrus and his family are devastated. In apartheid South Africa, indigenous African cultural traditions place immense spiritual value on proper burial rites and honoring ancestors.

Symbolizes South Africa as a whole—a beautiful land divided by ownership, exploitation, and invisible racial boundaries.

When the body is returned, Petrus asks for help, and the narrator takes a detached role, helping with the funeral logistics rather than offering personal solace. Below is a detailed summary and analysis of

After the funeral, a horrific mistake is discovered: Petrus’s brother was buried in the wrong grave. The body was placed in a grave intended for another person. This incident sparks a profound moral crisis that the white couple refuses to fully face.

The narrator's wife, who is more engaged with the farm and the laborers. While she is not overtly cruel, she, like her husband, is ultimately a part of the white minority controlling the land and the lives of the Black workers.

The body of Paulus is taken to the local morgue, and when his family cannot afford to pay for a funeral, the undertaker suggests they sell one of their goats to cover the costs. This act symbolizes the economic struggles faced by the poor and the devaluation of a poor person's life. The narrator, a partner in a travel agency,

: Our guide through this world is an unnamed white man who is at once privileged and profoundly limited. He is the owner of the farm and a partner in a city travel agency, living a comfortable life that is built upon the very system he thinks he has escaped. His initial sense of "triumph" is based on a delusion: that he can "get it both ways"—enjoy the peace of the country without the moral complexities of the city. He is not a monster; he treats his employees with a paternalistic formality and is even willing to help Petrus. But his worldview is fundamentally blinkered. He thinks of his Black employees as part of the furniture, laments that they are "poor devils," and is shocked by the depth of their cultural need for a proper burial. His final pronouncement—that it was a "complete waste"—is a stunning example of his failure to truly see the grief and dignity of the people around him. He has learned something, but his learning is limited by the very power structures that protect him.

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The narrator attempts to get the money back and locate the correct body, but his efforts are met with bureaucratic walls. The government officials refuse to exhume the mass grave to find one illegal immigrant.

Comprehensive Summary and Analysis of Nadine Gordimer’s "Six Feet of the Country"

“Six Feet of the Country” is not a story of heroism or redemption. It is a story of small, quiet failures: the failure of a boss to see a worker as a brother; the failure of a system to recognize a human need; the failure of a liberal to act when it matters most. Nadine Gordimer does not offer easy answers. She offers a clear, cold, empathetic gaze at the everyday violence of apartheid—a violence that could be committed not by a brute with a whip, but by a well-meaning storekeeper filling out forms.