Author's Note: this paper was written (very late, I'll add) for my English class. It's not my best. In fact, this could possibly be considered some of my worst. I had fun making subtle puns on the subject of "guns". See if you can find them.
English II
Nadia Rundlett
February 9, 2003
The word “gun” brings to mind sharp emotions for most. “Gun” embodies not only the idea of a weapon that discharges bullets, but the sense of a knee-jerk change, a sudden speed that was not present before. Authors Rainer Maria Rilke and Nadine Gordimer harness the connotations of a gun in their works “The Gazelle” and “The Moment Before the Gun Went Off” respectively.
Nadine Gordimer’s “The Moment Before the Gun Went Off” reads like a series of gunshots. Syntax and interruptions in the text make even the longest sentences seem concise and striking. Repetition pounds the images into the mind of the reader. “She does not look up; she does not look at Van der Vyver, whose gun went off in the truck, she stares at the grave.”
“To see you: tensed, as if each leg were a gun loaded with leaps, but not fired…”. Rilke uses simile to describe the high-strung grace of a gazelle in a sense that portrays tension, speed, and danger. The first impression is that of an anticipation, and a knowledge that when that gun of leaps goes off it will be startling whether it is expected or not. The second is that of a powerful weapon, fatal in a way one would not consider a gazelle to be. It is moving imagery.
While Gordimer and Rilke both demonstrate in their work an essence of what a gun is, they demonstrate different aspects. Gordimer shows the destructive, changing power of firearms directly, almost as the focal point of her piercing short story. Rilke alludes to the deadly, startling smoothness of a gun through his comparison of gazelle. Each author captures a distinct but important connotation to the word and idea of a “gun” in their work.
Characterization of Marais Van der Vyver is stark but simple, giving the reader an immeadiete sense of his plight. Perhaps they know a man like Van der Vyver, quiet and unemotive. Perhaps they know someone “as a man who now hides any change of expression”. At the beginning of the piece Gordimer leads the reader to believe that Van der Vyver is black and white, but through her depressing use of irony changes the entire picture to grey.
Like Gordimer, Rilke makes effective use of syntax. His inversion and enjambent create an aware, leaping effect as reminiscent of a gazelle’s movement as Gordimer’s opinion-punctuated text is of guns and Van der Vyver. “The Gazelle” flows with an oddly choppy grace.
Return to Nadia's Book Reviews
Return to Nadia's Reviews
Return to Something Blue