Brandt Veermeulen Essay

contact her father’s opponent, the nationalist Brandt Vermeulen: “The address upon which she had settled her intention, either because she had been rebuffed at the others, or because she had eliminated all but the most useful, [the only one left was] Brandt Vermeulen” (Gordimer, BD 173). Naturally, between the opposing ideologies of Burger and Vermeulen lies a gargantuan rift, and Gordimer cleverly uses Rosa’s meetings with Vermeulen as an opportunity for an unrelenting analysis:

For the Afrikaner people, Lionel Burger was a tragedy rather than an outcast; that way, he still was theirs. They could not allow the earth of the fatherland to be profaned by his body; yet, that way, they were themselves absolved from his destruction. – Kleintjie

It was necessary to have Rosa leave South Africa in order to show how impossible it was for her to stay away” (5-6). The complete absence of politics, besides an occasional political discussion amongst friends, in the France setting actually points out the meaning of politics to Rosa. In South Africa, her Place, politics is about life and death, but in France she discovers “people with nothing to hide from, no one to elude, careless of privacy, in their abundance: letting be” (Gordimer, BD 230). In the company of Katya, Rosa is introduced to a life unconcerned with politics, relaxing with friends, a life without expectations. She falls in love with a teacher by the name of Bernard Chabalier, and through him Rosa manages to further identify her sense of Self. Importantly, the bohemian characters drawn by Gordimer are no objection to this type of lifestyle, however they are crucial for Rosa’s quest to find her identity, and it proves for her to be impossible to remain among these free spirited people. Lionel Burger’s daughter, finally, comes to the realization that for her, France is “un paradis inventé” (Gordimer, BD 312). A mythical world in which one loses their sense of Self, however Rosa;

His father, the African National Congressman Vlindlela, unlike Lionel Burger, will never be remembered, even though both of them died in prison fighting for the same cause: “Zwelinzima resents the recognition abroad of her father as a hero of the Left, while there are “plenty of blacks” who have made the same sacrifice but who remain nameless in the world outside South Africa” (Newman 155). Accusations fly back and forth, because Rosa provokes him by saying that his type of “talk sounds better from people who are in the country”, therefore questioning why he is not back in South Africa risking his life as a freedom fighter (Gordimer, BD 330). Nevertheless, Rosa is horrified and nauseated by their behaviour towards each other, however, she concludes; “In one night we succeeded in manoeuvring ourselves into the position their history books back home have had ready for us – him bitter; me guilty. What other meeting-place could there have been for us?” (Gordimer, BD 341). With all of this standing in between Zwelinzima and Rosa, their old sister and brotherly bond has been diminished, and they represent the dreadful sufferers of the appalling circumstances in South