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Psychoanalytic Lens

Because Nadine Gordimer, the author of Country Lovers, grew up in the same environment as the story, her suppressed and traumatized childhood comes through in the characters and plot. She tries to deal with her past by writing about social conflicts between a small town and the racial differences between its citizens. Through a psychoanalytic lens, Paulus can be analyzed as not being able to deal subconsciously with the "mistake" he made by having a baby. He killed his own child because he was deeply troubled by the effects of his actions. Gordimer's story is about her troubled past and by writing about it, she can now deal with what she went through.