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 quiet routine of the farm is shattered when Petrus approaches Lerice with a problem. His brother, who has traveled illegally from Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) to find work, is severely ill in the workers' quarters. Because of strict Apartheid laws regarding illegal immigrants, the workers hid the sick man until his condition became critical. six feet of the country by nadine gordimer summary
The tranquility is shattered one night when a young Black employee of the narrator's, Petrus, arrives to reveal that his younger brother, who had traveled hundreds of miles from Rhodesia (modern-day Zimbabwe), has died from pneumonia. The boy, an "illegal immigrant" without the required permit, had been secretly harbored on the farm by the other workers, who feared that alerting their white "baas" would bring unwanted attention from the authorities. When the government health authorities arrive to collect the body, Petrus begs the narrator to retrieve it, as the family wishes to give him a proper burial. The climax of the story occurs when the