Discussion Questions

1. From the time Hillela changes her name from Kim until the closing scene of the novel, the reader watches this central character re-invent herself? Is there a point in her journey where she discovers who she really is? If so, when does this occur?

2. Do you agree with Pauline’s observation that Hillela’s “field was, surely, men”? Is this comment jaded by her own feelings toward Hillela or is there truth in it?

3.  Hillela is in many ways influenced by Olga, Pauline and her absent mother, Ruth. How do these women shape Hillela and in what ways?

4.  How are we to understand the relationship between Hillela and Sasha? What is the impact of his arrest and imprisonment on the reader and on the development of the novel? Is Hillela in any way responsible for Sasha’s plight? What about Pauline?

5.  Look at the men in the novel. Compare the white males (Joe, Len, Brad, Arthur) to the African men (Whaila, the ‘General’ and even the mythic Mandela). What does Gordimer’s depiction of these men tell us?

6.  Like The House Gun, A Sport of Nature is both personal and political? Which novel do you find more effective on both counts?