The story is narrated by a white, liberal South African couple who run a small trading store and transport business near a rural "location" (a segregated settlement for Black Africans). They live on a small piece of land they bought from the government, but they feel disconnected from the landscape and the people.
One evening, their Black employee, Petrus, comes to them in distress. Petrus’s younger brother, who had recently arrived from the countryside looking for work, has died suddenly from pneumonia. The brother was not legally registered to be in the urban area, and as a result, the authorities have buried him in an unmarked, common pauper’s grave—a "six feet of the country"—outside the town’s official cemetery.
The narrator and his wife are outraged by the inhumanity and impersonality of this bureaucratic cruelty. They try to intervene, using their white privilege to demand the body so the family can give it a proper burial according to custom. They go through official channels, speak to clerks and minor officials, and even contact a lawyer.
However, their efforts fail. The authorities refuse to exhume the body. They are told the process is impossible and that the "native" died without a permit. The narrator experiences a deep, frustrating powerlessness. In the end, Petrus accepts the situation with quiet resignation, focusing on practical matters like retrieving the brother’s few belongings. six feet of the country by nadine gordimer summary
"Six Feet of the Country" is set on a farm near Johannesburg, South Africa, during the apartheid era. The story is narrated by a well-meaning but somewhat detached white farmer who employs several Black workers. The central conflict arises when one of the workers, a young man named Petrus, approaches the farmer with a request: his father has died unexpectedly.
In accordance with their rural traditions, the family wants to bury the old man properly on the farm. They ask the farmer for permission to use a piece of land—just "six feet of the country"—for the grave. The farmer, sympathetic but constrained by his own worldview, agrees.
However, the situation quickly becomes entangled in the rigid bureaucracy of the apartheid state. Because the deceased was not legally authorized to be on the farm, the white authorities intervene. The police demand a post-mortem, forcing the family to exhume the body. When the body is finally released after the autopsy, it has been handled disrespectfully, wrapped in a plastic bag rather than the traditional shroud. Plot Summary The story is narrated by a
The climax of the story occurs when the farmer attempts to retrieve the body from the city morgue. He arrives too late; the morgue has closed for the weekend. By the time the body is finally returned to the farm, decay has set in. The family is forced to bury a corpse that has been violated by the state and delayed by the farmer’s inability to navigate the system effectively. The story ends with the narrator reflecting on the tragedy, realizing that his sympathy was useless against the crushing weight of a system that denies basic human dignity.
The climax of the story occurs after the burial. The narrator, feeling he has done his good deed for the day, asks Petrus for the leftover wood from the shipping crate.
In a moment of dark irony, the narrator notes that the piece of wood is exactly six feet long—the length of a man, the length of a grave. Major Themes and Analysis Symbolism and Imagery
He then asks for the receipt for the £20 paid to the government, perhaps thinking he can use it to claim a tax deduction or simply keep his accounts in order. Petrus hands him a crumpled piece of paper. It is a receipt for the burial fees.
The narrator realizes with a jolt that the government has charged the family for the "six feet of the country"—the patch of earth needed for the grave. Even in death, the Black body is a commodity; the state extracts rent for the very ground in which the poor are laid to rest.
Petrus explains that the family of the deceased does not want him buried in the cheap, anonymous "native grave" on the outskirts of town. Instead, they want his body transported to his home village (a six-hour drive away) to be buried with his ancestors, according to their customs. They have raised money for the transport and ask the narrator for permission and a simple coffin.
The narrator, a practical and cynical businessman more concerned with profit than people, refuses. He argues that a coffin costs money, and the city health regulations require a death certificate and official transport. He dismisses the family’s wishes as “superstition” and arranges for the body to be buried in the municipal native cemetery—a barren, unmarked patch of land.