Portrayal of an Antihero in Nadine Gordimer's The Conservationist

Abstract

Mehring, a South African industrialist and the farm owner, is the protagonist of Nadine Gordimer's The Conservationist. Though he is presented as the conservationist of the farm, ironically, he is its exploiter. He purchased the farm not to conserve the resources of the land and nor for the betterment of the country people but to conserve his own power, possessions and his way of life i.e. the apartheid system. The farm is his heaven for seduction, tax deduction and escape from the stress of daily work in city. He defines and constructs his own truth and value which depends upon random and unsuitable sexual encounters, unlimited meditation upon death and alienation from his family. The misery he has created finally becomes unbearable and leads to his destruction he has to be destroyed. His leaving of the farm symbolizes decolonization in South Africa. By portraying antiheroic traits of Mehring, a representative of the Whites who founded apartheid system, the writer tries to vail out the real depth of apartheid.