Nadine Gordimer’s short story “The Moment Before the Gun Went Off” takes place in apartheid-era South Africa. Apartheid, which means “separation” in the language Afrikaans, was a system of institutionalized racial segregation that existed in South Africa from 1948 until 1994. Under this system, the white minority government imposed a system of racial segregation and discrimination against the Black majority. Policies under apartheid included the Group Areas Act, which designated certain areas for certain races, and the Pass Laws, which restricted the movement of Black people within the country. White people and people of color were forced to live in different places and were forbidden from sharing schools and transportation; interracial relationship were also illegal. Black South Africans often worked in subservient roles for white employers, as is the case with Lucas working for Van der Vyver in “The Moment Before the Gun Went Off.” As a result of these unequal opportunities and extreme prejudice, many Black people suffered at the hands of white South Africans (called Afrikaners).

Gordimer wrote this short story in 1988, while international pressure was mounting for the South African government to release anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela from prison and dismantle the apartheid system.