Structure

The short story “Terminal” by Nadine Gordimer has a non-chronological structure and follows the characters for an undetermined period that centers around the aftermath of the woman's operation. 

The story begins in medias res and hints at the main character’s condition: “ ‘Even the cat buries its dirt; I carry mine around with me.’ She thought of saying it aloud many times in the weeks after she came home from the hospital” (p. 142, ll. 1-3). Although the beginning is not explicit, it hints that the woman has undergone colostomy surgery due to bowel cancer. 

A flashback hints that the woman’s illness has changed the couple’s life:

The only time the existence of such a contraption had ever been mentioned by them before the illness happened was a few years ago, w...