Theme of Segregation in 'The Moment before The Gun Went Off'

The major theme recognized in this story 'The Moment Before the Gun Went Off' is metaphoric, as the author cleverly symbolized the tone of the story by the title of the theme, which also represents the time frame during Africa's segregation period when a hidden relationship between a white father (Van der) and his illegitimate black son Lucas, bonded over their twenty three short years of living and working on the farm and shared hunting expeditions.

To the outside world, it looked like merely a white farmer Van der employing the labor and skills of a young black boy Lucas to help out on the farm, but in reality, it was the hidden lifestyle of a black boy and a white man living in Africa during the times of racial segregation, Van der was a man of the community and security stature, who was also married to a white woman with children of his own, none of them having any knowledge that the black boy named Lucas, was the illegitimate son.

It was the secret that presented itself after that tragic moment when the white farmer and his black son were in route to a hunting adventure, the boy standing up in the back of the truck as he had always done to get a look at the prey, his father driving the vehicle, when the loaded gun inside the cab went off while driving over a bump in the road, the bullet went in between the two men, killing the black boy and pushing him out of the truck, the man turned his vehicle around and got out to run to the boy, picking him up and noticing he was shot, tragically rushing him to the police station to innocently confess about the accident.

The truth emerged when the Van der gave his police report, telling police, it was an accident, crying that he loved the boy, he was more to him than a farm hand, he (Lucas) was his son. Guilt ridden with sorrow and loss not only for the death of his illegitimate black son, but for having to keep the personal nature of the strong father and son bond a secret, a secret kept even from Lucas, but now at twenty-three Lucas is dead from an accidental shooting, and knowing in his heart, the love of a child should be openly expressed.

He also knew he would suffer the double tragedy because of this political black and white conflict, the irony of what politically dominated and infested Africa with racial hate and segregation. How he mourned and silently remembered the sweetness in that real life secret situation, of his hidden affair with Lucas mother and times spent with his son, times when blacks and whites had no social boundaries in what was once a sweet place in time 'The Moment Before the Gun Went Off.'