The story depicts a contemporary love story across the racial barrier, between a slave and her master’s son, a love grew between them but their relationship wasn’t socially accepted at this time, Paulus and Thebedi had to hide their relationship from their family and friends “Plastic sheets spread over the bed “ they don’t want anyone to know about paulus presence as they slept in his sister room, she had a true feelings towards Paulus “she told the girls in the kraal that she had another sweetheart ... teased and admired her” emphasize that the fact that even though she knows no one should know about Paulus , she still felt she needed to expose her true feelings to the girls in the kraal, but he doesn’t “he said natives made them on his father’s farm” shows that he was embarrassed to say the bracelet that he got was made by his black friend who works on his father’s farm , but they shared intimate relationship which resulted in her pregnant ,of which kept secret from Paulus.their relationship is forbidden due to race , it was only physical as Paulus is the type to play girls and doesn’t understand a loving relationship “he had learnt how to tease and flirt... daughters of prosperous farmers like his father” this demonstrates how careless white children were and they don’t understand the girls emotions, and also shows that he didn’t want a meaningful relationship, he tries to be a typical rich and white teenager in south Africa .this was because the government wanted the white race as the top class.
After her marriage form Njabulo, two months later the baby was born, it was not a dishonor for black people to be pregnant before marriage, it was mixed bright child but Njabulo didn’t complain, he treats the child in a good way “He buys the baby the belt” it’s a sign of his caring, he is trying to be more acceptable in white society, he’s aspiring to be like white rich men. He also built his house “White men style” he is not proud of his identity because he thinks being white is linked to being powerful and wealthy, he also plays “Golf.... Sunday” which was a high-class sport this time and only white rich people expected to play this sport at this time.
Paulus goes to meet Thebedi to see the baby, she greets him “hands brought together “it’s a sign of being friendly and shows that Thebedi is still subjective and respectful to paulus even after her marriage from Njabulo, this is an example of prejudice. After he found out that the rumors are true and the baby is his, at the start he felt guilt and regret and he “gets out” so he doesn’t get himself in emotional and powerful feelings with Thebedi “he struggled for a moment with grumbled tears “very emotive language, shows that he is a good person, but he didn’t act like that as he is the father of the child “ I feel like killing myself “ he uses childish and emotive language to show his guilt , it shows that he is powerless and he has no choice , later on he came and found the infant sick and he hears “soft grunts “it’s connotations of pain and suffering , the next day the infant found mysteriously dead “deep sleep” connotations of death , and there’s a strong suggestion in the story that he killed he murdered the baby due to racial identity, and to cover up his shame in front of people, which shows how racist is he .
Another example of racism is when the authority alerted of the infant’s death. Thebedi testified in “Preparatory school” that she saw paulus pour something into the baby’s mouth, but paulus threatened that if she told he will shoot her, also she had no protection for thebedi from her testimony against paulus because she is a powerless and black woman and the case was drooped against paulus for lack of evidence, courts even considered thebedi as an “accomplice in the crime” they didn’t want to imprison a white man, she was certainly a victim and unprotected. At the end paulus is not guilty and becoming dominant of the situation and without punishment.
“Country Lovers” portrays the prejudice that a black woman like Thebedi would be subjected because she was born an African American unprotected by the legal system. It depicts how racial discrimination especially with the woman destroyed innocent lives and devastated other people. By analyzing the theme of the story, we can get a clearer understanding of the implication the author is trying to convey in the story. The title of the story “Country Lovers” it’s very misleading, it sounds like a positive story about love and nature of the country and how it’s presented in Thebedi and her linking to nature “drops of water ... dark legs” it’s connotations of nature “shiny as salt water” linking her legs to the depth of water, she is shown as a part of nature, but at the end it’s oppressed and abused in a Distorted way.
At both stories, racial identity affects the way the characters behave, they’re all ashamed of being black and they’re disrespected in many ways. Their names were the only thing they have were mistreated “Mary” “missus and bassie” there was no respect for them.