53 pages • 1 hour read
Nadine GordimerA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Every story in Jump and Other Stories is set in or around South Africa during apartheid, an era of systematic segregation in the region. During this time, the affluent White suburbs adopted extra security measures to protect themselves from a volatile political environment. Gordimer makes repeated references to fences and barriers in her stories, using them to enhance her commentary on the harmful effects of racism and excessive security. The stories are filled with revolutionaries, like in “Some Are Born to Sweet Delight,” “Comrades,” “Home,” “Safe Houses,” and “Amnesty,” painting a world in the middle of social upheaval. At the same time, stories like “Once Upon a Time,” “The Moment Before the Gun Went Off,” and “Keeping Fit” show characters making concerted efforts to barricade themselves from that unrest. Barricades obstruct and compartmentalize a person’s view and allow a person to shut out parts of the world they don’t want to see. However, within those barricades, the wealthy White characters still aren’t safe from the outside world. The little boy dies in “Once Upon a Time,” killed by his family’s own barbed wire. Marais accidently kills his own son in “The Moment Before the Gun Went Off,” and the runner in “Keeping Fit” is nearly killed by a police-funded gang.
By Nadine Gordimer
Burger's Daughter
Nadine Gordimer
July's People
Nadine Gordimer
None to Accompany Me
Nadine Gordimer
Once Upon a Time
Nadine Gordimer
Six Feet of the Country
Nadine Gordimer
The Conservationist
Nadine Gordimer
The Moment Before the Gun Went Off
Nadine Gordimer
The Pickup
Nadine Gordimer
The Train From Rhodesia
Nadine Gordimer
The Ultimate Safari
Nadine Gordimer
African American Literature
View Collection
African Literature
View Collection
Class
View Collection
Class
View Collection
Historical Fiction
View Collection
Nobel Laureates in Literature
View Collection
Safety & Danger
View Collection
Short Story Collections
View Collection
South African Literature
View Collection
Women's Studies
View Collection