Rising Water

Nadine Gordimer: The Conservationist (174-186)

Nadine Gordimer’s The Conservationist tells the story of a wealthy man learning the value of the land and learning to be self-sufficient and appreciate the finer things in life. Mehring, the protagonist, within my particular section, discovers the powerful nature of water. The beauty of nature blossoms by the nourishment of the water and Mehring’s fondness of nature does as well.
Shortly after the drought, an early rain comes across the land and many flowers are blooming. As Mehring describes, “But no, with the early rain, they are out all over the veld. . . he has counted seventeen over on the island that the fire made visible. . . and where the river is narrower and the banks are clear of the reeds, red-hot pokers are flowering right out of the water.” (174) The unusual flower identified later in the chapter as being the orange River Lily, is growing out of the submersion of the water. Mehring is bewildered because it has been awhile since any sort of beautiful flower has bloomed due to lack of water. The water comes and nourishes the heart of the land and the people. Mehring because of the growth of the beautiful but new species of flower is able to communicate his appreciation for the beauty of the land and especially the river. Mehring goes out among the tall patches of grass and becomes a part of the wonder for a few moments. Gordimer states, “Everything bends, blends, folds. Everything is continually swaying, flowing, rippling waving surging streaming fingering. He is standing there with his shoes all wet with the dew and he feels he himself is swaying, the pulsation of his blood is moving him on his own axis (that’s the sensation) as it seems to do to accommodate the human body to the movement of a ship.” (183) The description given of his own personal experience with being alone within nature is described as the movement of water. The movement of water is continually flowing, rippling when a leaf or any other disturbance hits it, and his blood is flowing on its own axis like a ship would do sailing across the open seas. With the movement of water, Mehring is able to open up and understand that nature also lives, breathes, and needs nourishment such as water to live and grow just like humans.
Mehring discovers the natural beauty of the world through the nourishment and movement of water. The long awaited anticipation for rain brings about the orange River Lily that demonstrates the similar aspect of a rainbow after a long period of rain. Mehring also while being within the movement of nature, is experiencing it through the motion of how water moves but instead of water, it is his own blood coursing through his body. Water demonstrates within this novel the ability to allow growth not only among the physical aspect of nature but within the inner self of Mehring.