Nadine Gordimer's The Conservationist is a controversal novel. She struggled to get it pubislhed because, at the time, South Africa was only just deconstructing the Apartheid system. A novel so openly critical did not receive an initially favorable reception. Nevertheless the way Gordimer patiently unpacks the particularly narrow mindset which leads to a political system so steeped in racism leaves readers with no choice but to confront their own prejudices. Gordimer's real strength is in her character development. She effectively disgusts readers by portraying the longterm effects of racism on the individual perpetuating it and does so through the character of Mehring.
Mehring is a successful businessman in Apartheid-era South Africa. After a string of particularly beneficial business ventures and after his wife leaves him, he buys a farm just outside the village and hires a bunch of black natives to work it for him. The rub is when his cheap profit scheme turns out to be more work than he bargained for because he doesn't trust his employees enough -- due to racial predjudice -- to allow them to work unsupervised. He personally oversees much of their work, not allowing them any more rest than absolutely necessary. Missing his absent ex-wife, Mehring takes up withe a woman named Antonia. She's willing to sacrifice for the relationship, but he cannot unthink his Apartheid indoctrination enough to see her perspective. Antonia is an anti-Apartheid activist. Unfortunately their differences are too much to overcome, so she leaves. Shortly afterward Mehring's son, Terry, leaves as well to join his mother in America. He's sick of his father's unfair business practices and racially motivated hatred. When one of the employees is found dead, the police don't care enough to investigate. They disrespectfully dispose of the body by the river on Mehring's property. Mehring is disturbed by their treatment of the corpse so much that he begins to believe he's haunted. After a flood blocks his path from town to the farm, he is forced to allow the forman, Jacobus, to take charge of all operations. Jacobus uses this opportunity to properly bury the dead man, restoring peace to the property.
Gordimer borrows upon Plato's idea in his Republic of portraying an entire society through the character of one man. Thus Mehring represents the entire Apartheid system. His complicated relationship to responsibility has been carefully developed through years of social training. After generations of racism, he has forgotten that he ever chose to believe it in the first place. As a result, he now lives in complete denial of his unpleasantness. Although people around him complain about his lack of integrity and his selfishness, he cannot see himself for what he is.
