The Moment Before The Gun Went Off Irony
Suzanna Hanafy
3/3/13
Honors English 9
Irony in Gordimer’s two stories Gordimer used irony in both stories “The Moment Before the Gun Went Off” and “Once Upon a Time”. Irony played an essential role in these short stories and coincidentally, they both ended with a similar conclusion, the death of a family member. Moreover, both stories revealed Gordimer’s visions of post-apartheid. Sadly, due to Gordimer's description of South African apartheid, the South African government censored her books. In “Once Upon a Time”, irony was extremely pronounced, however, in “The Moment Before the Gun Went Off”, it was vague.
The French proverb “One meets his destiny often in the road he takes to avoid it” described the irony in the story “Once Upon
a Time”. Gordimer displayed irony as the family members tried to protect themselves from the black. The family members attached burglar bars to the doors and windows of the house and installed an alarm for protection. Nevertheless, all these precautions did not provide safety. On the other hand, the immensely taken precautions caused the death of their son, as he was imitating the Prince in his fairy tale, the security device trapped him. This incident was ironic, as the family members spent almost all of their money buying security devices to assure their safety. However, it did not end up as everyone wished. “It is a mistake to try to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time.”-Sir Winston Churchill
The second short story, "The Moment Before the Gun Went Off", included two examples of irony. Gordimer's goal in this short story was to link the two races as victims of the inequalities of apartheid. In the story, the author criticized the blacks even though the author was anti-apartheid. For instance, on page 115, in the second paragraph "The young wife is pregnant (of course)." In this example, the author was criticizing how the black had a tendency of having many kids. Thus, it was quite ironic that she criticized the black yet; she disliked the apartheid in South Africa.
The second example of irony was in the second paragraph of pg. 117 and it left us filled with many questions. "The farmer almost laughing with relief." The fact that Marais laughed with relief when the gun fired showed irony as in South Africa it was impossible to have a son of the opposite race; thus, when he died he would finally avoid the truth to become uncovered. Thus, it was ironic as it contradicted everything he was saying throughout the story. It displayed the enormous separation between the white and black. Thus, the irony was between his response to the death of his son and his real reaction when the gun fired. Gordimer used irony in both her stories to explain life in South Africa apartheid. In "Once Upon a Time", Gordimer displayed the huge separation and unfairness between the black and white. Thus, the white feared the blacks' rebellion; therefore, they over protected themselves. Moreover, the story "The Moment Before the Gun Went Off" demonstrated the separation between the two races as the narrator, Marais, laughed in relief because the truth would not be uncovered.
3/3/13
Honors English 9
Irony in Gordimer’s two stories Gordimer used irony in both stories “The Moment Before the Gun Went Off” and “Once Upon a Time”. Irony played an essential role in these short stories and coincidentally, they both ended with a similar conclusion, the death of a family member. Moreover, both stories revealed Gordimer’s visions of post-apartheid. Sadly, due to Gordimer's description of South African apartheid, the South African government censored her books. In “Once Upon a Time”, irony was extremely pronounced, however, in “The Moment Before the Gun Went Off”, it was vague.
The French proverb “One meets his destiny often in the road he takes to avoid it” described the irony in the story “Once Upon
a Time”. Gordimer displayed irony as the family members tried to protect themselves from the black. The family members attached burglar bars to the doors and windows of the house and installed an alarm for protection. Nevertheless, all these precautions did not provide safety. On the other hand, the immensely taken precautions caused the death of their son, as he was imitating the Prince in his fairy tale, the security device trapped him. This incident was ironic, as the family members spent almost all of their money buying security devices to assure their safety. However, it did not end up as everyone wished. “It is a mistake to try to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time.”-Sir Winston Churchill
The second short story, "The Moment Before the Gun Went Off", included two examples of irony. Gordimer's goal in this short story was to link the two races as victims of the inequalities of apartheid. In the story, the author criticized the blacks even though the author was anti-apartheid. For instance, on page 115, in the second paragraph "The young wife is pregnant (of course)." In this example, the author was criticizing how the black had a tendency of having many kids. Thus, it was quite ironic that she criticized the black yet; she disliked the apartheid in South Africa.
The second example of irony was in the second paragraph of pg. 117 and it left us filled with many questions. "The farmer almost laughing with relief." The fact that Marais laughed with relief when the gun fired showed irony as in South Africa it was impossible to have a son of the opposite race; thus, when he died he would finally avoid the truth to become uncovered. Thus, it was ironic as it contradicted everything he was saying throughout the story. It displayed the enormous separation between the white and black. Thus, the irony was between his response to the death of his son and his real reaction when the gun fired. Gordimer used irony in both her stories to explain life in South Africa apartheid. In "Once Upon a Time", Gordimer displayed the huge separation and unfairness between the black and white. Thus, the white feared the blacks' rebellion; therefore, they over protected themselves. Moreover, the story "The Moment Before the Gun Went Off" demonstrated the separation between the two races as the narrator, Marais, laughed in relief because the truth would not be uncovered.