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A WALK IN
THE NIGHT
By Alex La Guma
The story A Walk in the Night by Alex La Guma is based
on the happenings in and around a squalid part of Cape Town, in South Africa,
called District Six.
The story begins with a stressed Michael Adonis, the
central character of the story, loitering about the streets of the district. He
has lost his job at the metal sheet factory because of an altercation he had
with his white supervisor.
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| Alex La Guma |
A WALK IN
THE NIGHT
By Alex La Guma
Setting: South Africa
PLOT SUMMARY
One
The story begins with Michael Adonis,
known as Mikey, who has been fired from his job at a sheet-metal factory. Mikey
walks home through his impoverished neighbourhood, seething with resentment
over what has happened. The neighbourhood is filled with gang activity and
prostitution. He goes to the Portuguese Restaurant where he meets his friend
Willie Boy at the café and tells him about being fired for swearing at a white
foreman who accused him of being lazy when he requested to use the washroom
(piss-house). Willieboy brags that he never wishes to work for whites. Mikey
refers to the foreman as “White sonofabitch” and promises to revenge by
saying “that sonavabitch, that bloody white sonavabitch, I’ll get him”.
(p.5)
Willieboy’s gang led by Foxy enters the
café to look for Sockies, a gang member who is supposed to assist them with a
burglary that night. The gang teases Mikey for being a “good boy”,
because he refuses to join them. They ask Mikey to tell Sockies that they are
looking for him in case he meets him and they leave. Mikey pays the bills for
the food he has eaten and leaves the café.
Two
Mikey goes for a walk through the
neighbourhood to shake off his anger. During the course of his walk, he meets a
homeless boy named Joe and in their talk Joe informs Mikey that he has heard
that the City Council is planning to make the beaches so that only white people
can go there. Mikey gives him the money for food and he goes away. Mikey turns
towards the pub but is stopped and searched by police who suspect him of
possessing dagga (marijuana) but they find him with the money and cigarettes
only. Discovering that he has nothing they leave him.
Three
Mikey goes to a pub where his mind
reminds him of the incidents of the police and the loss of his job. Foxy and
other gang members come to ask him if he has seen Sockies yet. He talks to his
friends; a taxi-driver and Mr Greene about racial injustice in South Africa and
the way the Negros were also killed in America. The taxi-driver narrates a
crime in their neighbourhood, where a man named Flippy wanted to stab Cully-
the butcher man for messing around with his girl and Cully brings a butcher
knife and stabs him in the stomach to the point that his guts almost come out
but he tries to hold them back. The ambulance comes and takes Flippy to
hospital while Cully is taken to jail. He continues drinking while the driver
leaves and later he too leaves.
Four
He finally heads home to his tenement
where he lived. At the foot of the staircases he meets a girl named Hazel; who
is going out. After a brief chat the two depart. Mikey climbs upstairs and meets
his neighbour, an alcoholic and diabetic Irish old man named Uncle Doughty, who
invites him over for a drink. We are told the old man had been an actor, in
Great Britain, South Africa and Australia and had served in two wars but is now
hopeless as he is deserted and abandoned waiting for death. Mikey supports him
to his room. He tells Mikey that his wife was a coloured lady. He laments how
he used to be something but now he has nobody to look after him and he started
crying.
Still angry at the injustice he had
suffered that day, Mikey says “what the hell you crying about. You old white
bastard, you got nothing to worry about.” (p.25). He taunts Uncle Doughty
by withholding his bottle of cheap wine. Uncle Doughty unintentionally insults
a drunken Mikey, who mixes his words with those of the foreman who fired him.
In a rage, Mikey strikes Doughty in the head (sprouting skull) and kills
him.
Five
After sobering up and realizing what he
had done, he says “God, I didn’t mean it. I didn’t mean to kill the blerry
old man” (p.27). He flees back to his own apartment and quickly shuts the
door, because he says “the law don’t like white people being finished off.”
(p.28). He makes sure that nobody sees him.
Six
Police Constable called Raalt in a
patrol van is thinking about his stubborn wife and says “Well her mother
warned me she was a no-good bitch, but I was silly enough to think nothing of
it” (p.29). His wife had been good looking before they had married but now
she had gone to seed and that irritated him. The driver of the patrol wagon
suggests “I think we ought to resume our patrol. Don’t you think we’ve been
parked long enough?” (p.29) Then, they leave and continue with the patrol.
Seven
Willieboy thinks of going to borrow
money from Mikey and on the way he meets the gang (Foxy and the other two
guys). They ask him whether he has seen Sockies but he says nay. They ask him
to tell him to meet them at the club. He leaves them and on his way he comes
across a couple making love in the darkened doorway of the tenement between a
fruit shop and a shoe store. He goes to Mikey’s room and tried to open it but
it was locked. When Mikey does not answer the door, Willieboy goes to ask
Doughty for money instead. When he knocks no one replies. As he opens the door
he sees the old man’s corpse.
Eight.
In the room down the corridor, a
stevedore –Franky Lorenzo, wearing a singlet and corduroy is lying facing the
ceiling. He was so tired because of hard work and the fact that his wife had
earlier told him that she was once more pregnant. His four children (two boys
and two girls) share one bed and a one thread-bare, worn, sweaty blanket in the
same room. Grace, Franky’s wife is breast-feeding the fifth baby. He believes
that children are riches for poor people even when they don’t have food in the
house to feed them.
He wonders why rich people have enough
money to feed up to twenty children but they only get one or two. Franky shouts
at his wife to control her births by drinking the pills and she gets offended
and cries. Franky apologises sincerely and asks for some tea. His wife goes to
take the water in the latrine tap while he holds the baby.
Nine
Willieboy is frightened and runs away
down the stairs after seeing the dead body. A woman sees him running from Uncle
Doughty’s room and goes to inspect, only to find that Doughty is dead.
Meanwhile, Constable Raalt is thinking
of killing his wife but then decides against it because it is a sin to kill.
The driver wishes to be separated from Raalt because he is shaming the white
race and ruining their superiority. Then Raalt goes to Jolly Boys Social club.
When he enters the room all people inside show various reactions. He strikes a
man called Chips until blood forms in a pool in the corner of his mouth. Chips
takes out the money and gives him five pounds and he leaves.
Ten.
Mikey is still in his room when he
hears the door-knob rattle. He wonders who the hell could that be and says “Why
the hell don’t they go away”. He says that he didn’t mean to kill the
Oldman but he doesn’t seem sympathetic as he declares “To hell with all of
them and that old man too. What for did he want to go on living for anyway?”
He utters many abusive words in his mind and thought of getting a wife. A woman
screamed outside and people gathered to witness the murder of the old Irishman.
One woman is heard saying “old man. I saw who done it. I saw who done it”. Afterwards,
the crowd go away Mikey opens his door and moves downstairs. Foxy and his
friends still looking for Sockies, see him disappearing into the darkness.
Eleven
Willieboy is walking in street called
District Six trying to hide his identity in the shadows. He thinks of whether
they would suspect him for the murder but he assures himself that he has
nothing to do with it. He goes to Miss Gipsy place and asks for wine but the
woman seems reluctant claiming that he has to pay first. She gives him cheap
wine and tells him to go away after finishing because she is expecting some
customers.
Finally the customers; Red, George, Ray
Ybarra plus three African girls arrived and have a drink. In his drunken state
Willieboy accuses Gipsy for allowing them to mess with African girls. They
become angry and start a serous fight. He takes a knife and George throws a
bottle and missed Willieboy by a yard. As Willieboy advances forward with a
knife he falls down and Gipsy hits him behind the ear. They drug him and place
him out on the stoep. When he regains his senses he goes down the street.
Twelve
Constable Raalt sees the crowd and goes
to ask them what is happening. They tell him there is a dead body upstairs. One
man in the crowd called John Abrahams says he knows who did it and others look
at him angrily. He explains how Willieboy gave him a match to light his
cigarette when he was going upstairs and he came downstairs running then a
woman screamed. When he went upstairs with the others they found the Oldman
dead. So he believes Willieboy did it.
Franky Lorenzo alerted him to stop
narrating but Raalt threatened him saying “Do you want to be arrested for
intimidating a witness and defending the ends of justice?” Then, Abrahams
continued to say the boy he saw was wearing a yellow shirt. Constable Raalt
determines to get him even if he had to gather all black bastards wearing a
yellow shirt.
Thirteen.
Mikey goes to the Indian café where he
meets Joe at the table eating. He had bought the food with the money Mikey gave
him. As they talk Joe discovers that Mikey is not alright. Mikey admits
that he had troubles disturbing him. And his trouble was “He felt as if he
was the only man who had ever killed another and thought himself a curiosity at
which people should wonder. He longed to be questioned about it, about the way
he had felt when he had done it, about the impulse that had caused him to take
the life of another. But the difficulty was that to reveal his secret was
dangerous, so he had to carry it with him for all time or accept the
consequence.” (62)
Foxy and the two youths come again
looking for Sockies. They ask Mikey to join them in their mission. Mikey feels
good about the idea but doesn’t respond immediately, so they give him time to
make up his mind and meet them at the club. When they leave Joe warns Mikey not
to join them. Joe narrates how he was separated from his family that was living
in Prince Lane a long time ago. That his father left one morning and never came
back.
His father had been jobless and life
was getting tough that they had no food but they had to beg from door to door. They
also failed to pay the house rent so the landlord evicted them. His mother sold
the furniture and the family returned to the country but Joe refused to go and
ended up in the streets. Mikey leaves but Joe warns him again not to join the
gangsters.
Fourteen.
Willieboy walks in the streets feeling
muzzy and his head aching. He feels angry and humiliated by the manhandling he
had received at Gipsy’s shebeen. He promises to revenge. He thinks of how he
had wished to have some sort of power driven to wherever he wanted, giving
orders for the execution of enemies.
He meets Mr Greene in the streets and
beats him asking him for money. Mr. Greene says that he has got nothing and
when Willieboy searches him and finds he has nothing he leaves him to go home.
As Willieboy reaches the end of the street he sees a police van.
Fifteen
As Mikey walks in the street he meets
Joe who appreciates for the money he gave him for food. Joe advises Mikey to
stay away from Foxy’s gang because they would land him in trouble. “But
they’ll get you in trouble, Mikey. They break into places and steal, and I
heard they stabbed a couple of other johns” (p.71) Mikey was angry and told
him to go to hell. Mikey goes to the Club where he meets Foxy and the other
guys. They propose the deal they are going to do and ask him to take the part
of Sockies and he agrees.
They smoke marijuana and give it to
Mikey as well who feels happy after smoking. They wake up Toyer the driver and
tell him to prepare for the business ahead. They hear the sound of a gun shot
from outside and Foxy goes out to investigate.
Sixteen
Constable Raalt and the driver are in
their patrol and the driver is not happy by the way Cons. Raalt keeps on
talking about his troubles with his wife. He is also not happy by the way Raalt
keeps on bullying Africans and he suspects they may one day turn on him. He
remembers how he once loved a girl and was writing occasional letters to her
when he is interrupted by Raalt’s harsh voice.
Raalt had seen a Black boy with a
yellow shirt and suspected it is Willieboy. They start chasing him ordering him
to stop running. The driver tries to stop Raalt from shooting the boy.
Willieboy hides somewhere while Raalt is searching for him. People start
gathering after hearing the sounds of the shot but he threatens them to get
back. In his hideout Willieboy wonders why they are chasing him.
He remembers when he was 7 years old
his mother slapped him for buying fish with the money he got as a commission
from the sub-agent of the newspapers he was selling. He also remembers how his
father used to come back home drunk and beat him and his mother.
Finally, Willieboy decides to run from
his hideout and Raalt fires his gun after seeing him. Willieboy searches for
his knife after seeing Raalt, but Raalt fires again and Willieboy falls down.
Seventeen
The crowd of people is confused and
they wonder why the whites keep on shooting them. The driver blames Raalt for
shooting Willieboy while they were about to catch him. He proposes that they
should call the ambulance and rush him to the hospital but Raalt protests and
says they should take him to the police station. They load him in the back of
the van to take him to the station.
Eighteen
Willieboy is inside the van and the
thoughts are flashing through his mind. Raalt wants to smoke and discovers that
he has no cigarette left. He asks the driver to drive to the Portuguese
Restaurant, but the driver warns him that they should first rush the boy to the
station. Raalt insists and goes to the restaurant and starts chatting with the
Portuguese proprietor. The driver comes in to tell him that the boy has to be
rushed to the station because he had screamed for help. Willieboy slowly starts
losing the feelings of sensation and finally he dies.
Nineteen
Foxy and his gang are getting ready to
go for the robbery. Uncle Doughty’s body has been removed and the police have
locked his room. John Abrahams is lying in his room wondering why he has
betrayed his people. “He thought dully, What’s it help you, turning on your
own people?” (p.91). Joe makes his way back to the sea walking alone
through the starlight darkness. Frank Lorenzo is sleeping peacefully while his
wife Grace is awake in the dark.
INTRODUCTION
A Walk in the Night and other
stories is a novella by South African author and
anti-apartheid activist, Alex La Guma. The book was published in 1968 and
contains seven short stories that detail the injustices arising from South
Africa’s system of racial apartheid. The title piece, “A Walk in the
Night”, tells the story of an impoverished black South African man who
is tempted to join a gang after being unjustly fired from his job. The rest of
the events in the plot of the story take place in the same night as the title
suggests.
The novella “A walk in the night”
revolves around the themes of racism, social inequity, poverty, crime,
and injustice. The story examines the lives of various marginalized
people in apartheid era South Africa, and the things that they have in common,
as well as what divides them. They also depict the dehumanization of black and
poor people during apartheid and condemn the widespread social injustices of
this chapter in the nation’s history.
STYLE
The author of the novella has used several techniques
in presenting the intended message.
¨ Narrative technique. The
dominant style is a narrative technique in which the author takes the role of
the narrator and tells what is happening.
¨ Dialogue. There are several dialogues in the plot of the
story bringing the characters and events to life. They help to reveal the
personality traits of some characters like Constable Raalt and Andries: (p.57)
“Looks like he was hit on the head”.
“It’s a job of the detectives” the driver said….
“What’s your hurry man? Constable Raalt asked.
“this is our patrol, isn’t it?”
¨ Point of view. The dominant point of view is Omniscient
third Person point of view where most of the events are viewed from the
narrator’s eye. There are also some cases of first person point of view
in which some characters like Mikey narrate their personal experience.
¨ The use of Songs. To enrich his style he has used
a song in page 5
When mah baby lef’ me,
She gimme a mule to rahd
When mah baby lef’ me,
She gimme a mule to rahd
PLOT.
The plot of the story is largely straightforward
narration employing chronological plot in succession of nineteen chapters.
However there are some cases of flashback in the plot of the story.
¨ Willieboy’s story. When he is
chased by the police, he remembers as a child the way his mother used to shout
at him “You been naughty again?” and the way his father used to beat him
and his mother. (p.79-80)
¨ Joe’s background. Joe narrates how his family was
poor that they failed to pay the house rent and the landlord evicted them. They
sold the furniture and went back to the country but he refused to go with them
and ended up in the streets.
SETTING
The setting of the novella is typically urban. The
time is during the era of apartheid and racial injustice in South Africa. There
are several events and places that prove the authenticity of an urban setting
some of which are the sub-settings of the major setting.
¨ Presence of
Restaurants, bars and cafés and night Clubs are common in towns (cities).
¨ People
living in rented tenements, is common in town.
¨ Presence of
factories.
¨ Night police
patrols.
¨ Crimes and
gang activities like robbery, drug addiction, prostitution etc. are common in
town.
LANGUAGE USE
The language used is simple to understand though
there is frequent use of non-standard English and dialectal words that might
pose a difficulty in understanding for readers who are not conversant with this
dialect.
“Howzit”, “Hoit pally” (p.3) Other words
include dagga for marijuana,
Waar loop jy rond, jong?” (p.10)
Also abusive language has been used to a large
extent not only to show the Africans’ resentment towards the whole situation of
racial injustice but also to portray the picture of moral decay because such
language is used even by the Whites like Constable Raalt.
“You bastards, you want t get shot too” (p
84)
“That sonofabitch, that bloody sonavabich”, (p.5)
Figures of Speech.
Simile
¨ Cracked voice like the twang of a flat guitar string. (p.5)
¨ Drops of blood like lipstick marks on his pink forehead. (p.8)
¨ He just seemed to have happened, appearing in the District like a
cockroach emerging through a floorboard. (p.8)
¨ They had hard, frozen faces as if carved out of pink ice….(p.19)
¨ The voice was hard and flat as the snap of a steel string…(p.10)
¨ Under the cap he had a wily, grinning face and eyes as brown and alert
as cockroaches. (p15)
¨ …his head swinging gently back to normal like a merry-go-round slowing
down and finally stopping. (p.19)
¨ His shirt was out dangling around him like a night-gown. (p.22)
¨ He made his way slowly along the wall, like a great crab, breathing
stertorously. (p.22)
¨ The room was as hot and airless as a newly-opened tomb…(p.24)
¨ …the flow of Hanover Street was like the opening of a cave.(p.28)
Metaphor
¨ (The pub) It was a forum, a parliament, a fountain of wisdom and a
cesspool of nonsense…(p.12)
¨ Money’s all the trouble in the world. (p.23)
¨ …her eyes were dark wells of sadness mixed with joy. (p.34)
Personification
¨ …at his legs and buttocks, the pain jumping through him. (p.88)
¨ …but the stars remained bright, flickering and shimmering so that the
sky was alive with them. (p.90)
Oxymoron
¨ Michael Adonis held it out of his reach, grinning and feeling pleasantly
malicious. (p26)
¨ …because he was tired and irritable and happy and worried all at the
same time. (p33)
¨ …she had a young-old face….(p.36)
Symbolism
Goose – woman (p.18)
Exaggeration.
¨ Michael Adonis said, but took the stick-thin arm …..(p.23)
¨ He waggled the bottle in front of the decayed ancient face with its
purple veins… (p.26)
¨ A flood of thoughts bubbled through his mind. (p.27)
¨ …a pool of blood was forming under him spreading on the asphalt. (p.83)
CHARACTERS
Michael Adonis (Mikey)
¨ He is a murderer. He kills the Old Irishman by
striking him with a bottle of wine. (p.27)
¨ He is abusive. He is so abusive and uses abusive words when he is
angry. Eg “that sonavabitch, that bloody white
sonavabitch, I’ll get him”. (p.5)
¨ He is revengeful. He plans to revenge against the
injustice done to him by whites. “That bloody
white sonavabitch, I’ll get him”. (p.5) That is the reason why he hits
Uncle Doughty, and joins the gang.
¨ He is a drunkard and a heavy
smoker. He smokes cigarettes every time and later he
smokes dagga. He also drinks wine heavily.
¨ He is hot-tempered. Joe advices him politely not to
join the gang but he answers Joe harhly. “Go to hell. Leave me alone” (p.71)
¨ He is a bad decision maker. When he is
fired he becomes moody and promises to revenge, he kills the old Irishman just
over a minor misunderstanding and finally joins the gang of robbers.
¨ He hates white people. After
killing Uncle Doughty he does not feel guilty of the same but he feels
superior.
¨ He has a changing behaviour. In other
words he has no firm stand. He was a nice man that even Foxy’s gang acknowledged
that he cannot accept to join them but later he joins them.
¨ He is a victim of racism. He is fired
from his job by a white foreman just because he asked to go to the piss-house
(toilet).
¨ He is poor. He is among the poor people who live in the
tenements and work for whites to earn a living. When he is fired from his job
he joins the gang of robbers.
Willieboy
¨ He is a victim of racial
injustice. He is killed by Constable Raalt just by being
suspected as a murderer.
¨ He is a heavy drunkard and a
smoker. Just like other guys in the society he smokes
cigarettes and drinks wine.
¨ He is poor. He goes to borrow money from Mikey then Uncle
Doughty and discovers the murder. He also goes to ask for cheap wine from Miss
Gipsy.
¨ He is quarrelsome/troublesome. He
quarrels with Miss Gipsy and his customers just after provoking them
interfering their relationships.
¨ He is a robber. He arrests Mr. Greene, beats and searches him
looking for money only to discover that he had no money. (p.69) Also when he
promises to pay Miss Gipsy for the wine she says “Soon as you get money? You
mean soon as you rob somebody again?” (p.48)
¨ He is a hypocrite. He walks around wearing a
crucifix and mentions words like Jesus save me! but he has no any
religious devotion. The author says “He wore a sportscoat over a yellow
T-shirt and a crucifix around his neck, more as a flamboyant decoration than as
an act of religious devotion” (p.3)
Joe.
¨ He is a homeless poor street boy. He comes
from a poor family that was forced to move to the country leaving him alone in
the city.
¨ He is a good advisor. He advises Mikey not to join
the gang because they will land him in trouble but Mikey ignores him.
¨ He is a victim of racial injustice. His family
is evicted from the house after failing to pay the house rent because his
father is jobless.
Constable Raalt
¨ He is a murderer and a hypocrite. He is
always thinking of killing his wife but decides against it, because it is sin.
However he ends up killing the innocent Willieboy as if it is not a sin to kill
an African.
¨ He is a cruel and a merciless police constable. He is so violent to Africans as he beats them mercilessly. Also when
he shoots Willieboy, the diver suggests calling the Ambulance but he refuses
and suggests taking the boy to the police station instead.
¨ He is a heavy smoker. He smokes cigarettes to the
point that Mr Andries is annoyed. He even ignores to take Willieboy to the station
and goes to look for a cigarette.
¨ He has no true love to his wife. He always
has trouble with his wife and sometimes thinks of killing her.
¨ He is a racist. He hates Africans and mistreats them.
Uncle Doughty.
¨ He is an ex-actor. He says “I used to be an
actor. God bless my soul.” (p.25)
¨ He is a deserted old man. The author
says “Now he was a deserted, abandoned ruin, destroyed by alcohol…” (p.23)
¨ He is a war veteran. He served in two wars. (p.23)
¨ He is a smoker, alcoholic, and diabetic. After being deserted he becomes alcoholic and a smoker waiting for
death. “This old man, who was an Irishman and who was dying of alcoholism,
diabetes and old age, had once been an actor” (p.23)
¨ He is muredered by Mikey. Mikey strikes his head with a bottle of wine and kills him.
Foxy and his gang.
¨ They are drug addicts (drunkards
and heavy smokers of dagga – marijuana.
¨ They are murderers. Joe warns Mikey “They break into places and steal, and I heard they stabbed
a couple of other johns” (p.71) he adds “They’ll
murder somebody and get hanged, Mikey”
¨ They are robbers. They plan and carry out robbery
missions in the city.
¨ They are bad advisors. They
advise Mikey to stop being a good guy and join their gang. They even influence
him to smoke dagga.
Gipsy
¨ She is a very tough and strong woman. The author
says “She was strong and she held onto him while Willieboy struggled”.
(p.52)
¨ She is a petty business woman. She owns a
café where she earns money to support her life.
¨ She humiliates Willieboy. After
giving him a bottle of cheap wine she tells him to leave after finishing
because she is expecting some respectable customers (p.48)
Franky Lorenzo
¨ He is apologetic. When he shouts at his wife and
offends her, he then apologises “Awright. It’s awright. I’m sorry I shouted”
(p.35)
¨ He is poor. He shares a room with his four children two boys
and two girls who share a bed and a worn out blanket.
¨ He works as a stevedore. This is a
person whose job is moving goods on and off ships. The author describes him
this way “He was a stevedore and worked like hell in the docks and he felt angry
with himself” (p.35)
John Abrahams
¨ He is a betrayer and cannot keep secrets. He betrays his fellow Africans by giving witness to the police
although he was not right.
¨ He is a smoker. Willieboy gives him a matchbox to light his
cigarette but later be gives false witness against him.
¨ He suffers intrapersonal conflict. After
betraying Willieboy he asks himself. “What’s it
help you, turning on your own people?” (p.91).
Andries
¨ He is a policeman and a driver of
the police patrol van.
¨ He is nervous. He fears the racial tension might one day result
into something terrible.
¨ He is kind-hearted and sympathetic. He hates
the way Cons. Raalt mistreats Africans. He wonders why he shot Willieboy while
they could just get hold of him. He also suggests calling the ambulance to rush
him to the hospital to save his life.
THEMATIC ANALYSIS
RACISM AND APARTHEID POLICY.
The author shows the extent to which racism was
tremendous in South Africa during the time of Apartheid policy. Africans were
marginalised in all spheres of existence. The following cases illustrate
the injustice, oppression and humiliation that was done to Africans on the basis of
colour bar.
¨ Racism in workplaces. Africans
are fired from their jobs just for minor reasons. Michael Adonis is a case in
point.
¨ Racism in settlement areas. Africans
live in dirty streets in rented tenements. Mikey, Franky Lorenzo, Abrahams and
others are living in one apartment. Even Andries wonders why Uncle Doughty –
white man – was living with the blacks. “What would a white man be doing
living in a place like this?” (p.57)
¨ Racism in social gathering. Joe and
Mikey discuss about how the City council plans to make the beaches to be
special for whites only. Joe says “I hear they are going to make the beaches
so only white people can go there?” (p.9).
¨ Racism in relationship. It is shown
that apart from South Africa, even in America people are treated on the basis
of colour bar. Mr Greene reports “I read how they hanged up a negro
in the street in America. Whites done it.” and then he adds “Some whites
took a negro out in the street and hanged him up. They said he did not look
properly at some woman.”(p.15) This was the time of Jim Crow laws in
America.
POVERTY
Poverty has spread all over the African location to
the point that many Africans have lost hopes and engage in illegal crimes due
to poor life. The following are cases in point.
¨ Mikey is
poor and works for the whites in a factory to earn a living. When he is fired,
he becomes hopeless and decides to join a gang of robbers.
¨ Joe is a
poor boy whose family went back to live in the country after failing to pay the
house rent and life was becoming tough for them in town. Talking of his father
Joe says “He didn’t have no job. He was out of job for a long time and we
didn’t get things to eat often. Me and my brother Matty used to go out mornings
and ask from door to door for pieces of stale bread. (p.66)
¨ Franky
Lorenzo lives a poor life with his five children and his wife Grace. Four of
their children share one bed and a worn out blanket. The author says “Four
of their children lay sleeping in the narrow single bed against the wall on the
other side of the room. They slept under the one thread-bare, worn, sweaty
blanket…” (p.33)
¨ Willieboy is
poor. That’s why he goes to borrow the money from Mikey and discovers Uncle
Doughty’s dead body. He also goes to ask for cheap wine from Miss Gipsy
promising to pay when he gets money. He beats and searches Mr Greene in the
street expecting to get money from him.
CLASSES/SOCIAL INEQUALITY
¨ There are
two major classes in this society. On one hand there is a high class comprising
of rich white people who own the major means of production like land,
factories, tenements and have political power controlling the government organs
like the police who work in the favour of whites.
¨ On the other
hand there is a low class comprising of poor Africans who just work for the
whites in factories and live in rented tenements owned by Whites. These ones
live miserably and are marginalised by the whites in many spheres.
CONFLICTS
Intrapersonal conflict.
¨ Mikey
suffers intrapersonal conflict after killing Uncle Doughty. He is thinking “What’s
the law for? To kick us poor brown bastards around. You think they are going to
listen to your story; Jesus, and he was a white man, too. …well I didn’t mean
to finish him” (p.41)
¨ John
Abrahams suffers intrapersonal conflict after betraying Willieboy and he gets
killed for the crime he did not commit. He regrets “What’s
it help you, turning on your own people?” (p.91).
Personal conflicts.
¨ There is a conflict between Mikey and the white foreman. It occurs when Mikey asks to use the lavatory. It causes Mikey to lose
his job. Mikey promises to revenge.
¨ There is a conflict between Cully the butcher-shop man and Flippy. This resulted from the rumours that Cully was messing around with his
goose (woman). Cully stabs Flippy with a butcher knife.
¨ There is a conflict between Willieboy and Miss Gipsy. This occurs when Willieboy asks her why she lets the foreigners to
mess with African girls. Protecting her customers Gipsy hits him expertly
behind the ear.
Social conflict.
¨ There is a
general social conflict between the white population and the black population
in South Africa. The former is mistreating the later just because of the colour
bar.
Family conflict.
¨ There are
three major family conflicts recorded in the story.
o Constable Raalt is in conflict with his wife to the point that he thinks
of killing her. “It’s enough to make a man commit murder, constable Raalt
told himself, sitting in the driving cabin of the patrol van. I’d wring her
bloody neck but it’s a sin to kill your wife.” (p.36)
o Frank Lorenzo is in conflict with his wife over the question of
childbirth. F. Lorenzo accuses his wife for not controlling her birth by
drinking the pills. She too accuses him for not controlling his pleasures.
o Willieboy reports how his father used to beat him with his mother and
the mother revenged by beating Willieboy. The author says “His mother beat
him at the slightest provocation and he knew that she was wreaking vengeance
upon him for the beatings she received from his father. His father came home
drunk most nights and beat his mother and him with a heavy leather belt” (p.80)
MORAL DECAY (IMMORALITY).
The author shows how decayed and rotten this
society is. There are many cases that show moral decay in the society. The
following are a few of them.
¨ Alcoholism/drunkenness. Many
people are alcoholic and heavy drunkards. Willieboy, Mikey, Foxy and his gang,
Mr Green, and many other Africans meet in the bars or clubs to drink alcohol
while others like Uncle Doughty take it to their rooms.
¨ Crimes such as robbery. There is a
state of insecurity due to robbery. Foxy and his gang commit crimes in the city
by breaking into houses and stealing or murdering people. Joe says “They break into places and steal, and I heard they stabbed
a couple of other johns” (p.71)
¨ Manslaughter. This is a crime of killing
somebody illegally but not deliberately. Mikey kills Uncle Doughty
unintentionally but he doesn’t feel sympathetic about it. He says “Well,
what’s he want to come and live here among us browns for? To hell with him.
Well, I didn’t mean to finish him. Awright, man, he’s dead and you’re alive.
Stay alive.” (p.41). constable Raalt shoots Willieboy but he does not feel
any responsibility for what he has done or rush him for medical care he lingers
until the boy dies.
¨ Drug addiction (smoking dagga). Many people
are addicted either to alcoholism or to smoking cigarette and dagga
(marijuana).
¨ Abusive language. The society is rotten and this
is manifested by the way they address each other using abusive language. E.g.
Raalt calls the Africans “You bastards, you want to be shot, too?” he
also says “This crowd. A lot of bloody baboons” (p.84)
Mikey also says, “That sonofabitch, that bloody
sonavabich”, (p.5)
¨ Prostitution and making love in the doorway of the tenement. On his way to Mikey’s room Willieboy he sees a couple making love in
the doorway. The author says “In the darkened doorway of the tenement
between a fruit shop and a shoe store a couple made love, their faces glued
together…”(p.30-31)
POSITION OF WOMEN
¨ Women are portrayed as prostitutes and tools for pleasure. Men use women to satisfy their sexual desires. Franky Lorenzo
uses his wife as a tool for pleasure as a result he has got 5 children and his
wife is pregnant. The white customers (Red, George,
and Ray Ybarra) use African girls as tools for pleasure.
¨ Women are portrayed as a child bearers and caretakers. F. Lorenzo’s wife Grace has given birth to five children and takes
care of them. Also Willieboy’s mother used to warn him not to be naughty.
¨ Women are portrayed as weak people.
Willieboy’s father used to beat his wife but because she could not fight back
she would avenge by beating Willieboy.
¨ Women are portrayed as light-hearted. Grace cries just after being told to drink the pills to control her
childbirth. She also screams when she sees Uncle Doughty’s dead body and alerts
others in the tenement.
Other minor themes include.
a) Hypocrisy
¨ Willieboy is
a hypocrite. He walks around wearing a crucifix and mentions words like Jesus
save me! but he has no any religious devotion. The author says “He wore
a sportscoat over a yellow T-shirt and a crucifix around his neck, more as a
flamboyant decoration than as an act of religious devotion” (p.3)
b) Awareness
¨ Willieboy is
aware of the mistreatments done to Africans by whites that he has decided not
to work for the whites. He says “Working for whites. Happens all the time,
man. Me, I never work for no white john. Not even brown one. To hell with work.
Work, work, work, where does it get you?” (p.4).
¨ Constable
Raalt is aware of the fact that killing his wife is a sin. However he shoots
and kills Willieboy and doesn’t care.
c) Betrayal
¨ John
Abrahams betrays his fellow Africans by giving false witness against them. For
example he says that Willieboy killed the Old Irishman while it is not true.
Later he discovers that what he has done is not fair betraying his own people.
He regrets “What’s it help you, turning on your own people?” (p.91).
¨ Flippy’s
woman (goose) betrays him by messing with Cully something that causes the
conflict between the two. Flippy asks Cully “I hear you have been messing
with my goose, hey? You been have a good time with my goose hey?” (p.16)
d) Ignorance
¨ Poor people
are ignorant of birth control methods. Franky Lorenzo summarises this situation
by saying: “The rich people got money but they got one, two kids. They got
enough to feed ten, twenty children and they only make one or two. We haven’t
got even enough for one kid and we make eight, nine – one a year.” (p.34)
e) Wife beating.
¨ Willieboy’s
father used to beat his wife and the mother revenged by beating Willieboy. He
says “His mother beat him at the slightest provocation and he knew that she
was wreaking vengeance upon him for the beatings she received from his father.
His father came home drunk most nights and beat his mother and him with a heavy
leather belt” (p.80)
Messages
¨ Robbery,
alcoholism, dagga & cigarette smoking, prostitution and other crimes should
be discouraged because they are not solutions to problems. They just create
more problems without settling the old ones.
¨ Spouse
beating is outdated it should be discouraged. The married couples should find a
way to settle their disputes peacefully without having to fight against each
other.
¨ Racism
and social injustice should be abolished. They create unnecessary hatred and
unhealthy relationship among the members of the same community.
¨ We should work hard to alleviate
poverty in our society.
¨ African
Governments should create job opportunities for the citizens. This will help to
reduce the number of youths engaging in criminal acts like robbery and
prostitution to get money.
¨ Betrayal and
hypocrisy should be discouraged in the society.
¨ Poor people
should learn how to control birth. This will help them to avoid large families
they cannot afford to feed.
Relevance
¨ This novella
is still relevant today as it was in the days of Apartheid. Although to some
extent racial tension has slowed down in South Africa, there are cases of
Xenophobia (a strong feeling of dislike or fear of people from other
countries) reported which were inherited from the racial injustice they
suffered during the apartheid regime.
¨ Poverty
among the black population in South Africa is still a problem that calls for
the attention from the government.
¨ The crimes
like robbery, prostitution, smoking marijuana, murder, and alcoholism are still
reported everywhere in African large cities.
¨ Police
injustice and torture to the citizens is still experienced today especially
when they are defending the interests of those in power. They use excessive
force to suppress resistances from the unarmed citizens
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