Representation, Attitudes, Values and Beliefs

Bryce Courtenay represents different characters in different ways and therefore also their points of view, their attitudes, their values and beliefs. Each character, no matter how insignificant, was constructed to play a role in Peekay’s life, whether it was to teach him, to love him, to cause him harm or to alter his point of view.  

Nanny was the first adult in the book to really influence Peekay; she was represented as a warm, loving African woman who cherished Peekay and cared greatly for him. She was Peekay’s basis to life, his mother not being there for him as he was a young boy, Nanny, Mary Mandoma, being the mother Peekay needed. She loved Peekay and cried when Peekay told her of the night water problem and the bullying, calling on the Inkosi-Inkosikazi for help. This man was the great medicine man of the Zulus and some women though there was no reason to call on him for such a trivial matter but nanny persisted showing the great love she had for Peekay.  

Mevrou was the next adult to influence Peekay’s life and was represented as a bully. She whipped and abused Peekay along with the other teachers, the Boer people hating the English for the wrong that was done in the Boer war of 1899-1902.

However as Peekay left the boarding school to go to the lowveld he met Hoppie Groenewald who taught Peekay the essence of the power of one and the idea of fighting first with the head and then with the heart so that small could beat big. Hoppie was represented as a big role model for Peekay and though Peekay only knew him 24 hours his memory stayed strong and was referred to many times in the book.

Doc, Mrs Boxall, Mr and Miss Bornstein and Geel Piet as well as some other adults, greatly influence Peekay’s life and were represented as mentors of Peekay. Some showed love for Peekay while others helped him to grow as a boxer and as a man, some stimulating his mental ability as a musician, a botanist and an academic.

Though there were some great role models in Peekay’s life, his mother, Marie and Pastor Mulvery were represented as antagonists. They fought for Peekay to quit boxing and tried to force upon him a false Christianity. This therefore caused Peekay to have some very skewed and cynical ideas about Christianity, shaping his ideas, attitudes, values and beliefs later in the book.

Some children in the book such as the Judge and the Jury were represented as antagonists, looking to bully Peekay for his English blood. The Boer war had caused the Boers to hate the English and this transferred to the children. However, other children in the book, though not many, were represented as friends to Peekay such as Hymie and the other wooden spoon goons, helping him grow intellectually and as a boxer. There were not many children in the book that really influenced Peekay other than at the boarding schools indicating that Peekay was more of a loner, possibly caused by his intellect and the fact that he was always the youngest in the class.

Throughout the book Peekay shows developing attitudes, values and beliefs. At the beginning of the novel Peekay had tolerance for God and for the Natives, growing up around them and yet still occasionally referred to them as kaffirs, a derogatory word for the Africans. However as Peekay develops as a boy into a man he starts to mock God as he comes into contact with his mother who is now a born-again Christian and Pastor Mulvery takes the Bible out of context in many situations. Peekay becomes influenced also by Doc’s idea of Christianity where God doesn’t care about sin, only about the creation of the world He made and so as the book moves forward Peekay becomes less and less tolerant of God though still understanding sin. However as the book draws to an end, Peekay starts to show no tolerance for God but instead feel he needs to become a spiritual terrorist. Along with this need to become a spiritual terrorist, came the hate of apartheid and the feeling of being equal with both the African tribes and the Boers. He came to hate racism and the idea of racial superiority, seeing this in his life and being a type of mediator between all three groups as he had lived, learned and trained under and with all three groups. Peekay was an accepted Englishman but also seen as a Boer by the Boxing squad and looked up to as a chief by the African tribes. This showed greatly when he smuggled letters and tobacco into prison and then further when he started a black weekend school and his tolerance of the Boers showing by his friendly nature with the boxing squad and also Jannie Geldenhuis. Therefore Peekay felt the need to box and win against the Judge at the end of the book, both to seek revenge for the killing of Granpa Chook and the bullying and racism he received as a child.    

Read more...

Peekay

When novels are written it is essential that the characters are well developed and highly constructed. This is important in order to make the story realistic and believable and also help to appeal to and interest the reader. Therefore Bryce Courtenay in The Power of One constructed Peekay through speech, action, appearance and other pieces of information to help us empathise with him and see the bildungsroman through Peekay and therefore the author’s eyes. Courtenay also develops Peekay throughout the story through generic and language conventions in order to fulfill his purpose, appeal to the audience while writing through his context, the context of himself as Peekay. 

The way Peekay has been developed shows and portrays Courtenay in a ‘larger than life’ character form. This is because although Peekay was based on himself the purpose of his book was not to tell an autobiography but teach people about the hurt of life, the problems of racism and the idea of the independence important to the power of one. Therefore, through speech, he portrays Peekay as a very intelligent, logical boy though somewhat naïve to the illogical things of life. Courtenay shows through Peekay’s words and thoughts that although he was a smart, academic child and excelled at school, his mind was not up to date with the thinking of the world. He did not understand what death was as can be seen in the first chapter when the bullying at the boarding school started and he used this naïve mind set to create a camouflage. As the book develops so does Peekay’s speech, in two ways; first, Peekay becomes more able to develop and understand illogical things and enjoyed the stimulation of the mind that he received from talking to various characters such as Doc, Mrs. Boxall, Miss Bornstein and especially Hymie. However with this development came the large amount of blasphemy and swear that came from his mouth as he set out to reject God and become a spiritual terrorist.

His action also developed throughout the book, as a young timid boy he was a bed wetter and a frightened character, being bullied and abused. However as the book develops and Peekay meets Hoppie, the idea of becoming the welterweight champion of the world formed in his mind and slowly Peekay learns to stand up for himself, formulating the power of one. Peekay learnt to understand that “the power of one was the courage to remain separate, to think through to the truth and not to be beguiled by convention or the plausible arguments of those who expected to maintain power whatever the cost” (Courtenay 1989, page 442). Though Peekay’s boxing, he learnt to become an independent force, a person able to deal with life as it comes without the help of others who trust couldn’t be given. Peekay also went through the book thinking ‘first with the head, then with the heart’, helping him to overcome the issue of size and stature, his small frame able to overcome big by the end of the book when he could finally seek revenge and win the fight against the Judge.

Peekay’s character appears to be the small, incapable type of person, seeming to be weak and therefore often bullied. However throughout the book it is evident that though Peekay was small, an underdog of sorts, through the power of one and the advice of Hoppie, he was able to beat big and overcome the bad situations in life. He was always fighting those who were older and larger than he was and yet he never lost a fight, whether when boxing or while working in the mines. Peekay, though close to death on at least two occasions was able to fight through the situation and make it to the end.

Courtenay uses many generic and language conventions to formulate and develop Peekay both as a character and as a narrator. Through the use of metaphorical and other figurative language the author shows the narrator, Peekay, to be able to relate and understand people enough to explain things in an easier form through symbols. Courtenay develops Peekay’s character through this as well, especially at the beginning of the book when Peekay thinks death in fire and something that happens to pigs in a slaughter house. Construction and development of a character in a bildungsroman is essential to draw a reader in and help them understand the character and therefore empathise with them. Therefore the author must formulate a character through generic and language conventions, through his speech, actions, appearance and other necessary facts such as that of his circumcision, a reason for, in conjunction to his English heritage, being bullied.   

Read more...

Narration

The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay is narrated in a first person point of view with Peekay as the speaker. The story is about his childhood but is spoken when he is seemingly older, using more defined language of an adult and adding little thoughts and analytical notes about situations and ideas. This narration is therefore structured to be a stream of consciousness, putting after thoughts and rambling questions towards the reader that are going through his mind as he his speaking.  The books is written as an open door to Peekay’s mind many years later, helping us discover his thought and ideas, his deeps fears, sadness and feelings throughout the story. Though doing this Courtenay is appealing to the reader, helping the reader empathise and sympathise with Peekay as we see him through childhood as he develops from a naïve, innocent boy into an independent man. Through doing this we can feel as Peekay feels and think as he thinks, yearning to find out what is going to happen next.

The tone of Peekay is a developing character throughout the book. The narrator develops as the story develops even though the story is being told many years later. It is as if Peekay is going back to the time and being washed away in the events, his mind being that of a 5 year old again as he rediscovers his time as a child. This however is mixed with the tone of humour as he speaks of his naivety as he realises the things he didn’t understand back then and remembering what had happened and thing that people had said, knowing he had used this later in life. In the first chapters as he is still a young boy he sees he naïve understanding and is not critical, however as he is developing in the book, events are described more critically and at a distance as if he is not ready to relive it. His tone changes from sympathetic to distant and unforgiving, not humouring the reader as he tells of the tragedy of growing up and developing into a man.

Read more...

Themes and Symbols

Within the Bildungsroman The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay there are many reoccurring symbolism and themes in order to have a common thread throughout the novel. There are many ideas and references throughout the book that help appeal to the reader and allow them to make links and further understand the text.  Ideas and symbols such as the three waterfalls, the loneliness birds and the swastika frequently make appearances in the book as well as literary references such as to the Bible and Christianity as well as to the story of Alice in Wonderland.

The three waterfalls made its first appearance in chapter one where the Inkosi-Inkosikazi came to Peekay’s farming home after he returned home for the holidays at boarding school. Peekay had been suffering from bedwetting and his nanny called on the Chief of Chiefs to cure Peekay of his ‘night water’. The Inkosi-Inkosikazi showed Peekay the dreamtime world where he had to jump into the 3 waterfalls and then across 10 stones. This became a reoccurring theme throughout the book, Peekay going back to the place when things really mattered. The Inkosi-Inkosikazi became a type of role model for Peekay through this dreamtime and as Peekay develops so does the dream, formulating to link with his life. When Doc died Peekay had gone into this dreamtime state and the dream turned its way into informing Peekay of his death and further changing into more of a positive dream as Peekay comes to terms with the passing of his dear friend and mentor.

Another symbol was the loneliness birds which started to come about when Granpa Chook died and when Peekay was being severely bullied by the Judge. This showed the beginning of the power of one, the idea of being lonely because you are different but as Peekay learnt to cope with life the loneliness birds became less of his life, and stopped laying stone eggs inside him, referring to the troubles that would get Peekay down, but still symbolised that he was alone. This symbol comes about a few times in the book but instead of the birds being there but not laying stone eggs, at the end of the book the loneliness birds have disappeared, indicating that Peekay had fully come to the power of one.

The swastika, the symbol of the Nazi party, had many meanings throughout history. To some it meant good luck, to others it referred to the good to come, more people saw it as a representation of power and the Nazis saw it is a symbol of their struggle. In the book it makes its first appearance in the second chapter after the boarders come back from holidays. It was tattooed to the Judges arm and Peekay saw this as a symbol for the revenge towards his ‘hatless snake’, Peekay thinking it looked like “…blue lines which crossed at the centre like two headless snakes wriggling across each other”(Courtenay 1989, page 26). The Judge most likely saw this as a sign of power and a commitment to Hitler. Many of the Boers originated for Germany and the English obviously from England so although South Africa was in line with the Allies the Boers often tended to lean to the German side because of the hatred towards the English, transferring into their children.

The Bible and Christianity are referred to throughout the book, first in not such a mocking way, when appearing in the first chapter when quoting “visited upon the sons, unto the third generation”.  This was not a mocking but a quote to show the truth of the situation, however as the book develops and Peekay becomes more independent and less naive he realises, in his own mind, that the idea of Christianity is pathetic. Although this is not what we as Christians believe, this is portrayed in the book and shown through the way Pastor Mulvery only uses parts of the Bible to appeal to his idea, taking much out of context. This shows that Peekay viewed the idea of Christianity very cynically and possibly because of the upbringing he had, being bullied and struggling to survive and also because he was only exposed to one, and a very strange one at that, denomination. This reference to the Bible and Christianity therefore shows the development of Peekay, although bad, and shows his growing independence.

Alice in Wonderland appears with the names of Dee and Dum, the servants in Peekay’s home and also refers to the rose garden in his Barberton home as something from ­Alice in Wonderland. This is not the only reference to fairy tales though, Peekay thinking that the Crystal Cave of Africa felt like something out of a fairy tale. By doing this Courtenay is appealing to the magic in the rest of the book, the idea of Inkosi-Inkosikazi, the Tadpole Angel and the idea of African Osmosis where the African tribes know something has happened before it was possible for them to know. This is even shown in Peekay when after his boxing match with Gideon Mandoma he knows that Doc had died, confirming that he was missing a few hours later when he received a call from Mrs. Boxall.

Symbols and themes often develop and become a thread throughout a book; this is clearly evident through the bildungsroman The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay. Through the idea of the waterfalls it shows Peekay develops because of a role model, the loneliness birds showing he uses the advice he receives and becomes an independent man and the swastika showing that there will always be those who seek power and revenge but in the right mind set even the smallest of people can overcome the trouble and let small beat big. The references to other literature further develop the story, allowing the appeal of magic and help to show the development of the main character who grows, though in our eyes the wrong way, into a independent man.

Read more...

Racial Ideology

The racial ideology of South Africa from the 1930s-1950s was one of apartheid and cruelty. Although apartheid was not formally used until the 1960s the ideas still ran strong in the society. This is evident throughout the book The Power of One such as when Peekay is getting takies on his last day of boarding school at the beginning of the book. The shoe store had two entries and sections, one only for the whites and the other only for the blacks. This laid the basis of apartheid, the strong discrimination towards the native African tribes. This is also further displayed once Peekay goes to Prince of Whales Boys School where at the boxing matches the Blacks had to be separated from the whites. This was paired with the derogatory name of Kaffir used to describe all the black tribes as one. The Natives were beaten and used as slaves, even Peekay’s poor family having a Nanny and two servants. It is also evident that the Blacks were harshly treated through the prisons they were kept in, the torture they received inhumane as can be seen through the way Geel Piet died. 

By 1948 Apartheid were already strong, laws being put in places such as no mixed marriages between Whites and Blacks and the distinction between White and Black jobs. Although these laws were in place there were still cases of half-caste children such as the case of Geel Piet; this caused much pain for the child because they were neither accepted by the Whites of the Blacks and suffered severe racism and abuse. However, through this we can see and learn that such racism is not isolated and happens in many countries which have been colonized while natives still inhabited the land. Therefore we should use this evidence, show the world the pain it causes and stop the superior thinking of settling migrants.  

However, it wasn’t only the Natives that were being treated harshly through the mutual hate of the Boers and English. The English, or what were referred to by the Boers as Rooineks, were also hated severely by the Boers, receiving harsh racism. This was caused by the treacherous treatment the British gave the Boers during the Boer War, tensions still strong. 40 years later the hate had transferred to the children and grandchildren of the Boers of 1900, severe hatred being shown to Peekay throughout the book. This can already be seen as he entered the boarding school and was bullied by the Judge and even the teachers feeling hatred towards him as seen with the incident when Miss du Plessis cut Peekay’s ear. This hatred caused much pain for the English children, they knowing themselves different but not being able to change or fit in, suffering unfairly because of the generations before.

Read more...