analysis
...city and overseas people don't know it's true: farmers usually have one particular black boy they like to take along with them in the lands; you could call it a kind of friend, […]" (2573). However, further on it becomes apparent the boy was not just his friend: "The young black callously shot through the negligence of the white man was not the farmer's boy; he was his son." (2576). This sheds a totally different perspective on the relationship between Marais and the boy, since it was more than just friendship. Therefore, it does not support the persona's statement about friendship between black and white people that well anymore. Thus, he only gives facts that serve his purposes at the specific moment and this does not make him overly reliable. Another example, concerning his consistency, is when he talks about black women already having children at a very young age: "The dead man's mother is a woman who can't be more than in her late thirties (they start bearing children at puberty) […]" (2575). Marais, however, is of the same age as that woman: "[…] but she is heavily mature in a black dress between her own parents, who were already working for old Van der Vyver when Marais, like their daughter [the woman], was a child." (2575). Also, when the persona talks about the articles written in the newspapers about Marais, he is contradicting himself. First he claims that, when people read about how Marais reacted, they probably would not believe it anyway: "[…] when Van der Vyver is quoted saying he is 'terribly shocked,' he will 'look after the wife and children', none of those Americans and English, and none of those people at home who want to destroy the white man's power will believe him." (2573). However, further on he himself questions what is being written in the newspapers: "[…] according to one paper, if you can trust any of those reporters […] (2573). The voice in "The Moment before the Gun Went Off", is clearly against Apartheid. This is shown through the irony used throughout the story. A good example of course is that Marais is of the same age as the black woman about whom the persona says she started getting children already at a young age, while Marais is of the same age as the woman and he has a child with her: "[…] but she is heavily mature in a black dress between her own parents, who were already working for old Van der Vyver when Marais, like their daughter [the woman], was a child." (2575). Another example is with the Immortality Act (a law in South Africa forbidding sexual inter...