494 Gordimer, Nadine
quit keeping up the signal fire, causing them to actu-
ally miss a chance at rescue. Once again, the boys
turn their backs on all other aspects of survival in
favor of the hunt.
It is this avenue of survival—the hunt—that
eventually engrosses most of the boys. The thrill
they get from hunting intoxicates them, leading to
a sort of bloodlust. It is exemplified in the frenzied,
tribal dance that occurs after the killing of the sow.
However, the bloodlust and barbarism they feel
becomes generalized, not being focused solely on
the island wildlife. The irony is that this method of
surviving actually leads to the death of several boys,
including Simon and Piggy. The savage nature of
the hunters even makes Ralph run for his life as they
try to kill him.
This leads to the central point that Golding is
trying to make: Human nature is inherently corrupt.
In essence, he is saying that our natures are so cor-
rupt that even the boys’ attempts at survival become
twisted and lead to death, particularly in the case of
hunting. What at one time was used for the benefit
of all of the group actually results in the death of
some of its members and forces the group’s former
leader Ralph to escape his former followers. Because
of this corrupt nature, no one is safe, and it is every
man for himself.
Ryan Neighbors
gorDimEr, naDinE Burger’s
Daughter (1979)
South African-born Nadine Gordimer’s 1979 novel,
Burger’s Daughter, deals with the three themes of
justice, race, and survival cyclically and exten-
sively. Taking place within the sociopolitical climate
of the massacres at Sharpeville in 1960 and Soweto
in 1976, the dramatic events of Burger’s Daughter
are recounted through the perspective of young
Rosa Burger, daughter of Lionel and Cathy Burger.
Descendants of white Dutch settlers who came to be
known as Afrikaners, the Burgers become martyrs
for the cause of racial equality and social justice for
all South Africans. Lionel, a medical doctor, sees in
communism what he believes is the solution to the
problems plaguing South Africa, and he becomes
an active member of the South African Communist
Party. Rosa’s parents are imprisoned and eventually
die for their cause, and the young girl is left to carry
on their legacy while crafting some semblance of
a life for herself. Because of her family’s history of
radical involvement in activist causes, she remains
“Burger’s daughter” long after Lionel’s death and is
placed under government surveillance for the rest of
her life. The novel challenges readers with its stream
of consciousness narrative threads, which simultane-
ously reflect the horrifying realities of time and place
while representing Rosa’s innermost thoughts and
perspectives.
Walter Collins IIIJuStice in Burger’s Daughter
Tied closely to the issue of race, the notion of jus-
tice, or lack thereof, permeates Burger’s Daughter.
Through the mind and eyes of Rosa Burger, read-
ers learn of the ubiquitous injustices black South
Africans confront due to lives lived in a prejudiced
society. Rosa’s parents, Lionel and Cathy, are the
agents through whom many of the issues of justice
are exposed in the novel and their stances against
inequality and discrimination based on race and eco-
nomic situation leave them subject to recrimination
by fellow Afrikaners who fail to view certain socio-
political practices in South Africa as problematic.
Early on, Rosa recalls her father’s speech, given
in defense of fighting for black South Africans, dur-
ing the course of one of his trials. For more than an
hour, Lionel testifies to the injustices that abound
in society. During his lifetime, he has witnessed
bigotry in the schools, in religious organizations that
proclaim to “worship the God of Justice [yet] prac-
tice discrimination on the grounds of the colour of
skin,” and later, as a doctor, he observed unfair treat-
ment of blacks in hospitals where he practiced. It is
because of these situations that Lionel subscribes
to Marxism. At one point in his speech, he asserts:
“This contradiction that split the very foundation
of my life, . . . in Marxism I found it analysed in
another way: as forces in conflict through economic
laws. I saw that white Marxists worked side by side
with blacks in an equality that meant taking on
the meanest of tasks . . . I saw whites prepared to
work under blacks. Here was a possible solution to
injustice to be sought outside the awful fallibility