Six Feet of the Country

The protagonist is nameless, but the story is told from a white viewpoint in apartheid South Africa. This allows Gordimer to explore the ramifications, and especially the nuances, of white apathy toward the Black population. The narrator is in a uniquely mediated position—though he feels definite disgust for apartheid authorities and even disdains apartheid itself, his narration betrays his unconscious attitude that he believes he is still “superior” to his Black employees. By so exposing the protagonist’s layered consciousness, Gordimer underscores how prejudice can exist even without being overt or outright hostile. The narrative point of view also dramatizes the white protagonist’s increasing sense of powerlessness, which creates irony insofar as readers might initially assume that a white character would be categorically magisterial in the context of South African apartheid. As a white person, the protagonist does exercise some power when it comes to having the body exhumed, but he is also powerless to find the actual body when it goes missing. As the reader witnesses the protagonist’s helplessness against these injustices, the dilemma emphasizes the formidable nature of the corrupt political system; though South Africa was never ruled by a dictator, elements of apartheid were essentially totalitarian.