The story examines the apartheid’s psychological manipulations, specifically in a rural setting. The white characters initially believe they have escaped the racial biases and white supremacy of their contemporary Johannesburg; they keep their distance from their indigenous employees, who are free to work on their own and have no fear of their white employers. The protagonist views them as “other” but not necessarily lesser, and his wife Lerice is sympathetic toward them in a way uncharacteristic of white South Africans at the time. These two white characters are not fully corrupted by the city’s apartheid ethos and are willing to coexist with the Black characters, but this “pretransitional” era will eventually fall prey to the city’s racism, even as the protagonist ends up fighting against the encroachment.

The employees’ safety is limited to their white employers; they know Lerice can help their children if they fall ill, but because the protagonist will have to deal with authority beyond his control if he discovers Petrus’s brother, the employees keep the young man’s presence a secret so that urban society cannot get involved. Indeed, the employees, mainly

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