Themes and message

Betrayal

One of the themes explored by Nadine Gordimer in the short story “Terminal” is betrayal. The theme is illustrated by the woman’s husband, who betrays her trust.

The spouses have made a pact to help each other out in case of a terminal illness. Nevertheless, the husband never verbally agrees to help his wife “out of it” (p. 143, l. 28), and only nods. However, his wife sees this as a “covenant” (p. 143, l. 31) and puts her trust in him when she asks him not to intervene in her suicide attempt: “ ‘Keep your promise. Don’t have me revived.’ ” (p. 144, l. 11) 

Although he loves her, the husband betrays the woman and breaks his promise. He does not want to lose her and, in the end, he is probably happy that she lives. It could also be that he does not interpret her illness as “ter...