'Terminal': A Short Story, By Nadine Gordimer

On a math problem, there is always a right answer, but there is no single right answer in life. “Terminal”, a short story, written by Nadine Gordimer, a winner of Novel Prize for literature, is about a woman with a terminal illness who decides to take her own life (Head, 1994, p. 1).“Terminal” is one of the nine short stories in “Something Out There” short story collection, which was published in 1948 (Head, 1994, p.1). The author, Nadine Gordimer, was born in Springs, South Africa and she is Jewish (Verongos, 2014, para. 21). She was not only an author, but also a political activist; therefore, her stories include political elements and deliver important messages of life (Verongos, 2014, para.22). In the “Terminal,” the narrator calls “the Soviet Union,” instead of Russia and mentions Marxists; therefore the setting is during the Cold War when women are becoming more independent (Immerman, 2013, p.1). In the beginning of the story, the woman has already been diagnosed with cancer. She chooses death over living with contraption, because she cannot live normal life with contraption. Her husband promises not to revive her, but he betrays. At the end of the story, she opens her eyes in a hospital and her husband is holding her hand. For the woman, her husband’s action is a betrayal; however, for her husband, he helps the most important person in his life. The story tells people that there is no single right answer in people’ life. By using only two main characters without a