Some of the major themes of the story include:
The family’s immediate problem is practical: where to bury the man. The narrator, driven by a mix of guilt, irritation, and a vague sense of justice, decides he will bury the brother on their own land. He sees it as a simple, humane gesture. He contacts the local municipal office to get a permit. six feet of the country by nadine gordimer summary
One morning, Petrus’s younger brother, who has been visiting illegally from the countryside, falls ill. Despite the narrator’s reluctant drive to fetch medicine, the brother dies of pneumonia that night. The tragedy, however, is only the beginning. The narrator learns that the body must be reported to the authorities, and because the brother was not a registered resident of the urban area, the law requires that he be buried in a designated "location" for black people—a distant, overcrowded, and unfamiliar cemetery. Some of the major themes of the story
Six Feet of the Country is not a story about a heroic stand against injustice. It is a story about the limits of liberal goodwill within a totalitarian system. Gordimer shows that apartheid’s horror lies not only in its violence but in its mundane, bureaucratic efficiency. The state does not need to kill the narrator to defeat him; it simply needs to lose his file, refer him to another office, and repeat the rules until he gives up. He contacts the local municipal office to get a permit
The story begins with the death of a farm worker, who dies in his sleep. The narrative then explores the reactions of his family, particularly his wife, and the community. The title "Six Feet of the Country" refers to the grave that the deceased man will occupy, and the way in which death can be seen as a return to the land.