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July’s People is the best-known work of South African author Nadine Gordimer. Published in 1981, the book is set in South Africa in a hypothetical near-future where apartheid is ended via civil war. The novel focuses on the experience of the white Smales family, who hide from the tumult of the war in the village of their black former servant, July. Controversial when it was first published, July’s People was banned by the apartheid government of South Africa.
By analyzing questions, you can see patterns emerge, patterns that will help you answer questions. Qwiz5 is all about those patterns. In each installment of Qwiz5, we take an answer line and look at its five most common clues. Here we explore five clues that will help you answer a tossup on July’s People.
SMALES FAMILY
The Smales are an affluent white, liberal family from the suburbs of Johannesburg. The family consists of parents Maureen and Bam and children Gina, Victor, and Royce. While the children adapt relatively quickly to life in July’s village, Maureen and Bam show more resistance. Bam hunts warthogs with the male villagers and Maureen attempts to help the village women unearth root vegetables. However, both come to resent July, especially Maureen, and they long for their previous, privileged life.
BAKKIE
The Smales’ bakkie, or jeep, is a significant source of tension between the family and July. July has the key to the truck, and Maureen and Bam become suspicious when he uses it to drive into town without informing the family. The disappearance of several items owned by the family, including Bam’s shotgun, during a riotous festival called a “gumba-gumba” angers Maureen and turns her against the villagers.
WATER RESERVOIR
The ways in which the Smales attempt to hold onto their privilege, even in radically different surroundings, are a major theme of July’s People. Bam creates a water tank for his family, assuming that July will help him just as if he was still their servant. When the other villagers use the tank Victor protests, but he learns that the water in the tank does not belong to just his family.
PHOTOGRAPH IN LIFE MAGAZINE
While growing up, Maureen was attended to by an older, black servant named Lydia. Maureen stumbles upon a photograph taken of her and Lydia in Life Magazine. In the photo, Lydia is balancing Maureen’s backpack on her head as she walks her home from school. This photograph is emblematic of the power imbalance between blacks and whites in South Africa, an imbalance that has surrounded Maureen since childhood.
HELICOPTER
July’s People ends on an ambiguous note. Maureen is alone in the family’s hut; Gina is playing with the local villager Nyiko, and Bam has taken the boys fishing. Suddenly, a helicopter descends towards the village. Maureen leaves her hut and takes off running for the helicopter, uncertain if those aboard are “saviors” or there to kill her.
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Quizbowl is about learning, not rote memorization, so we encourage you to use this as a springboard for further reading rather than as an endpoint. Here are a few things to check out:
July’s People caused controversy when it was first published. and was still doing so even twenty years after it was published.
Maureen notably takes only one book with her when her family flees for July’s village, and she doesn’t even read it. Do you know which one?
Watch this video to hear Nadine Gordimer read one of her own stories.
In July’s People, “gumba-gumba” refers to a period of drinking, dancing, and celebration. Gumba Gumba was also a record label active in South Africa between the 60s and 80s that released some great tracks.
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