BÜCHELER VINCENT

BACHELIER 3

vbucheler@student.ulg.ac.be

Langues et littératures modernes,

Orientation générale

The Legacy of Apartheid: Violence, Racism and Homophobia in Nadine

Gordimer’s The House Gun

Module leader: DELREZ Marc

Module: LGER0080-1 Etudes de textes littéraires anglais modernes IV

Academic Year: 2014-2015

BÜCHELER VINCENT 2

Following the 1994 abolition of racial segregation in South Africa, Nobel laureate

in literature Nadine Gordimer (1923-2014) published The House Gun (1998). Her

previous works, such as The Conservationist (1974), Burger's Daughter (1979) or July's

People (1981), were aimed at denouncing the atrocities of the apartheid regime. The

House Gun in contrast, and similarly to her following post-apartheid novels, is aimed at

addressing the legacy of the old regime. This paper will first focus on post-apartheid

violence, racism and homophobia before exposing Gordimer’s attempts for revised

gender and social politics.

It is first important to note that in None to Accompany Me (1994) Gordimer

reflected upon whether past encumbrances would be discarded or would remain to

threaten the new post-apartheid society, but moreover The House Gun reveals that the

seeds of violence have accompanied them (Medalie, 1999, p.638) and, as will be shown,

violence has remained habitual in South Africa and has become the new norm (Scheper-

Hughes, 2014, p.12). Although the murder of Carl Jespersen seems to be isolated from a

South African perspective, “the South African context is [nevertheless] evoked both by

the narrator and during Duncan’s trial, so that it cannot be ignored” (Medalie, ibid).

Contextualisation occurs in the following passages:

[Duncan] cannot be brought to account for encouragement of robberies,

hijackings and rape so regrettably common in this time of transition from

long eras of repression during which state brutality taught violence to our

people generations before the options of freedom in solving life’s problems

were opened to them.

[….]

The climate of violence bears some serious responsibility for the act the

accused committed, yes; because of this climate, the gun was there. The gun

was lying around in the living-room, like a house cat; on a table, like an

ashtray. But the accused bears no responsibility whatever for the prevalence

of violence; (271)

And in:

Few of the doctor’s patients connected her with one of the cases of violence

they might have read about. There were so many; in a region of the country

BÜCHELER VINCENT 3

where the political ambition of a leader had led to killings that had become

vendettas, fomented by him, a daily tally of deaths was routine as a weather

report; elsewhere, taxi drivers shot one another in rivalry over who would

choose to ride with them, quarrels in discotheques were settled by the final

curse-word of guns. State violence under the old, past regime had habituated

its victims to it. People had forgotten there was any other way. (49-50)

In these excerpts1, Gordimer identifies the source of South Africa’s “common”

violence by placing responsibility on the state which “taught violence to [its] people

generations” and has “habituated its victims to it”. In addition, the author clearly

emphasises the repercussions of a “violent and crime-ridden society” through Duncan’s

decision to kill, as she ascribes the murder to “the climate of violence” present in South

Africa and thereby absolves Duncan of responsibility. She also evidently presents the

ubiquity and prevalence of violence in post-apartheid South Africa, as found in

admissions such as: “there were so many [cases]” and a “daily tally of deaths was

routine as a weather report”, and she adds that violence has become so ingrained that

“[p]eople [have] forgotten there was any other way”. Finally, as suggested by the title,

guns in South Africa have become household items, and it is precisely this domestic

trait of violence which facilitated the perpetration of the crime by Duncan (Medalie,

1999, p.638): “if [the gun] hadn’t been there the man on the sofa would not be under the

ground of the city.” (157)

Furthermore, as the gun has become a necessary transitional item which every

white household needs in order to feel secure (Scheper-Hughes, 2014, p.12), barricades

are also inevitable and are brought to light in: “[a]s [Harold] arrives at the security gates

of the townhouse complex, he presses the electronic gadget which lets them into their

home […]” (34-5) The 21st century gated communities are accounted for the fact that

whites have “become strangers in an uncharted land, living in constant fear of random

acts of violence by intruders from de facto segregated South Africa townships” and they

therefore “barricade themselves in gated communities and arm themselves with a gun in

every room” (Scheper-Hughes, 2014, p.11). Yet, it ought to be mentioned that the gate

is not a contemporary achievement, for it is in itself a legacy of the apartheid regime.

1 Other relevant passages dealing with the ubiquity of violence in South Africa are to be found on pages 226,

267, 270 and 271. They have not been included in this essay because of the length of the excerpts already

chosen.

BÜCHELER VINCENT 4

Indeed, the modern gated estate is the 19th

century laager (Scheper-Hughes, 2014,

p.11). The laager was “an encampment protected by a circle of wagons or armored

vehicles” (Merriam-Webster, 2015, online), and it was the Afrikaner settler’s strategy

against the ever-present black threat. However, guns and ramparts “[provide] no refuge”

(34-5), for South Africa has today become “one of the most violent nations in the

world” (Undoc, 2013, online), where “violence and fear are a way of life” (Scheper-

Hughes, ibid).

Finally, in order to show the recurrent use of violence to protect oneself in South

Africa, a parallel between the cases of athlete Oscar Pistorius2 and Gordimer’s criminal

will be drawn, based on the findings of cultural anthropologist Scheper-Hughes (2014,

p.10). First, both individuals received an education and an affluent upbringing in a gated

white suburban community in South Africa, “which isolated [them] from the larger

society, which is black and poor”. Moreover, both sets of parents―who claim to be

“moderately progressive though disengaged from the social and political realities of

democratic South Africa”―are forced to appear in an unfamiliar public world and to

confront a son who has become a stranger to them. Oscar Pistorius and Duncan were

tried by black judges and their sanity was questioned, for they underwent a psychiatric

examination that showed no evidence of mental incompetence. Similarly to Duncan’s

court proceedings, the prosecution in Pistorius’ case claimed that the crime was

accounted for “jealous rage”, and the “handy” nature of the gun was condemned. When

the final decision was announced, they shared the same outcome: guilty of murder

without premeditation and a five-year sentence3. Finally, it is almost without any doubt

that Duncan and Pistorius would have “ended up on the gallows” if the death penalty

had not been abolished in 1994. In this transitional period of South African

reconciliation, it can be asserted that these cases were “[judged] with reason and justice

tempered by mercy and compassion” for both judges acknowledged the “loss that could

never be undone” but remembered that it was necessary that:

[t]he State [keep] in mind the philosophy of punishment as rehabilitation of

an individual, not as condemnation of the putative representative of

2 In the early hours of Valentine’s Day in 2013, paralympic champion Oscar Pistorius turned himself into the

police after killing his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp (Scheper-Hughes, 2014, p.10). 3 In The House Gun, Duncan is officially condemned to seven years of imprisonment but he is assured by his

advocate, Motsamai, that he will most likely only serve five years in prison. Evidence can notably be found in

“Duncan won’t serve the full term. Definitely not. Good behaviour, studies and so on […]” (275) could lead the

criminal to only serve “five years” (279).

BÜCHELER VINCENT 5

society’s present ills whose punishment therefore must be harsh and heavy

enough to deal with collective guilt. (The House Gun, 272)

In this excerpt, and similarly to the words used by Pistorius’ judge, Gordimer evokes

the language of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC)4 as she

tries to “achieve balance based on proportionality” (Scheper-Hughes, 2014, p.12). The

author advocates a sentence which is “commensurate with the wrong-doing of the

individual […]”, “[not] dependent upon the convicted person’s social or sexual morals”

and “which is just both to the victim and the accused” (272).

To conclude, as expressed in the following passage:

I’ve found out that you think it’s a discovery, it’s something that’s come to

you that has never been known before. But it’s always been there, it’s been

discovered again and again, forever. Again and again, what Odysseus did,

and what Homer, whoever he was, knew. Violence is a repetition we don’t

seem able to break; (294)

Gordimer clearly asserts that violence is atavistic5. “[I]t’s always been there, it’s been

discovered again and again, forever. Again and again,” and it “is a repetition we don’t

seem able to break”. In other words, violence is like “a creature with an instinct to

survive and a low cunning of its own” (Medalie, 1999, p.639). Moreover, neither

Pistorius nor Duncan is actually physically threatened by a black outsider. The

ominousness comes from within themselves and their acquisition of means of violence

drives them to act completely against their own nature (The House Gun, 162). In fact,

notwithstanding the textual evidence of Duncan’s “sense of moral responsibility,

Christian and Humanist [education]” (235), the prevalence of violence that has become

the norm in South Africa leads him to commit the unconceivable: “the taking of another

life” (261). Furthermore, it can be argued that the killing of another person is an attempt

4 Truth and Reconciliation Commission, South Africa (TRC), is a court-like body established by the post-

apartheid South African government in 1995 to help heal the country and bring about a reconciliation of its

people by uncovering the truth about human rights violations that had occurred during the period of apartheid

(Truth and Reconciliation Commission, South Africa (TRC), 2010, online). 5 The atavistic nature of violence is the explanation to the failure of the covenant made between the Lindgards

couple and their son. Although the couple had promised their son to always “protect” him, they soon realise

preventing violence is not achievable in the crime-ridden South African system.

BÜCHELER VINCENT 6

at destroying the prominent natural evil “that plagues [our] existence” (292), for the

enemy is us6: “[n]ous sommes tous créatures mêlées d’amour et du mal”

7 (183).

Secondly, the reoccurrence of Motsamai―the black lawyer―in Gordimer’s later

novel, The Pickup (2001), is significant. The authority and the symbolism attached to

the black character’s reappearance will be analysed along with his relationship with

Duncan’s parents.

To begin with, when the Lindgards are informed of their son being defended by a

black advocate, the self-styled liberal couple is shocked, for both spouses are “pervaded

with unconscious racism” (Stobie, 2007, p. 65). This mistrust towards Motsamai is

notably documented in:

They had heard it at once, in the shock of the name; the choice of a black

man. [Claudia is] not one of those doctors who touch black skin

indiscriminately along with white, in their work, but retain liberal prejudices

against the intellectual capacities of blacks. Yet she is questioning, and he

is; in the muck in which they are stewing now, where murder is done, old

prejudices still writhe to the surface. (33)

What Claudia and Harald are “questioning” is Motsamai’s exact competence, as

found in the following utterance: “[i]s he really a competent lawyer? We could get

someone else. Anyone.” (9) It is therefore evident that anybody other than a black

advocate would better suit the Lindgards’ views. Yet, they somehow reject the racist

label by resorting to so-called facts, as encountered in: “due to racial prejudice in the old

regimes, black lawyers have had far less experience than white lawyers, and experience

is what counts.” (38) Finally, in spite of their adamant objection towards a black

defence for their son, the parents come to see in the person of Motsamai some sort of

6 Walt Kelly in her Pogo comic strip, “we have met the enemy and he is us” (Scheper-Hughes, 2014, p.8)

7 The overall message delivered by Gordimer therefore seems to be pessimistic, for violence is intrinsic to the

human nature; human beings are innately aggressive. And it is precisely this aggressive nature that prevents the

building of a new system (i.e. more democratic). Nevertheless, a more constructive and positive understanding is

to be found on page 142. Quoting a passage from Hermann Broch’s The Sleepwalkers (1931), Gordimer suggests

that “the transition from any value system to a new one must pass through that zero-point of atomic dissolution,

must take its way through a generation destitute of any connection with either the old of the new system, a

generation whose very detachment, whose almost insane indifference to the suffering of others, whose state of

denudation of values proves an ethical and so an historical justification for the ruthless rejection […] of all that is

humane…” This transitional and dehumanised generation, who lives in a chaotic system, seems to be the only

one able to see “the rising glare of freedom, the light that flares out over the deepest darkness, and only over the

deepest darkness..." Thus, it appears that this chaotic system is necessary for the transition to democracy to take

place.

BÜCHELER VINCENT 7

salvation, as found in: “[c]ould be an advantage. If there’s one of the black judges on

the bench.” (33) The Lindgards―however ashamed of it (33)―perpetuate the attitude

of black submission being beneficial to white people. Indeed, having a black advocate

for their son’s plea was socially useful as it could have lessened Duncan’s sentence; and

as was already mentioned earlier, the judge’s sentence was in fact particularly lenient8.

Finally, in order to account for the couple’s discrimination, it can be asserted that racism

towards the black character of Motsamai from part of the white community shows the

melancholy of the lost white supremacy over black people, for the Lindgards’ distrust

results from the “racial anguish at the loss of power” (Dalia, 2004, p.54). In fact, in The

House Gun, blacks are no longer dependent upon white people; on the contrary, the

latter depend upon the former and this reversed dependence is noticeably found in the

following passages: “Motsamai, the stranger from the Other Side9 of the divided past.

They are in his pink-palmed black hands [,]”(86) and in: “one of those kept-apart

strangers from the Other Side has come across and they are dependent on him. The

black man will act, speak for them. They have become those who cannot speak, act, for

themselves.” (89)

Furthermore, not only does this new dependence upon Motsamai irritate the

liberal couple, but so does his exceptional newfound access to power (33). In fact, the

description of the black lawyer wearing an “elegant” (18) and “particularly well cut”

suit (244) sitting in a “majestic maroon-leather upholstered chair” (59) in a “well-

appointed office” (39) suggests “ostentation and vanity” (Diala, 2004, p.53). The critic

adds that, contrasting with Motsamai’s activist background and detention time (37), his

acquisition of a nouveau riche mansion of his Boer predecessors “expresses envy of the

well-appointed beneficiaries of the apartheid regime” (ibid), and this vanity is perceived

by the Lindgards as arrogance. Claudia regards Motsamai as “full of himself [and]

[s]omehow arrogant” (43), and Duncan describes him as “[…] a bit of a pompous old

bastard, but [who’s] alright” (62). Gordimer accentuates Motsamai’s new place in a

world of power and wealth to which he was previously not entitled by stressing his

acting role in society. Time and time again, Motsamai is described as a “dramaturge”

8 This assertion is particularly interesting because it makes us wonder to what extent the lenient sentence of

Duncan is linked to his defence by a black advocate. If Duncan had been defended by a white lawyer, would his

sentence still have been the same? 9 In The House Gun, the notion of “the Other Side” is used repeatedly by the author to lay emphasis on alterity.

The other side is what a given community ignores or rejects from another community. The Lindgards, who

embody the white community, now depend upon the other side of privilege: the black community; and this shift

from the side of privilege to the other side of privilege is startling and embarrassing to the Lindgards.

BÜCHELER VINCENT 8

(98) who reduces justice to performance (Diala, 2004, p. 54). In short, it therefore seems

that Gordimer’s appraisal of Motsamai―who embodies “the emergent black elite in

South Africa”―is pessimistic, for “the lure of the power [and wealth] that hypnotized

his Boer predecessors remains an irresistible temptation to their African successor [and]

tends to perpetuate the specter of the apartheid state” (Diala, 2004, p.54).

Yet, contrasting with the pessimistic appraisal of Motsamai, a more positive

characterisation is found, for it can be argued that the black lawyer embodies a Nelson

Mandela-like figure10

. Among the traits shared by Motsamai and Nelson Mandela, the

first and most obvious one is their skin colour: a dark complexion. Moreover, in spite of

their uneducated familial background, they managed to earn graduate degrees in Law

and they practised in established law firms (Nelson, 2014, online), and their political

activity led them to be arrested and imprisoned (House 37). Finally, similarly to

Mandela who was perceived by whites and blacks to be the only one able to absolve the

sin of apartheid11

, Motsamai is acknowledged as the messiah by the Lindgards: the only

one able to defend their son and the “most capable individual available” (30).

Motsamai’s salvatory function is also found in the following excerpt: “Motsamai is

providential… a star was needed and he appeared in our constellation… He’s what the

popular press would term much sought-after.” (38) As shown, Motsamai is given a

“towering shadow of a deity […]” (Diala, 2004, p. 41). However, a major divergence

between Motsamai and Nelson Mandela ought to be pointed out. On the South African

societal level, Mandela embodied the democratic spirit and the triumph over apartheid

(Diala, ibid), while Motsamai’s behaviour, as previously demonstrated, is threatening

and endangers the stability of South African post-apartheid democracy.

Not only does Gordimer then show the reminiscence of white racism in post-

apartheid South Africa, but she also somehow legitimates the post-apartheid whites’

resistance to the emergent black elite in South Africa, epitomised by Motsamai, for the

lawyer’s newfound access to power and arrogant behaviour threaten the stability of

democratic principles.

10 According to critic Diala (2005, pp. 41-56), Gordimer’s characterisation of Motsamai as a Nelson Mandela-

like figure is accounted for by the author’s veneration for Nelson Mandela, who is, for many, the worldwide icon

of the process of reconciliation. 11

The salvatory power of Mandela is suggested in “Letter from Johannesburg” written by Nadine Gordimer in

1960 and addressed to Nelson Mandela.

BÜCHELER VINCENT 9

Finally, Gordimer’s choice of characterising most of the individuals in The House

Gun as being homosexual and bisexual is not trivial. In doing so, as will be evidenced,

the author challenges the established South African patriarchalism and colonialism,

whose social systems associated homosexuality with deviance12

(Hawley, 1996, p.112).

Yet, it ought to be mentioned that although Gordimer’s purpose is to illustrate the

necessity for change in South Africa, her representation of bisexuality in The House

Gun is riven with contradictions: now denounced and now celebrated.

First, intolerance towards sexual liberation is found with Duncan’s father, who, in

an attempt to rationally explain the crime committed by his son, attributes it to the

“mindless vacillation attached to bisexuals” (Stobie, 2007, p.70). He adds that

“apparently, [Duncan] did not know what he wanted to be” (121) and it is precisely this

instability that led his son to “[gratify] his heart’s deepest desire” to murder (71). In

addition, by calling a psychiatrist to testify in court, Motsamai questions Duncan’s

sanity13

, and the deviant nature of bisexuality is expressed by the doctor in:

―Cumulative provocation reaching its climax in the subject’s total loss of

control.―

―Lindgard is a man with a bisexual nature. That in itself is a source of

personality conflict. (229)

As shown in this excerpt, bisexuality is associated with a “total loss of control”

and a “personality conflict”, which is reminiscent of patriarchal and colonialist views.

More examples of this purported deviation from normality are found in the judge’s

moral conclusion, in which not only homosexuality, but also the open and shared sexual

relationships within the communal house are perceived as a “transgression of […]

acceptable standards” (271). With his utterance, the prosecutor attempted to suggest “a

continuum of transgression, ranging from murder to homosexuality, and to punish for

all of it” (Medalie, 1999, p.641) and precisely, it is not insignificant that the judge

condemns Duncan to serve seven years of imprisonment for it was the period of

incarceration for convicted homosexuals during the apartheid regime (BBC NEWS,

12

During the apartheid years in South Africa (1948-1994), homosexuality was legislatively criminalized.

Homosexuals were considered “seriously mentally ill” and, in an attempt at curing them―converting them to

heterosexuals― they were forced to undergo psychiatric and biological treatments: aversion therapy or chemical

castration (Kaplan, 1996, pp.1415-16) and (BBC NEWS, 1998, online). 13

The deviant nature of Duncan is emphasised by the fact that Motsamai calls a psychiatrist―an expert trained

“to deal with illness”―rather than a psychologist―“an academically trained, and potentially more neutral,

expert in human behaviour in context” (Stobie, 2007, p.70).

BÜCHELER VINCENT 10

1998, online). Furthermore, uneasiness towards newly gained sexual liberation in the

post-apartheid democratic regime finds a focus in the character of Carl Jespersen, for he

is depicted by the popular attributes ascribed to homosexuality and bisexuality: an

outsider, whose sexual behaviour goes “beyond the limits”, a disrupter of stability

because of his excessive sexual appetite and desire, and a deceiver, for quickly tiring his

conquests (Eadie, cited by Stobie, 2007, p.69). Thus, Carl Jespersen seems to serve as

the embodiment of the lack of restraint that is typical of the post-apartheid generation

(Mars-Jones, cited by Stobie, 2007, pp.69-70). Finally, in the following utterance:

“[w]ho really can follow these bisexual variations” (124), the omission of the question

mark stresses the novelty of homosexuality as being officially accepted by the civil

authority and the position of the adverb, preceding the modal auxiliary, lays emphasis

on rareness along with scandalousness (Stobie, 2007, p.67).

From another perspective, sexual liberation, and more accurately bisexuality,

rather than being condemned, appears to be celebrated. Indeed, Khulu Dladla’s

description of Duncan as being an “interesting guy” with whom “you can work out

ideas […], politics, art, music, God―no frontiers[,]―” (222) opposes the previous

pathological nature of bisexuality. Here, it is seen as a “valuable characteristic” that

enables Duncan to “interact freely” with anyone on any topics (Stobie, 2007, p.71).

Moreover, Gordimer associates homosexuality and bisexuality with liberation from the

dull ordinary life by the youth culture, who, for being a new generation, has a more

relaxed attitude both to race and sexual behaviour. Evidence can be found in admissions

such as: “[i]n that house, as the saying goes: no problem, black and white, brothers in

bed together” (160). From the perspective of Duncan’s generation, “the real liberation”

(120) is the permeability of racial and sexual boundaries, as it is considered “as

superiority beyond the ordinary humdrum.” (120) It can therefore be alleged that the

author, through her characters, provides “a lens through which [Duncan’s] parents and

the readers may reconceptualize differences and relationships” (Däumer, cited by

Stobie, 2007, p.70), so as to test the reader’s capacity to interpret beyond binary

categories in gender (Stobie, 2007, p.65) and depart from heteronormativity (De Kock,

2001, p.264).

BÜCHELER VINCENT 11

Finally, new patterns of family structures are put forward in The House Gun. In

fact, the shared house exemplifies a more progressive society in terms of its occupants:

an unconventional group which is “mostly homosexual, but not entirely so; mostly

white, but including one black man; mostly male, but including one woman; mostly

South African, but including one foreigner” (Medalie, cited by Stobie, 2007, p.66). The

house is “a place where people just turn up [to] eat together at night [,] a sort of family.

Better than a traditional and nuclear family, a lot of friendship and trust between

[them]” (208). The emphasis laid on a “family of choice” rather than a “family of

blood” (Stobie, 2007, pp.71-2) is made even more explicit in the Lindgards’ acceptance

of Natalie’s child, in spite of his unknown parentage (Clingman, 2000, p.146)14

.

In other words, notwithstanding the reminiscence of patriarchal and colonialist

views to be found in The House Gun and Gordimer’s ambivalent interpretation of

bisexuality, it can be argued that the author advocates tolerance towards sexual and

racial minorities through the new kind of family unit which, in a microcosmic way,

enacts the democratic South African society in which there is no discrimination on the

basis of race, gender or sexual orientation.

To conclude, departing from a central incident being a murder which bears no

apparent political ramifications to former segregated South Africa, the ‘national anti-

apartheid spokesperson’, in her 1994 novel The House Gun, succeeds in addressing the

legacy of the apartheid regime in democratic South Africa and in exploring individual

and collective responsibility in a crime-ridden society. As shown, although the post-

apartheid constitution has become more progressive in terms of allowing more racial,

sexual and gender freedom to its citizens, they are nevertheless faced with a recalcitrant

society in which “old prejudices still writhe to the surface” (33). Colonialist, patriarchal

and binarist views have become intrinsic to the South African people because for more

than forty-five years, these ideologies were norms. In The House Gun, Nadine Gordimer

denounces not only the white’s unconscious racism, which is nourished by an

unwillingness to accept their fall from power and grace simultaneously, but also the

vanity of black newcomers into power, which threatens the stability of democracy. The

author also advocates the essentialness of the absence of discrimination based on

14

However, it is worth mentioning that this new experimental form of family unit may still be “callous and

deadly” (Stobie, 2007, p.72) as justified by the choice of the author to pair bisexuality with criminality, in the

form of murder.

BÜCHELER VINCENT 12

gender, race and sexual preferences and the necessary regulation of firearms, if a viable

and stable democracy, in the continuum of the one devised by Nelson Mandela, is to be

achieved.

BÜCHELER VINCENT 13

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