Colorblind

In "Town and Country Lovers" Nadine Gordimer takes extra care to emphasize and detail the white males' faux commitment to the relationship with their black mistresses. She does this in order to comment on the social landscape of South Africa while elevating the females to heroine status and eliciting well-deserved sympathy for them on behalf of the reader. 

In the first part of the story, Dr. Leinsdorf is characterized as both a lonely man dedicated to the well-being of a poor, young black girl, as well as a man who does not deem the girl to be of any worthy value to him because he cannot see past the societal limitations imposed upon the both of them. It is not fitting for a man of his standing to be with her, and she is not worthy to be with him. It is significant to note that in part one, we never learn the girl's name. This is of immense importance to the narrative, for two reasons. Upon the surface, it would seem that the lack of a name for the girl indicates a lack of overall importance to the story. This is evidenced by phrases such as "she was rather small and finely-made, for one of them" (p. 161). Leinsdorf cannot be bothered to learn her name, even though he recognizes her from the supermarket, as well as broadly generalizing her by race by referring to her as "one of them". This actually plays into the second reason why we do not know the girl's name, which is that Gordimer intentionally does not disclose it so as to comment on the overall situation of blacks in South Africa. Not assigning the girl a name allows the girl to represent any one of the many mistreated people. The faux nature of the relationship is evident through Leinsdorf's treatment of the girl. Although he spends time with her and showers her with gifts, ultimately their relationship is a physical one, because although he teaches her to swim, climb mountains, and takes her on drives, he never sees her as anything more than an outlet for his entertainment. The doctor consistently thinks of her as beneath him. He has to explain things "in a way that she can understand" (p. 164) and decide on appropriate ways of treating her ("ten cents would be right for a black" p. 162) and when he asks if she has done other kinds of work, implying intelligent, skilled labor, his internal thought when she says "I was in a clothing factory before" is "of course" (p. 165). Why "of course"? Because in the mind of a rich, young, white doctor, of course a black girl is not going to have any meaningful work experience. This idea that the black girl is only there for pleasure is explored further in part two, as the generalization is replaced in favor of laser-focused specifics. 

Not only do we know each character's name, but we know important details from their background. The white male dominance that was established in part one is now a central theme of the narrative, as the story takes place on the farm of a wealthy white man whose son has a relationship with one of the black girls whom he grew up with. Similar to Dr. Leinsdorf, Paulus spends time with the black girl, Thebedi, and takes their relationship even further by appearing to actually have true feelings for her. He brings her gifts and tells her about his successes, to which she has no response because she has no stories to offer up herself. Paulus, upon having sex with Thebedi, compares it with his previous relationships and finds "this time it was so lovely, so lovely, he was surprised" (p. 169). At this moment, their relationship changes. "He did not tell her about school or town any more. She did not ask questions any longer" (p. 169). Their relationship has ceased to be anything but purely physical, because Paulus has realized that there is no further benefit he can gain from her besides sex. When Thebedi has his baby, he comes to the realization that not only will he no longer benefit from Thebedi, being involved with her will actually do more harm than good, especially in regards to his social standing. Thebedi, however, feels differently. Even after Paulus murders their child, she protects him a year later on the witness stand, and still wears the gilt hoop ear-rings that he gave her, showing that she will forever have loyalty to and feelings for Paulus. To Paulus, she represents the worst thing that has happened to him, but to Thebedi, he was a glimmer of hope in an otherwise despairing existence. This contrast evokes feelings of sympathy and pity on behalf of Thebedi, and serves the author's purpose of causing the reader to reevaluate the social landscape and role of blacks and women in South Africa.