A description of Marais Van der Vyver

Marais Van der Vyver is the main character in the short story "The moment before the gun went off", written by Nadine Gordimer. In this text I will give a short description of him. The story is written in third person. The setting in the story is in South- Africa. The apartheid regime has fallen, but you can still sense that there is some tension in the society. By an accident Lucas, a black farm boy, is shot and killed by Marais, the white farmer.

Marais Van der Vyver is an Afrikaner farmer. He is the regional party leader of the liberal whites and Commandant at the local security commando, and a respected high standing man of the district.The text states that Marais is a big, clam and clever man.  He does not show much emotions, and often hides his smile behind his big mustache.  Marais is married to Alida, and together Alida and Marais have three children: Magnus, Helena og Karel.

Marais has a secret, Lucas is his son, this is revealed in the end of the text.  Lucas was born when the apartheid regime was strong, which is why nobody knows the truth. Marais find a way to stay in contact with Lucas, every week they go hunting together. They both love the nature and the wild life. Lucas and Marais has a close relationship through the years. When Lucas dies Marais is very shaken up, and he starts to cry. As mentioned earlier Marais early show any emotions. When he cries for Lucas death, it tells us that he truly cared for Lucas.