Country Lovers Essay

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` The literary elements and theme is one of the most critical parts in writing a story as if its not done right, it will be a group of sentences that does not mean anything or if the story is prepare right it will be a meaningful story. It is extremely important to have a strong understanding of these elements when reading a story for a reader might miss the point of the story. I recently read the short story Country Lovers”, by Nadine Gordimer. In this paper I will discuss how the author used the setting, plot, and the characters, to support the forbidden love story theme. “What’s the point”? “Why is this story being told” (DeSilva, B. Scanlan, C Franklin, J 2002 par.17)? Those are questions that the reader should ask themselves when looking for a theme in a story. “Country Lovers” is a story about an interracial love affair set in the 1900’s, which made it forbidden. It was a time with strong racial boundaries and people only associated among others of the same racial and economic status. The story starts with a childhood friendship that grows with age. Paulus was a young white man that fell in love with a young black girl named Thebedi that worked on his family’s farm. An excerpt in the story tells “The first Christmas holidays after he had gone to boarding-school he brought home Thebedi a painted box he had made in his wood work class and secretly gave it to her” (Gordimer 1975). The young lovers sneak around to hide their relationship because the consequences of crossing racial boundaries were not tolerated. The setting helps the reader identify the forbidden love theme of the story. The story mainly takes place in three places the farm house where Paulus lives, the village where Thebedi lives, and the river where the young couple meets. Paulus lived in a big house and came from a wealthy family. In the text Paulus home is described as “
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