The Power of One

The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay is a moving novel or bildungsroman about a young, underprivileged boy struggling to fit within society and his journey through life where he discovers the power of one; “one idea, one heart, one mind, one plan, one determination” (Courtenay 1989, page 124). The story is set in South Africa during the late 1930s as Hitler is gaining much influence. Peekay, as we know him, is placed in boarding school where he is severely bullied because of his English background. He is considered an outcast and consistently called Pisskop and a Rooinek as the Boer children show their hatred towards him because of the devastation of the Boer war 40 years earlier. This bullying continues when World War II starts but is now being treated as a Nazi Prisoner of War. Peekay makes a compromise with the Judge, the main bully, and in so doing did his homework in return for less harsh punishment. Eventually the school year ended and Peekay had to move to Barberton rather than going back to his farm. This was a long, two day train ride, and during this time was introduced to Hoppie Groenewald who has given Peekay hope in life. Hoppie was a boxer who often fought larger men and won, Peekay see this and relating to him because Peekay too had to fight against larger people. Peekay therefore saw Hoppie as a role model to what he should be doing.

The Book is very violent and shows the true situation of bullying, not hiding the harsh facts of reality for Peekay. It also clearly portrays the racism of the time both between the Boers and the English as well as the mutual hate towards the native Africans. The language used it the book is very graphic, derogatory words such as Kaffir being used to describe the Africans as well as a lot of swearing and over all bad language. Although as a Christian it is hard to read such a vocabulary it depicts the life in South Africa of the time and helps us empathise with the situation and characters. The overall writing of the book is descriptive and uses a lot of metaphors and other forms of imagery such as “death was a cold as ice” (Courtenay 1989, page 5). These conventions and other descriptive language helps readers to understand the story and helps them picture it in their heads, appealing to the audience.

I think by the end of the book Peekay will come to terms with himself and the fact that he is different. I also think he will take the advice of Hoppie and take his example, putting it to play in his life. Therefore I think although Peekay will have to deal with bullying for most of the book he will be able to fight back and teach the bullies that although they may be bigger, if you fight with your head and then with your heart anyone can overcome the horrible situation.