Language

Choice of words

The language of the short story “Comrades” by Nadine Gordimer is generally formal. However, the language also echoes Hattie and the boys’ thoughts, using unusual grammatical structures or missing out words, for example: “by other shared experience in the mysterious bonds of the young these young” (p. 99, ll. 12-13).

Part of the story is written in the past tense, presenting events that have already happened: “The youngsters, like her, were part of the crowd loosening into dispersion after a university conference on People’s Education” (p. 98, ll. 6-8).

When the story presents the events that take place at Hattie’s house, the narrative switches to the present tense. This choice suggests that Hattie finds out information about the boys on the spot, as the conversation with Dumile unfolds, and also makes the events feel more immediate:

They eat. When she tries to talk to one of the others, he says Ekskuus? And she realizes he doesn’t understand English, of the white man’s languages knows perhaps only a little of that of the Afrikaners in the rural town he comes from. (p. 100, ll. 17-20)

Free indirect speech is sometimes used. By free indirect speech, we understand the style of a...