1. The
Ultimate
Safari
WRITTEN BY: NADINE GORDIMER

2. LITERARY
BACKGROUNDThe Communist Frelimo government of
Mozambique and the guerilla forces of the
National Resistance Movement cause the
devastating civil war in the country. In 1988,
about 600,000 people died, in addition to
the deplorable 494,000 children who died
from malnutrition as horrible casualties of
war.

3. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nadine Gordimer, a South African author, was
the daughter of Lithuanian Jewish immigrants.
Born in Springs, a mining town near
Johannesburg, Nadine wrote ten novels and
nine short story collections which reflect
politics like an unforgiving mirror held up to the
South African government. Her written works
gave her the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1991.
Under apartheid, the official government
policy of racial separation, she was raised in a
segregated society and attended private
schools. As a child, she question the
segregation policies, why black children
could not enjoy the things that the white
children do.

4. ELEMENTS
OF THE
SHORT STORY

5. I. SETTING
Mozambique
The Kruger Park
During dusk
The ambiance is saddening and
frightening

6. II. CHARACTERS
MAJOR CHARACTERS:
 The little girl (PROTAGONIST) – the
narrator of the story who has an
extreme naïve idea of what the future
will hold
 The grandmother, Gogo (PROTAGONIST)
– the one who became the point of
strength for the children and gave them
all the help they needed to continue
their journey
 The bandits (ANTAGONIST) – the group
of people who threaten the lives of
many
SUPPORTING CHARACTERS:
 The little girl’s father
 The little girl’s mother
 The little girl’s elder brother
 The little girl’s baby brother
 The grandfather
 The man who led the people all
throughout the journey

7. III. PLOT
EXPOSITION
It was a night in a middle of chaos when the
children’s mother left but never came back. They
were waiting for her since that night. Because of
the idea that the bandits might come and kill
them anytime, they managed to stay home and
hide.

8. III. PLOT
RISING ACTION
The bandits came to their village several times and took
everything away but the last time they came back, there was
nothing left to take so they burned the thatch and the roofs of the
houses fell in. At that point, the children lost everything but
themselves. Until, their grandparents came to take them to their
house. In their grandparents’ house, they were safe but they were
starving for a month. So, their grandmother decided that they
should go away, hoping that they could find a new home with
food and no bandits.

9. III. PLOT
CRISIS
Along the way, the grandmother traded her church clothes
and shoes to someone for food and water container. Then,
they met a group of people who were also going away
and they joined them. They all had to go through the
Kruger Park wherein they moved like animals among the
animals, away from the roads, the electrified fences and
the white people’s camps. They fed on mealies, wild fruits
and flesh of dead animals. They walked by day and night.

10. III. PLOT
CRISIS
Tired beyond endurance, they slept the nights huddled
together, afraid to be dragged away by the lions.
Fortunately, the man who led them all the way managed to
jump off and scared away the beasts. The next day, the
grandmother was moving on unflinchingly, her feet
bleeding, without brushing off flies from her face and
holding the little girl's younger brother in her arms. On the
way, the grandfather is lost when he went into the grass to
ease himself. They waited and searched for him for a day.

11. III. PLOT
CLIMAX
The grandmother stoically made the
decision to give up the search and
move on with the group.

12. III. PLOT
FALLING ACTION
They reached the refugee camp where they
are well taken care of. They have a small
place for themselves in a huge tent. They
were given free food and medicine. Soon, the
grandmother was able to find a job.

13. III. PLOT
DENOUEMENT
The grandmother dauntlessly strived to secure
the futures of her grandchildren; her needs come
last, and though not able to buy herself a pair of
shoes, she sent the two children to a nearby
school, bought them school shoes, and ensured
that they always do their homework.

14. III. PLOT
CONCLUSION
In the end, the grandmother’s bitter feelings
surfaced when a journalist asked her if she would
ever go back to Mozambique. Her answer is a
categorical 'no', because everything is gone. This
left the young girl perplexed as she still hopes to
return to her homeland and find her parents and
grandfather there.

15. IV. CONFLICT
The type of conflict presented in the story is
“Man VS. Society.” The main character, the
little girl, doesn’t try to oppose the
government or its rules and laws but is
suffering from a dilemma caused by the
civil war in their society wherein their lives
were threaten.

16. V. POINT OF VIEW
The short story “The Ultimate
Safari” was told in First Person
Perspective as the narrator
contextually used the pronoun
“I” in expressing her views.

17. VI. THEME
The central insight of the story is
“apartheid, sacrifice, courage, and
hope. ” Because even though there’s
a war taking place in their country,
they never lose hope and they strive
to go out and work toward peace.

18. VII. MORAL
One should never lose hope for
the future; that one day, better
things will come our way because
without hope, there is nothing left
for us to look forward to.

19. VIII. SYMBOLISMS The title itself is one of the biggest uses of symbolism in the
story. “The Ultimate Safari,” if we are going to dissect each
word, it can be rephrased as “The Extreme Journey.”
 The little girl symbolizes hope and childish optimism.
 The grandmother symbolizes strength, courage, and
sacrifice.
 The grandfather symbolizes weakness and frailty, and
sacrifice
 The Kruger Park symbolizes their homeland, Mozambique.
 The white people symbolizes racial discrimination.

20. VIII. SYMBOLISMS
 The huge electric fence surrounding the park symbolizes
apartheid.
 The bandits symbolize death much like “the lions in the city.”
 The elephants and their babies symbolize family.
 The lions symbolize danger much like “the bandits in the jungle.”
 The birds circling overhead were much like the bandits, too.
Also, they represent the death of the grandfather.
 The big tent symbolizes the huge success of the refugees as they
reached the camp.
 The polished shoes symbolizes the bright future that awaits for
the children.

21. IX. IRONY
I expect the little girl would want to stay in the camp with her
grandmother and two brothers where they were all safe, but the
ending of the story wherein she told her hopes, it was said there
that she still would want to go back home because her parents
and grandfather might be able to find their way back, too. The
story, being told in the perspective of a child, I never thought she’d
think more of the future rather than to focus on what she’s in right
at the moment. Moreover, I expect that she’ll think in more
complex ways because of the kind of situation they were in by
that time but she didn’t. She held her childish optimism up until the
end of the story.

22. X. LITERARY DEVICE
Flashback:
 Our mother went to the shop because someone said you could
get some oil for cooking. We were happy because we hadn’t
tasted oil for a long time, perhaps she got the oil and someone
knock her down in the dark and took that oil from her.
 Our grandfather used to have three sheep and cow and a
vegetable garden but the bandits had long ago taken the
sheep and cow, because they were hungry, too, and when
planting time came, our grandfather had no seed to plant.

23. X. LITERARY DEVICE
 We had some of them in our country, before the war, but the
bandits killed all the buck. There was a man in our village
without legs – a crocodile took them off, in our river, but all the
same our country is a country of people not animals. We knew
about the Kruger Park because some of our men used to leave
home to work there where white people came to stay and look
at the animals.
 The warthogs stopped dead, when they heard us, and swerved
off the way a body in our village used zigzag on the bicycle
hisfather had brought him from the mines.

24. XI. SUMMARY
When the civil war began, they lost everything: their parents and
their home. The bandits raided their village repeatedly and took
everything away. Until the day came that their grandparents
found and take them away. The grandmother, with the hope of
finding a better place for her and her grandchildren, decided to
move to the neighboring country. They met a group of people
along the way who were also going away and they joined
them. Along their journey, they all have to go through the
Kruger Park wherein they moved and lived stealthily like the
animals there, keeping themselves safe and away from the
white people and the wild animals.

25. XI. SUMMARY
One time, the grandfather went away to ease himself and never
came back again. They waited and searched for him for a day but
he never return. So, they decided to leave him behind with the
thought that he might be dead. Few days have passed, they reached
a big tent for refugees. There, they were well taken care of. They
were never hungry and they were safe. The grandmother has found a
job. She sent her two older grandchildren to school and bought them
school shoes. In the end, the grandmother’s bitter feelings surfaced
when a journalist asked her if she would ever go back to
Mozambique. Her answer is a categorical 'no', because everything is
gone. This left the young girl perplexed as she still hopes to return to
her homeland and find her parents and grandfather there.