The Moment Before the Gun Went Off

Marais Van der Vyver is the protagonist of the story. He is a wealthy, white Afrikaner who inherited his father’s best farm. As a Party member and commandant of the local commando, Van der Vyver is well known and respected within his community—as were his forefathers. Captain Beetge refers to him as the “big, calm, clever son of Willem Van der Vyver” (Paragraph 3), implying that Van der Vyver is thought of highly among the other white South Africans in his region.

Van der Vyver’s reflections on the death of Lucas and his concerns for how news of the event will play out, as well as his general observations at the funeral, manifest The Dehumanizing Nature of Racism. His observations of the Black people around him are often infantilizing and prejudiced. His observations of Black people at large, especially those who are involved in the anti-apartheid movement, cast them as greedy, loud, and violent. These views are ironic given that Lucas, who Van der Vyver does not mentally acknowledge as part of his family, is in fact his son.

Van der Vyver represents the privileged white people who hold the institutional power in the South African countryside.