• MANHOOD BY JOHN WAIN
• THE LUNCHEON BY W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM
• THE SOFT VOICE OF THE SERPENT BY NADINE GORDIMER
• RELATIVES BY CHRIS VAN WYK
• THE COFFEE-CART GIRL BY ES’KIA MPHAHLELE
• THE DUBE TRAIN BY CAN THEMBA
• THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY BY JAMES THURBER
• THE SISTERS BY PAULINE SMITH

MANHOOD BY JOHN WAIN

• Summary
• Title
• Themes
• How is the story told?
• Activity 1
• Activity 2

John Wain was born in England in 1925 and became a university lecturer before he became a writer. He wrote poetry, plays, short stories and novels. He mainly wrote about ordinary people and their problems. His criticism of society resulted in him being called one of the ‘angry young men’ of the 1950-60s. He died in 1994.

1. Summary

There are three characters in the story: Mr Willison, Mrs Willison and their thirteen-year-old son, Rob. Mr Willison is determined that Rob should become good at sports and develop his body, because he never had that chance when he was young. Mrs Willison doesn’t agree with this plan.
The story begins when the father and son are going for a bike ride and the father pushes his son to cycle further, even though the boy is tired and wants to rest. He encourages the boy by saying there is a surprise waiting for him at home – he has bought a boxing “punch-ball” so that his son can practise boxing. The boy is exhausted when they return home. The mother is annoyed with the father as she feels that he is pushing the boy too hard.
The father wants Rob to train with the “punch-ball” so that he can get strong enough to be selected for the rugby team at school. Rob tells him that the team has already been chosen and he has not been selected. The father’s disappointment is relieved when Rob says that he has been selected to box for the school instead. The mother is very angry that her husband wants the boy to box, as she feels that it is a dangerous sport. The father, however, is very happy about it and looks forward to the boxing tournament with great excitement. He puts all his energy into training his son every day.
On the day of the boxing tournament Rob complains of stomach pains. His mother wants to get a doctor but, instead of calling the doctor, the father phones one of Rob’s teachers and discovers that the school does not do boxing. The story ends with Mr Willison realising that Rob has lied about the boxing tournament.

2. Title

The story title, Manhood, points to the main theme of the story – questioning what manhood and masculinity mean. Different versions of masculinity are offered in the story. On the one hand we have the father’s version, which sees manhood in terms of physical strength and skill. Contrasted with that is the version that the father was offered when he was young. This involved a man working hard and getting qualifications so that he could have a secure job. The mother, however, doesn’t mind that her husband is not “manly” and thinks that her son should not be pushed so hard physically as he is still only a boy.

Note: 

• Manhood - the state of being an adult man, rather than a boy.
• Masculinity - having qualities traditionally associated with men

3. Themes

Besides the theme of ‘manhood’, another theme is how people’s failure to communicate openly and clearly can lead to unfortunate events. The theme of lack of communication is evident when Mr Willison shows no insight into the fact that he should not force his own will on Rob and live his dreams through him.
Another main theme in the story is that the boy is dominated by the power of his father. But Rob is too young and immature to stand up to his father, so he tried to please him, even though he is deceitful in doing so.

4. How is the story told?

4.1 Setting

The story starts with Mr Willison and Rob taking a bicycle ride in the country. This event shows how the father pushes his son beyond his physical limits. He forces Rob to continue riding even when the boy is exhausted. The rest of the story takes place in the home of the Willisons, where the tension between Mr and Mrs Willison rises.

4.2 Structure and plot development

From the start of the story it is clear that Mr Willison has an inferiority complex (feels that he is a failure) because of his lack of training in sports when he was young, and that he was not able to develop his physique (his physical body). He becomes obsessed with the idea that Rob will only become a man by being good at sports. With this in mind he constantly advises, instructs and encourages his son to do the things he never had the chance to do when he was young.
Mr Willison puts Rob under a lot of pressure to exercise and train. Rob is passive and does not stand up to his father, but Mrs Willison does not like it. She complains about it and tries to protect her son. This creates the rising tension in the story. The complication in the story is that Rob’s mother and father have opposing ideas about what is best for Rob. This creates conflict in the relationship between them. An example of this is when each of the parents talks of “my big night”. To the mother, “my big night” means the night her son was born, the most important event in her life. This contrasts with the father, whose “my big night” means the night his son will take part in a boxing tournament and make him proud. He feels he is getting a second chance to live his life again, through his son.
The climax of the story is the day of the tournament, when Rob complains of stomach pains just before the tournament. He and his mother think that he is suffering from appendicitis (infection of the appendix). Instead of getting the doctor the father phones one of Rob’s teachers only to discover that the school does not do boxing. Clearly, Rob has lied to his father.
There is no resolution to this story as we are not told what the father says to his son after finding out the truth about the boxing tournament. The story ends with an anti-climax, as the father “put down the telephone, hesitated, then turned and began slowly to climb the stairs”. The words “hesitated” and “slowly” tell us clearly of his disappointment when he realises that his son has been lying to him. It could also be that he realises why Rob lied to him and he climbed the stairs in a sad and accepting way. He was not angry with his son but is perhaps embarrassed for having forced his son to lie when Rob found himself in such a difficult situation.

4.3 Characterisation

There are three characters in the story:
Mr Willison is the protagonist in the story, as he is the central character and controls the actions that take place. Mrs Willison opposes his plans and actions, so she is the antagonist in the story, while Rob is caught in the middle between his parents.
Mr Willison wants the best for Rob, but his attitude causes Rob to resort to deceit and telling lies in the end, even though he tries to please his father. Rob is passive and submissive - he doesn’t stand up for himself but knows he will get support from his mother against his father’s plans. It could be argued that he is too scared and weak.
Mr Willison is strong-willed and obsessed with training Rob. This one-sided view stops him from realising that Rob is not interested in sport. If he was a more mature and sensitive father he might have understood his son better and not pushed and manipulated him. Perhaps then he would not have allowed such a situation to develop. His attitude could be said to have made the boy submissive and ultimately dishonest. Perhaps Mr Willison has missed the point, which is that being a man involves good sense as well as physical strength.
Throughout the story Mrs Willison is opposed to her husband’s behaviour towards and treatment of their son. It could be argued that Mrs Willison was being too protective of Rob and not allowing him to stand on his own feet.

4.4 Style

The main stylistic device that the writer uses to show us more about the characters is through their dialogue rather than through descriptions or the thoughts of the characters. An example of how the dialogue shows the tension between the characters is when Mr and Mrs Willison have a disagreement about what is best for Rob:

“What nonsense. You’re taller than I am and I’m –”
“No son of mine is going to grow up with the same wretched physical heritage that I –”
“No, he’ll just have heart disease through over-taxing his strength, because you haven’t got the common sense to –”

Notice how they don’t allow each other to finish their sentences, adding to the sense of tension and mis-communication between them.

4.5 Narrator and point of view

The narrator is not one of the characters in the story, so the narrative is told using the third person. The narrator refers to the characters as he, she or they. This third person point of view helps the reader see the story from a wider perspective than from only one character’s view point.

Note:

• The narration or narrative means the story. The narrator is the person telling the story, the story-teller.

4.6 Diction and figurative language

The words the writer uses and the way they are used also help to carry meaning in the story. For example, Mr Willison’s enthusiasm for training Rob is shown in the way he orders Rob about:

“Don’t lie there,” said his father. “You’ll catch cold.” “I’m all right. I’m warm.”
“Come and sit on this. When you’re overheated, that’s just when you’re prone to –”
“I’m all right, Dad. I want to lie here. My back aches.”
“Your back needs strengthening, that’s why it aches. It’s a pity we don’t live near a river where you could get some rowing.”

And later, he forces Rob to punch the punch-ball:

“Take a punch at it,” Mr Willison urged.
“Let’s go and eat.”
“Go on. One punch before you go in. I haven’t seen you hit it yet.”

Mr Willison’s relationship with Rob is based on the son being forced to do what his father wants him to do, without being able to negotiate.
By his use of words the writer indicates that Rob is not completely happy and just puts up with all the good intentions of his father. The writer describes the boy: “falling silent”; Rob “lay like a sullen corpse” (simile); he “looked horribly like the victim of an accident” (simile); “A slender shadow”. Rob never really tells his father honestly how he feels and this leads to further deception later.
Mrs Willison opposes Mr Willison’s plans for Rob. The tension between them is shown by words such as: “glaring hot-eyed at each other”; and “her eyes brimming with angry tears”.
At the end of the story Mr Willison comes to a realisation when he phones Rob’s teacher. The use of the words: “With lead in his heart and ice on his fingers” help to emphasise his shock. He realises that Rob has lied to him, to them all – and that he may partly be to blame. He also realises that he has failed to fulfil his dream.

Note: 

• Diction - the choice of words a writer uses to create meaning.

4.7 Tone and mood

Throughout the story the writer makes us aware of how Mr Willison tries to keep Rob’s coaching on track by the tone of his upbeat and encouraging advice (often from what he has read, not what he himself has experienced):

“When fatigue sets in, the thing to do is to keep going until it wears off. Then you get your second wind and your second endurance.”
“If you hit with your left hand and then catch it on the rebound with your right, it’s excellent ring training.”
“No boxer ever went into a big fight without spending an hour or two in bed, resting.”

However, ironically, his tone is not uplifting, but rather creates a note of tension in the story, as Rob does not respond positively to his father’s wishes. Rob is sullen, sulky, silent and mostly not as keen on his father’s plan as the father would like.
The angry and worried tone of Mrs Willison’s words to the father also adds to the unease and tension in the story:

Grace Willison put down the teapot, her lips compressed, and looked from one to the other. “Boxing?” she repeated.
“Boxing,” Mr Willison replied calmly.
“Over my dead body,” said Mrs Willison. “That’s one sport I’m definite that he’s never going in for.”

As the story proceeds she becomes very angry with Mr Willison and the reader realises that their relationship is at a crisis point:

“Go away, please,” said Mrs Willison, sinking back with closed eyes.
“Just go right away and don’t come near me until it’s all over.”
Grace!”
“Please. Please leave me alone. I can’t bear to look at you and I can’t bear to hear you.”

The tone of the last line of the story contrasts with how Mr Willison is characterised earlier in the story:

He put down the telephone, hesitated, then turned and began slowly to climb the stairs.

He is no longer full of energy and enthusiasm. The story ends with a gloomy tone.
Mood: How does this story make you feel? Happy, sad, angry or indifferent? What are the reasons it makes you feel this way?

Summary
Manhood by John Wain

1. Title
   • “Manhood” points to the question being asked: what is manhood and masculinity?
2. Themes
   • The meaning of “manhood” and “masculinity”
   • Power of the father in the family
   • Lack of communication in the family
3. How is the story told?
   3.1 Setting
   On a country road in Britain; and in the family’s house.
   3.2 Structure and plot development
   •  Rising tension: Mr Willison puts Rob under pressure; Rob is passive; Mrs Willison resists
   • Complication and conflict: The parents have conflicting ideas about what is best for Rob
   • Contrasts: “My big night”– for Mrs Willison it’s the night she gave birth to Rob; for Mr Willison, the night of his son’s boxing tournament
   • Climax: The day of the boxing tournament, when Rob complains of stomach pains
   • Resolution: None – Rob’s lie about the boxing tournament is unresolved. The conflict between his parents is also unresolved.
   • Anti-climax: Mr Willison “put down the telephone, hesitated, then turned and began slowly to climb the stairs”.
     3.3 Characterisation
   • Protagonist: Mr Willison (Rob’s father) controls the action in the story.
   • Antagonist: Mrs Willison (Rob’s mother) opposes Mr Willison’s actions.
   • Caught in the middle: Rob, the son of Mr and Mrs Willison.
     3.4 Style
   • Dialogue: Main stylistic device to establish character; unfinished sentences show lack of communication between them.
     3.5 Narrator and point of view
   •  Third person
     3.6 Diction and figurative language
   • Rob lay like a sullen corpse
     Simile
   • He looked horribly like the victim of an accident
     Simile
   • A slender shadow
     Metaphor
   • With lead in his heart and ice on his fingers
     Imagery stressing Mr Willison’s shock as he realises his dream has failed 
     3.7 Tone and mood
   • Tone: Begins being upbeat and encouraging (although Rob appears quite defeated); unease and tension grow through the story; tone becomes angry when Mrs Willison confronts her husband on the night of the boxing tournament; ends with a gloomy tone.
   • Mood: How does this story make you feel? Happy, sad, angry or indifferent? Give reasons for your answer.

Activity 1

Read the extract below and answer the questions that follow.
Extract A

1. To which sports team is Mr Willison referring in line 1? (1)
2. Mr Willison opened his mouth, closed it again, and stood for a moment looking out of the window
   Choose the correct word to show Mr Willison’s feelings when he says. ‘Bad luck’.
   1. Pleased
   2. Disappointed
   3. Furious
   4. Disinterested       (1)
3. Why does Mr Willison insist that his son train as a sportsman?  Give two reasons for your answer.  (2) [4]

Activity 2

Read the extract below and answer the questions that follow.
Extract B

1. Where are Mr Willison and his son planning to go at six o’clock? (1)
2. Why does Mr Willison say it is his “big night”? Give TWO reasons for your answer.     (2)
3. What happened on Mrs Willison’s big night? (1)
4. What is Mrs Willison’s attitude at this stage? Give a reason for your answer.            (2)
5. Whom do you think is right, the father or the mother? Give a reason for your answer?
6. Answer TRUE or FALSE and give a reason for your answer: Mr Willison’s big night is successful.     (2) [9]

Words to know

THE LUNCHEON BY W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM

• Summary
• Title
• Themes
• How is the story told?
• Activity 3
• Activity 4

William Somerset Maugham was born in 1874 in Paris. His parents died when he was young and he was sent to live with an aunt in England. He travelled in Europe and eventually trained as a doctor. However, his first novel, Liza of Lambeth, was so successful that he took to writing full-time. He wrote many plays, short stories and novels. He was a very popular writer in his time and one of the most highly-paid writers during the 1930s. He travelled widely and later settled in the south of France. Many of his novels and stories, such as Being Julia and The Painted Veil, have been made into films. He died in 1965.

1. Summary

When the story begins a writer is at the theatre one night where he meets a woman whom he has not seen for 20 years. At that time she had admired a novel he had just published. At the theatre she reminds him of their first meeting 20 years ago.
The writer thinks back to that time, when he was poor and he had to make very little money last for a whole month. The woman had sent him a letter complimenting him on his writing and inviting him to take her to lunch when she was in Paris, where the young writer lived. The luncheon took place at Foyot’s, a very expensive restaurant. Nevertheless, he felt flattered that she wanted to meet him. When the menu came he was startled, as the prices were much higher than he had expected.
Therefore, he was relieved when his guest said that she only ever ate one thing for luncheon. Unfortunately, she went on to order some of the most expensive things on the menu – caviare, salmon, asparagus, peaches, ice cream and champagne. The more food she ordered, the more the writer got into a panic. He tried to economise by only ordering a mutton chop for himself.
As the meal proceeded he began to imagine how he would react if the bill was too large for him to pay. First he thought of claiming that someone had picked his pocket. Then he thought that he would leave his watch at the restaurant and come back later and pay. Finally, when the bill arrived and he paid it, he realised that he had no more money to live off for the rest of the month.
Now, 20 years later, the writer tells us that he had “revenge at last” because the woman now weighs 21 stone (the equivalent of 136 kilograms).

2. Title

The story title, The Luncheon highlights the importance of that particular event for the writer. It was a very stressful occasion for him, and ended with him having no money to live on for the rest of the month. By remembering this luncheon the writer remembers how young and immature he was at that time. He remembers how flattered he was that the woman showed so much interest in him; and how he agreed to everything she requested - her choice of restaurant, her choice of food – as he was too immature to oppose her.
A luncheon is defined as a formal meal, but it is usually a small one. The woman’s huge meal contrasts with the tiny meal the writer had.

3. Themes

The main themes of story of The Luncheon are the conflict between truth and lies and the contrast between appearance and reality. At the restaurant the woman repeatedly says that she only eats one thing for lunch, but she contradicts herself by ordering more food. At their meeting 20 years later the woman tells the writer: “You asked me to luncheon”. The reality is that she had suggested that the writer “give her a little luncheon at Foyot’s”.
Twenty years ago the writer may have pretended to be more successful than he really was; but he was too proud to let the woman know that he could not afford the meal, so he kept up appearances. He even lied about never drinking champagne, so that he could save some money.

Note:

•  Keeping up appearances - pretending to be something you are not; giving an appearance or illusion

4. How is the story told?

4.1 Setting

The main story takes place at Foyot’s, a very expensive restaurant in Paris where French senators dined, and where the writer knew that he would struggle to pay for the meal.

4.2 Structure and plot development

The writer uses the present tense to begin the story, but then takes us back in time to the memory of the earlier meeting with the woman. This literary device is known as a flashback. The main action or plot of the story takes place in the flashback to a past event - the luncheon. The story is structured so that only the beginning and end of the story are told in the present tense.
At that time, 20 years before, the young writer knew the restaurant was too expensive for him, which was confirmed when he saw the prices on the menu. The woman, however, kept ordering expensive things to eat, creating the rising tension in the story as the young man became more stressed. The complication is that the young writer was too afraid to stop the woman ordering more food, even though he knew he could not afford it.
The conflict in the story is created by the tension between the writer’s panic and embarrassment and the woman’s greedy desire to enjoy her meal at his expense.
The writer experienced a great deal of anxiety and panic about how he would pay the huge bill at the end of the meal. As the meal proceeded he began to imagine how he would react if the bill was too large for him to pay. First he thought of claiming that someone had picked his pocket, then he thought that he would leave his watch at the restaurant and pay later to get it back. The climax of the story occurs when the bill finally arrives. He found that he could manage to pay it, but would have no more money left for the rest of the month.
Now, 20 years later, the story finally reaches a resolution as it ends with an ironic ‘twist in the tale’. The narrator tells us that he had “revenge at last” because the woman was now very overweight.

Note: 

• A flashback allows the writer to show events that happened before the time of the present narration.
• A twist in the tale is also known as an ironic twist or plot twist. It is an unexpected change in the outcomes or ending of the story.

4.3 Characterisation

There are three characters in the story – the young writer, the woman he takes to lunch and the waiter at the restaurant. The writer is the protagonist, the main character. The woman is the antagonist, as she stands in opposition to him and creates the tension in the story. The young writer is very scared of the forty-year-old woman so he allows himself to be manipulated into buying her an expensive meal. He is too proud to tell her that he cannot afford the restaurant, being a young, inexperienced and upcoming writer. His youth and inexperience contrast with the woman’s ruthless, selfish behaviour. He admits that he is flattered that she had admired his writing:

“she seemed inclined to talk about me”

The writer says he was “prepared to be an attentive listener”. This shows how he is easily seduced by flattery.
In the story we only see the woman from the writer’s point of view. He describes the woman in unpleasant terms:

“She was not so young as I expected and in appearance imposing rather than attractive.”

She seemed to have a big mouth and more teeth than she needed and he is repulsed by the sight of her eating the asparagus:

“I watched the abandoned woman thrust them down her throat in large voluptuous mouthfuls”

Apart from the fact that the woman is not truthful, she is also bossy, as she constantly tells him that he is wrong to eat what she refers to as a “heavy luncheon” and to fill his stomach with “a lot of meat”. She has no sensitivity, as she does not see that one chop is not a “heavy luncheon”, in contrast to what she has eaten.
The woman has no understanding of or insight into the writer’s dilemma. When he leaves only a small tip for the waiter (which is the only money he has left), she thinks he is mean. At the end of the luncheon she does not understand that the writer is telling the truth when he says he will “eat nothing for dinner”. It appears to her that he is joking and she, therefore, calls him a “humorist”. At the end of the story we see that the woman has never admitted the truth to herself about her eating habits, because after 20 years of excessive eating she is now obese.
At the end of the story we see how, 20 years later, the writer has changed and feels differently about the woman’s behaviour. He is not, as he admits a “vindictive” man, as he did not do anything to her, or say anything to show how unfairly she had treated him. However, he is comforted that circumstances (“the immortal gods”) made her pay for her greedy self-indulgence. Now he can look at her without fear or anger, but with “complacency” (self-satisfaction), because clearly years of eating so much have resulted in her being very overweight.
The only other character mentioned in the story is the waiter. The writer feels that he is “ingratiating” and “false”, which makes him seem as if he only wants to please the woman. The waiter has a “priest-like face”, which gives the appearance that he is very serious, and perhaps also intimidating to the young man. It seems that the young man was in such a panic about paying the bill that he thought the waiter was working against him by encouraging the woman to order expensive food. In reality, he was perhaps simply being a good, attentive waiter.
Note: 

• Flattery - Excessive and insincere praise
• Obese - Extremly fat
• The waiter may have encouraged the woman to order more food, so he could get a bigger tip. The higher the bill, the bigger the tip would be.

4.4 Style

In the story the writer emphasises how the woman contradicts herself by saying one thing but doing another. The repetition of her words: “I never eat more than one thing” or “I never eat anything for luncheon” are used each time just before she decides she wants to order something else to eat. The narrator does this to indicate how the meal progressed. The more food she ordered, the more he began to panic.
In contrast, the writer only orders a mutton chop and drinks water instead of champagne. The contrast between the two characters and what they eat highlights the differences in their experience of the meal. Both were not being truthful, but for different reasons: the woman was not telling the truth because she was pretending she was not greedy and the writer was not telling the truth because he was too proud and afraid to tell her that he did not have much money.
The more food the woman orders the more anxious the writer becomes. The tension builds in the story very effectively so that the reader also starts feeling anxious, until the point in the story when the bill finally arrives.

4.5 Narrator and point of view

The story is narrated from a first person perspective. The narrator is the older writer, remembering an event that took place 20 years before. He is able to see how young and immature he was at the time; and how manipulated he was by the woman.

Note:

• The writer uses I to indicate the first person point of view

4.6 Diction and figurative language

Some examples of figures of speech in the story include:

• Irony
  The writer makes use of irony a great deal in the story. Irony is when the narrator suggests that the situation appears to be the opposite of what it really is. For example, it is ironic that the woman often repeats that she does not eat much even when she orders many dishes and certainly eats much more than “one thing”.
  She goes on to criticise the writer for filling himself up on meat even though all he ate was one chop.
  At the end of the luncheon the writer tells her that he will not eat again that day. Ironically, this is one time when he is telling the truth, but she thinks he is joking.
• Similes
  The descriptions of the food in the story are very vivid because of the figurative language used.
  In one effective simile the writer compares the effect of the smell of the asparagus on him to the effect of the delicious smell of temple sacrifices to God made by the Jews in ancient times:
  The smell of the melted butter tickled my nostrils as the nostrils of Jehovah were tickled by the burned offerings of the virtuous Semites.
• Metaphor
  One effective metaphor is the comparison of peaches to the rosy skin of a young girl, or to the colour found in an Italian landscape: “They had the blush of an innocent girl; they had the rich tone of an Italian landscape.”
• Cliché
  A cliché is an expression that is unoriginal and is so often repeated that its original effect is lost. Clichés, however, are expressions which tell a truth. In this story they are used effectively to express the writer’s emotional state during the luncheon. Here are some examples of clichés from the story:
  • “How time does ”
  • “I was earning barely enough money to keep body and soul ”
  • The prices were “beyond my means”.
  • My mouth “watered”.
  • “My heart sank”

4.7 Tone and mood

At the beginning of the luncheon the tone is friendly and polite. The narrator is feeling generous and encourages the woman to order food at the restaurant. As the story progresses he becomes more depressed and the tone becomes anxious, as reflected in these words:

“My heart sank a little.”
“I fancy I turned a trifle pale.”
“Panic seized me.”

The tone lifts again in the last paragraph of the story when the narrator tells us that the woman, 20 years later, has become very overweight. This ‘twist in the tale’ is told in a light-hearted way that contrasts with his anxiety in the rest of the story.
Mood: How does this story make you feel? Happy, sad, angry or indifferent? What are the reasons it makes you feel this way?

Summary 
The Luncheon by W. Somerset Maugham

1. Title
   • By calling it The Luncheon the author highlights the importance to him of that lunch date.
2. Themes
   • Conflict between truth and lies
   • Contrast between appearance and reality
3. How is the story told?
   3.1 Setting
   • Mainly in Foyot’s the expensive restaurant in Paris
     3.2 Structure and plot development
   • Flashback: From the present to a past event
   • Rising tension: The woman ordering expensive things to eat
   • Complication: The young writer is too afraid to stop the woman ordering more food
   • Conflict: Tension between the writer’s panic and embarrassment and the woman’s greed
   • Climax: The arrival of the bill
   • Resolution: The ironic ‘twist in the tale’ when the writer sees the obese woman 20 years later
     3.3 Characterisation
   • Protagonist: The writer is the main character.
   • Antagonist: The woman stands in opposition to him.
   • The waiter: Serious and “false”
     3.4 Style
   • Repetition: The woman’s words, “I never eat more than one thing”.
   • Contradiction: Her words (above) contradict her actions.
   • Tension: This contradiction builds the tension in the story.
     3.5 Narrator and point of view
   • First person
     3.6 Diction and figurative language
   • I’ll eat nothing for dinner tonight.”
     Irony
   • “The smell of the melted butter tickled my nostrils as the nostrils of Jehovah were tickled by the burned offerings of the virtuous Semites.”
     Simile
   • “They had the blush of an innocent girl; they had the rich tone of an Italian landscape.”
     Metaphor
   • “How time does fly”; The prices were “beyond my means”.
     Clichés
     3.7 Tone and mood
   • Tone: Begins with a friendly and polite tone; becomes anxious as tension mounts; and ends with a light-hearted tone.
   • Mood: How does this story make you feel? Happy, sad, angry or indifferent? Give reasons for your answer.

Activity 3 

Read the extract below and answer the questions that follow.

Extract A

[The narrator and his guest are about to order their meals.]

1. Describe the events that lead to the narrator and his guest having lunch (2)
2. Refer to lines 1-2 (“I was startled … I had ”).
   1. Explain what the word “startled” suggests about the kind of restaurants the narrator usually (2)
   2. Write down the more commonly used word for “bill of fare”. (1)
   3. Choose the correct answer to complete the following sentence:
      The real reason that the narrator agrees to take the guest out for lunch is because he is …
      1. flattered.
      2. forced.
      3. intimidated.
      4. kind.                                                                                                (1)
3. Refer to the following sentence in line 2: “But she reassured me.”
   From your knowledge of the story as a whole, explain why the guest is NOT reassuring.      (2)
4. Complete the following sentences by using the words provided in the list below.

   sensitive; polite; sincere; manipulative

   The narrator and his guest are different in character. The narrator is a) … while his guest is b) …       (2)
5. Is the following statement TRUE or FALSE? Using your own words, give a reason for your answer.
   The narrator does not order asparagus for himself because he hates it.            (2)
6. Refer to line 13 (“My heart sank a ”).
   1. Identify the figure of speech used (1)
   2. Explain why the narrator has used this figure of (2)
7. Consider the story as a whole.
   If you were the narrator, what would you have done in this situation?      (2) [17]

Activity 4 

Read the extract below and answer the questions that follow.

Extract B

[The narrator and his guest are finishing their meal.]

1. Refer to paragraph 1
   Quote ONE word to show that the narrator has not enjoyed his meal.         (1)
2. Consider the story as a whole.
   Is the guest telling the truth when she says, “But I’ve just had a snack…”? Explain your answer.      (2)
3. Refer to paragraph
   Why does the narrator become even more anxious when his guest takes a peach, in particular? State TWO points.  (2)
4. Why does the narrator feel the tip he leaves for the waiter is “inadequate”? (1)
5. Refer to line 9 (“Follow my example …”).
   Explain why it would not be good to follow the guest’s example.
   State TWO points.                                                                                                       (2)
6. Refer to line 11 (“I’ll eat nothing for dinner tonight ”).
   Using your own words, explain the following:
   1. How the guest understands these words (1)
   2. What the narrator means (1)
7. Refer to the last paragraph (lines 15-18).
   1. Write down ONE word to describe how the narrator feels (1)
   2. Explain why the narrator’s desire for revenge is “pardonable”. (2)
8. From your knowledge of the story as a whole, do you think the narrator is a “mean” person? Explain your answer (2)
9. The narrator is to blame for what happens at the restaurant
   Do you agree? Discuss your view.                                                  (2)
10. Explain why the title The Luncheon is suitable (1) [18]

Words to know 

THE SOFT VOICE OF THE SERPENT BY NADINE GORDIMER

• Summary
• Title
• Themes
• How is the story told?
• Activity 5
• Activity 6

Nadine Gordimer (1923-2014) was a South African writer who wrote many short stories and novels. Most of her work concerns the political situation in South Africa. She often spoke out against apartheid and censorship. The Soft Voice of the Serpent comes from her first collection of short stories, published in 1952. She won many international prizes for her work. In 1991 she won the most important prize a writer can win, the Nobel Prize for Literature.

1. Summary

A 26-year-old man has lost his leg. While he is trying to get used to this situation, his wife often wheels him into the garden. As he sits in the garden he thinks about his missing leg. He hopes that one day he will be so used to the loss of his leg that it will feel like it has always been gone.
In the garden one morning, when his wife gets up to fetch some tea, she accidently knocks a locust. The young man watches the locust try to move, and he notices that it has lost a leg. He feels that he and the locust are experiencing the same situation – they both have to cope without a leg. The realisation that he is not alone makes him feel much happier.
When his wife returns with the tea, he shows her the locust and jokes about the fact that they both have a leg missing. The wife tries to touch the locust with a stick and causes it to suddenly fly away. The man realises that he had forgotten that, unlike him, locusts can fly. Once again he feels alone.

2. Title

The title of the story brings to mind the biblical story about Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. In the Bible story the serpent tempts Eve to do what she has been told not to do, with the result that she and Adam are thrown out of Eden. The use of alliteration in the title (the repetition of “s”) reminds us of the hissing sound that snakes make.
In Gordimer’s story the locust is like the serpent. It tempts the man in the story into feeling that he can cope with his situation. Just as Adam makes a mistake by believing in the serpent, so the man makes a mistake in believing that the locust can help him cope.
These biblical references indicate that the story is an allegory.
In an allegory the characters and events become symbols because they also express a deeper, often spiritual or moral, meaning. The symbolism of the locust and garden is moral. The garden in which the man sits is like Eden as it is a peaceful, beautiful place where he can think and come to terms with his disability.

3. Themes

The man who has lost his leg is struggling to come to terms with his situation. He finds some comfort when he notices that the locust is also struggling to cope without one of its legs. At the end of the story the man realises that he must not depend on others, but must learn to cope on his own.

The themes in the story include:

• Loss and how we deal with it: The man in the story feels a connection with the locust when he realises they share the same
• Hope and the loss of hope: The locust’s struggle to walk and its persistence gives him However, the sense of hope is lost again at the end of the story when the locust flies away.

4. How is the story told?

4.1 Setting

The story is set in a garden, where the man’s wife wheels him every day. The garden reminds us of Eden. Just as Adam was in Eden before entering the wider world, so the man can adjust before going out into the world with one leg:

Perhaps there was something in this of the old Eden idea; the tender human adjusting himself to himself in the soothing impersonal presence of trees and grass and earth, before going out into the stare of the world.

4.2 Structure and plot development

At the start of the story we learn what the complication is: the man has to get used to having only one leg. Sitting out in the garden in a wheelchair every day gives him a lot of time to think about his missing leg. He reads a book in order to distract himself and not to feel overwhelmed by his loss.
The tension rises in the story through the man’s mental struggle to get used to the loss of his leg. This is mirrored by his wife’s reaction to the sudden arrival of a locust. She is afraid of it and jumps up, knocking it away. When she goes inside, the man notices that the locust has lost a leg and is struggling to walk. He immediately identifies with the locust’s physical defect. In some ways, his identification with the insect contrasts with his relationship with his wife. She caused the locust to lose its leg, and so he uses the locust’s dilemma to make fun of her. He teases her by saying:

“Don’t encourage it to self-pity”

The climax of the story takes place when the locust suddenly flies away. The situation does not have a happy resolution because the man feels foolish and let down when he remembers that locusts can fly and he can’t. Perhaps he also realises that he has to face his situation alone.

4.3 Characterisation

The main characters in the story are the man and his wife.
The man is the main character or protagonist in the story. He has recently lost his leg and is having to face a new life without it. Mostly, he shares little about his internal emotional and mental conflict with his wife.
The wife is the antagonist in the story. She tries to support her husband by taking him into the garden and looking after him. She does not speak to her husband directly about the loss of his leg. She is, however, the cause of the locust losing its leg; and of the locust flying away. By doing so, she deprives him of hope and some comfort through a sense of shared experience with the locust. He has to face his loss alone again.
The locust is also a character in the story. The writer emphasises this by the way the other characters refer to the locust:

It looked like some little person out of a Disney cartoon.
“isn’t he a funny old man?”
“The poor old thing”

The man identifies strongly with the insect. He studies it very closely. It comes to represent his own suffering and challenges. By talking about the locust the man and his wife are able to talk indirectly about the man’s loss.

4.4 Style

The writer does not give the characters names or describe what they look like, because the main focus is on the complication – the man trying to cope with the loss of his leg. Neither the man nor the woman makes direct references to the lost leg; in fact, at the beginning of the story, they hardly talk at all. The man’s distress is internal – he tries to come to terms with his condition in his mind. Although he feels very fearful and powerless he does not talk about it to his wife.
After a couple of weeks the man starts to take more notice of his surroundings in the garden: the trees, the birds. Then he studies a locust very closely. The description of the locust in the story is very detailed. The writer does this to help the reader feel empathy for the locust, just as the man has empathy for it when he realises it, too, has lost a leg.
The only dialogue between the man and his wife is about the locust. The locust becomes a symbol of what the man is experiencing – his anxiety, his need to cope and become independent, and his hopefulness when he sees how well the locust is coping without a leg. Their identification with the locust is shown in the way they talk about the locust. The man says:

“I’ve been watching it, and honestly, it’s uncanny. I can see it feels just like I do!”
“Funny thing is, it’s even the same leg, the left one.” She looked round at him and smiled.
“I know,” he nodded, laughing. “The two of us ...” And then he shook his head and, smiling, said it again: “The two of us.”

The writer emphasises the link between the man and the locust by repeating the line “The two of us.”

4.5 Narrator and point of view

The narrator is not one of the characters in the story. The narrative is told using the third person. The narrator refers to the characters as “he”, “she” or “they”.

4.6 Diction and figurative language

The writer uses descriptions of nature to show the man’s internal feelings. The man remembers when he was a young carefree boy, swinging in a tree, and this memory gives him hope:

A first slight wind lifted again in the slack, furled sail of himself; he felt it belly gently, so gently he could just feel it, lifting inside him.

Here, the writer uses the metaphor of a sail on a boat opening in the wind, to describe his feeling of hope.
The writer uses figurative imagery in the description of the locust. Its body is compared to an aeroplane in this simile:

flimsy paper stretched over a frame of matchstick, like a small boy’s home-made aeroplane.

The locust’s movements are compared to a man’s in another simile:

Just as a man might take out a handkerchief and pass it over his brow.

The woman compares the locust to an old man in an extended use of personification:

“Shame, isn’t he a funny old man”
“The poor old thing”

The woman does not realise that her pity for the locust is an extension of her unspoken pity for her husband. He does not want her pity and his irritation becomes clear in his use of sarcasm in response to her comments about the locust :

“Don’t encourage it to self-pity”
“Get another little chair made for him and you can wheel him out here with me.”
“Or maybe he could be taught to use crutches.”

4.7 Tone and mood

At the beginning of the story the tone is gentle and calm. The garden is seen as a good place for the man to recover:

the tender human adjusting himself to himself in the soothing impersonal presence of trees and grass and earth

However, the tone changes slightly when the writer describes how difficult it is for the wife to push the man’s wheelchair into the garden, indicating that she is also having difficulty adjusting to his situation. As we witness the mental and emotional struggle the man faces, the tone becomes gloomy.
Later, the wife causes the locust to lose its leg. When the man watches the locust struggling to cope without its leg he gains a sense of hope that he, too, will overcome his loss. His tone of speech becomes more hopeful.
However, when his wife begins to express sympathy with the locust, the man becomes irritable and sarcastic. This tension rises until, at the end of the story, the locust flies off and there is a pause:

There was a moment of silence.

The tone changes here and becomes hopeless again, as the man is left again with a feeling of loss and he says to her in a harsh tone: Don’t be a fool.
Mood: How does this story make you feel? Happy, sad, angry or indifferent? What are the reasons it makes you feel this way?

 Summary
The Soft Voice of the Serpent by Nadine Gordimer

1. Title
   • Allegory: the biblical reference changes characters and events into symbols of morality.
   • Alliteration: The repetition of “s” sound reminds us of a snake.
2. Themes
   • Loss and how we deal with it
   • Hope and the loss of hope
3. How is the story told?
   3.1 Setting
   • In a garden, which reminds us of the Bible’s Garden of Eden
     3.2 Structure and plot development
   •  Complication: The man getting used to having only one leg
   • Tension: The man’s mental struggle to deal with his loss
   • Contrast: The man’s identification with the locust in contrast to his distance from his wife
   • Climax: The locust flying away
   • Resolution: The man realising he can’t fly and feeling alone with his loss again
     3.3 Characterisation
   • Protagonist: The man is the main character in the story.
   • Antagonist: The wife, who cannot connect with her husband and hurts the locust.
   • The locust: Represents the suffering of the man
     3.4 Style
   • Internal thoughts and feelings of the man: His silent thoughts and feelings
   • Dialogue: The only dialogue between the man and his wife is about the locust.
     3.5 Narrator and point of view
   • Third person
     3.6 Diction and figurative language
   • “A first slight wind lifted again in the slack, furled sail of himself”
     Metaphor
   • “flimsy paper stretched over a frame of matchstick, like a small boy’s home-made aeroplane.”
     Simile
   • “Just as a man might take out a handkerchief and pass it over his brow.”
     Simile
   • Shame, isn’t he a funny old man”; “The poor old thing”
     Personification
   • “Or maybe he could be taught to use crutches.”
     Sarcasm
     3.7 Tone and mood
   •  Tone: Begins with a gentle and calm tone; changes to a gloomy tone as the man struggles with his loss; becomes hopeful when the man sees the locust; ends with a hopeless and harsh tone when the locust flies away.
   • Mood: How does this story make you feel? Happy, sad, angry or indifferent? Give reasons for your answer.

Activity 5

Read the extract below and answer the questions that follow.

Extract A

[The lady wheels the man into the garden.]

1. Complete the following sentences by filling in the missing words. Write down only the word(s) next to the question number (1(a) – 1(d)).
   The man is being pushed in a (a) ... by his (b) ... He spends much time (c) ... in the garden. Sometimes he thinks about the (d) ... he lost.  (4)
2. Refer to “slack, furled sail of himself” (line 1).
   1. Identify the figure of speech used (1)
   2. Explain why the writer has used this figure of (2)
3. How do you know that the woman is not good at pushing the man?     (1)
4. The man does not complain about how the woman pushes him. What does this tell you about him? State TWO (2)
5. Using your own words, briefly describe how the man feels about his loss. State TWO points.  (2)
6. Refer to lines 14-15. (“He felt it ... ready to burst.”)
   What does the use of the word “crushing” tell you about the man’s feelings?    (2)
7. In your view, should the man keep quiet about how he feels about his loss? Give a reason for your answer.      (2)  [16]

Activity 6

Read the extract below and answer the questions that follow.

Extract B

[They talk about the locust.]

1. In line 1 the man says that the locust needs a “little chair”.
   1. Why does the locust need a chair? (1)
   2. Who does the man think is responsible for the locust’s injury? (1)
   3. Do you think he is being serious when he suggests that the woman should wheel the locust around? Explain your (2)
2. What point is the man making in his statement in lines 5–6 when he says, “I’m sure the ... being kept active”.                      (2)
3. Choose the correct answer to complete the following sentence:
   When the man refers to “The two of us” in line 12, he means the ...
   1. man and the locust.
   2. woman and the locust.
   3. man and the woman.
   4. man and his nurse.                                                                   (1)
4. At the end of the story the locust flies
   1. Explain how the man’s mood (2)
   2. Why does his mood change in this way? (2)
5. Is the following statement TRUE or FALSE? Give a reason for your answer.
   In the title of the story the serpent refers to a real snake in the garden. (2)
6. Consider the story as a whole. The woman experiences mixed feelings towards the What are these feelings? (2)
7. Do you admire the woman? Discuss your (2)
8. The main theme of the story is about coming to terms with one’s How can disabled people be helped to come to terms with their loss? Discuss your view stating at least TWO points. (2) [17]

Words to know

RELATIVES BY CHRIS VAN WYK

• Summary
• Title
• Themes
• How is the story told?
• Activity 7
• Activity 8

Christopher van Wyk (1957–2014) wrote poetry, stories and autobiographical works. He is best known for his autobiographical novels Shirley, Goodness and Mercy and Eggs to Lay and Chickens to Hatch, as well as a children’s illustrated version of Nelson Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom. As in Relatives, many of Van Wyk’s stories are based on family relationships and the community he came from. In 1996 he won the Sanlam Literary Award for this short story.

1. Summary

In the story a 21-year-old writer goes down to the Cape. He spends a week in Cape Town, then visits his family in Carnarvon. After two weeks he gets bored and decides to return by train to Johannesburg.
In a train compartment he meets three friendly men and they exchange stories. When they leave the train the writer is left in the compartment with two brothers who are not friendly. As time passes the writer realises that the brothers are juvenile delinquents (boys from a reformatory). The writer is afraid of them as they discuss how they will kill their brother’s murderer when they get to Johannesburg.
While the writer is thinking about how to get away from the brothers and find another compartment to sleep in one of the brothers asks him about his grandmother. They tell him that he is related to them. The writer is very relieved, as they no longer pose a threat to him.
Three years later the writer reads in the newspaper that the brothers have died in gang-related violence, just like their elder brother.

2. Title

The title “Relatives” shows that the story is about what family means to people. At first, the writer was afraid of the two boys, who were strangers to him. When he finds out that they are relatives, as their grandmothers were sisters, he loses his fear of them. They no longer seem like enemies to him, as he has a connection to them.

3. Themes

The main themes of the story are:

• The importance of memories and family: The writer tells us that in Carnarvon his relatives spend a lot of time together, having long meals and discussions about family history. Note how the fear that  the writer feels disappears as soon as he discovers that the two brothers on the train are his relatives, and therefore, they cannot be a threat.
• The power of stories to entertain and teach us about The story also has stories within it, for example, the story of Georgie that the writer relates.
• Coincidences: The first is that both stories (Georgie’s story and the brothers’ story) that are told on the train concern The next is that the gangster brothers have family ties with the writer, so they are his relatives.
• Crime and gang violence: The brothers are clearly already involved in crime as they are in a They want to take revenge for the death of their brother by killing their brother’s murderer. The cycle of gang violence tragically results in their own death.

4. How is the story told?

4.1 Setting

The main setting is a compartment on a train travelling between Johannesburg and Cape Town where the young writer chats to people.

4.2 Structure and plot development

We are introduced to the writer, who is an aspiring (inexperienced) 21-year-old writer who decides to visit his family in Carnavon in the Northern Cape to get information about his roots. He wants to write a “family saga” (history of his family).
After two weeks he becomes bored with the dry, dusty place and conversations that are repeated over and over and decides to return home to Johannesburg.
On the train back to Johannesburg he meets:

• Three friendly carpenters or builders, laughing and drinking beer (“their conversation was full of the hammers and nails of their profession”); and
• Two quiet brothers who sit huddled in a corner and refuse to join in the conversation.

The three friendly young men ask him about his journey to the Cape, and he tells them a story about it which he had already told his relatives in Carnarvon. He believes that the story is excellent because he feels that it has all the necessary basic features of a good story, passing what he calls his litmus test.
The writer tells them the story of Georgie, whom he met on the way from Johannesburg to Cape Town. Georgie told him a story about how he had killed a man (the story within the story), as a warning to the writer not to try to steal his luggage.
The comic ending and anti-climax of this story (Georgie is publicly slapped in the face by his wife) is thoroughly enjoyed by the young men.
Up until this point the writer is relaxed and enjoying the journey and the company. Then there is a complication. As the writer puts it:

But then my journey took an unexpected turn.

Quite suddenly, and without much warning, the three friendly men leave the train. The writer is left in the compartment with the two unfriendly brothers.
The rising tension in the story begins when the writer looks at the brothers more closely and realises that they are wearing the khaki uniforms worn by juvenile delinquents. He also realises they do not have a guard with them. Suddenly their behaviour changes and they begin to act aggressively – they start talking loudly, swearing, spreading their luggage all over the compartment and littering.
Then they start discussing their brother, who was killed by a gang in Coronationville, Johannesburg. They are on their way to attend his funeral and swear to take revenge on his killer. The brutal and violent way they plan to take revenge scares the writer terribly.
The conflict in the story grows:

• The writer is now scared to be alone with the
• They start looking at him straight in the eye, scaring him even
• He thinks about asking for a transfer to another compartment, but is too afraid to leave his luggage

The tension within the writer is now so great he cannot even eat.
The story reaches an amazing climax when one of the brothers recognises him as “that clever boy who used to read books and write stuff”. Their grandmothers were sisters, so in fact the writer and the two brothers are relatives. From then on he begins to relax and enjoy the journey.
The resolution to the main story and the story told by the brothers comes three years later, when the narrator reads in the newspaper about “rampant gang crime in the streets of Western Township and adjacent Coronationville”. The two brothers who had “never reached twenty-one” had been stabbed to death in the violence, and were now “in the same graveyard as their brother, killed three years ago”.

4.3 Characterisation

The narrator is the writer. He is the protagonist, as he is the main character. The two brothers, his relatives, are the antagonists in the story.
The brothers contrast with the writer in every way. For example, while the writer tells a funny story about a man who pretended to be a murderer, the brothers are plotting a murder in real life.
In a train compartment (which is the main setting for the story) the different passengers also form a contrast to one another.
The three young men who are carpenters or builders are very friendly to the young writer. It is to them the writer tells the story about Georgie.

4.4 Style

The story makes use of the stylistic device of “a story within a story”. The bigger story is of the young writer visiting his relatives in Carnarvon to write a family saga. This is the outer frame of the story. His experiences with the people in his compartment on the train back to Johannesburg form the inner frame of the story. The centre frame is the story of Georgie, which the writer tells to his companions as comic relief.

4.5 Narrator and point of view

The narrator is the main character in the story. The story is told from the first person point of view (“I”).

4.6 Diction and figurative language

The way the writer uses language conveys meaning in the story. For example, at the beginning, when the narrator is visiting his elderly uncle, the description of the old men emphasises the slow pace of their lives:

conversations consisting of long, trailing life histories that made the old men in their elbow patches stammer and squint into the past from behind their thick spectacles

The conversational, chatty tone of the characters when telling their stories together with the use of dialect is very effective. For example, in the story of Georgie, his wife greets him by saying: “Ses maande en djy skryf niks, phone niks, not a blerry word van djou.” The Cape Coloured use of a combination of English and Afrikaans is very effective, as it gives us a sense of the rhythms and pronunciation of this speech.
The narrator’s fear is conveyed not only through his thoughts, but also by using many short sentences, which are very dramatic. For example:

I began to worry
He knows what I’m thinking, I thought.
My companions glared at me again.
I had no appetite.

The final sentence of the story, in particular, is very clear in its message about the unfortunate effect of gang crime: “They had never reached twenty- one.”
The reader is given insight into the characters through the vivid descriptions of their appearance. For example, the two brothers are described as having “sandy hair that had been cut so short that the hairs grew in sharp italic spikes”. Here, a metaphor is used to compare the short, bristly quality of their hair to italic writing.
In the line, “When the train slithered out...”, a metaphor is used to compare the train to a snake sliding along the ground.

4.7 Tone and mood

In the story the writer uses dialogue and descriptions to show how the tone changes in the story. For example, when the narrator meets the young men on the train the tone of their conversation is friendly and happy:

their conversation was ... punctuated with laughter and inane arguments.

In contrast, the two brothers’ conversation has a dark tone – it is full of swearing and details about how they will murder their brother’s killer:

They no longer muttered but spoke loudly, spicing their conversation with vulgarities.

The light-hearted tone at the beginning of the story changes to a dark and sombre tone as the story goes on. The story ends on a note of sadness, as it brings to mind the theme of the tragedy of gang crime. The death of the young brothers highlights the tragic waste of life that is the result of gang violence.
Mood: How does this story make you feel? Happy, sad, angry or indifferent? What are the reasons it makes you feel this way?

Summary
Relatives by Chris van Wyk

1. Title
   • The writer no longer feels threatened once he knows he’s related to the juvenile delinquents.
2. Themes
   • The importance of memories and family
   • The power of stories to entertain and teach
   • Coincidences
   • Crime and gang violence
3. How is the story told?
   3.1 Setting
   • Mainly the compartment of a train
     3.2 Structure and plot development
   • “Georgie’s” story: Story within a story, with a comic ending and anti-climax
   • Complication: The three friendly men leaving the train unexpectedly
   • Rising tension: The writer realises that the two brothers are juvenile delinquents.
   • Conflict: The increasingly vulgar and loud behaviour of the two brothers
   • Tension: The writer becomes so anxious he cannot even eat.
   • Climax: One of the brothers recognises the writer as a relative.
   • Resolution: Newspaper article about the death of the two brothers in gang crime
     3.3 Characterisation
   • Protagonist: The narrator is the writer and the main character.
   • Antagonists: The two brothers (the relatives)
   • The three young men: Their friendliness contrasts with the behaviour of the brothers.
     3.4 Style
   • Stories within a story: The outer frame of the story is the trip to Carnarvon.
   • The inner frame is the writer’s experiences in the train compartment coming home to Johannesburg.
   • The centre frame is Georgie’s story.
     3.5 Narrator and point of view
   • First person
     3.6 Diction and figurative language
   • “Ses maande en djy skryf niks, phone niks, not a blerry word van djou”
     Dialect
   • “I began to worry”; “I had no appetite”; “They had never reached twenty-one.”
     Short sentences for dramatic effect
   • “sandy hair that had been cut so short that the hairs grew in sharp italic spikes”
     Metaphor
   • “the train slithered out”
     Metaphor
     3.7 Tone and mood
   • Tone: Starts off friendly and happy but becomes darker as the two brothers get louder; ends with a gloomy and sad tone.
   • Mood: How does this story make you feel? Happy, sad, angry or indifferent? Give reasons for your answer.

Activity 7

Read the extract below and answer the questions that follow.

Extract A

[The narrator is remembering his journey.]

1. Read the following statement and complete the sentences by filling in the missing Write only the words next to the question number (1(a) and1(b)).
   The narrator (person who is telling the story) is visiting Carnarvon because he wants to write a novel about his family (a) … Before going to Carnarvon, he spends a week in (b) …    (2)
2. What are “chains of cigarettes” in line 7? (1)
3. In lines 10–11, “the dry riverbeds of history” are mentioned
   1. Identify the figure of speech used here (1)
   2. Explain why the writer has used this figure of speech  (2)
4. The narrator is surprised and pleased by the way the three big men in the compartment treat
   State TWO ways in which these men make him feel like an old friend. (2)
5. Explain how the narrator feels about the other two passengers in the compartment at this point in the State TWO points. (2)
6. When the three men leave, the behaviour of the two boys changes
   Give TWO reasons for the change in the boys’ behaviour.   (2)
7. Give TWO reasons why the narrator decides not to ask the conductor to move him to another compartment. (2)
8. Is the following statement TRUE or FALSE? Write “true” or “false” and give a reason for your answer.
   Before they tell him, the narrator is certain that the two boys are brothers.   (2)
9. The narrator in this story researches his family Do you think it is a good idea for one to do this? Discuss your view.        (2) [18]

Activity 8

Read the extract below and answer the questions that follow.

Extract B

[The narrator tells his fellow passengers about Georgie Abrahams.]

1. Why was Georgie’s wife angry with him when she met him at the station? State TWO points.      (2)
2. Does the writer want his readers to believe that Georgie killed the man? Give a reason for your answer (2)
3. After listening to the story of Georgie Abrahams the people in the compartment have different reactions.
   Describe the different reactions the friendly men and the two boys have (2)
   Why is the narrator not surprised by the boys’ reaction? (1)
4. Read the following statement and complete the sentences by filling in the missing words. Write only the words next to the question number (4(a) and 4(b)).
   The two boys are on their way to their a) … funeral. He was a b) … leader in Coronationville.   (2)
5. The narrator discovers that he is related to the two boys
   1. How does this fact change his feelings towards them?
   2. How does the boys’ behaviour change because of this new-found relationship?       (2)
6. Choose the correct answer to complete the following sentence
   Write only the answer (A–D).      (1)
   One of the themes in this story is …
   1. romantic love.
   2. sibling rivalry.
   3. fear.
   4. greed.                                                                                           (1)
7. Explain what makes the ending of the story (2)
8. Discuss your views on the following statement:
   Family background does not determine what you will become in life.  (2) [17]

Words to know

THE COFFEE-CART GIRL BY ES’KIA MPHAHLELE

• Summary
• Title
• Themes
• How is the story told?
• Activity 9
• Activity 10

Es’kia Mphahlele (1919 – 2008) was born in the slums of Pretoria and went on to become a world famous writer, educationist, artist and activist.
He only began attending school regularly when he was 15 and went on to finish high school by private study. In 1945 he taught at Orlando High School in Soweto. As a result of his protests against Bantu Education he was fired from his teaching post. He eventually joined Drum magazine in 1955, where he made a name for himself as a serious writer.
In 1957 Mphahlele went into exile, at first in Nigeria. Here he completed his first autobiography, Down Second Avenue (1959), which was banned in South Africa.
Mphahlele went on to get his doctorate from the University of Denver, USA, in 1968 and was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969.
He finally returned home from exile in 1977, where he went on to found the University of the Witwatersrand’s African Literature Department - the first department of African Literature in the country - in 1983. He is widely celebrated as being the Father of African Humanism. 

1. Summary

The story takes place in the industrial part of a city during apartheid, where a young woman called Zodwa works at a coffee-cart. She sells coffee and pancakes to the workers who pass by. One day there is a strike at the nearby Metropolitan Steel Windows Ltd factory. The striking workers march in the street where Zodwa’s coffee-cart stands. She is so absorbed in the strike that she doesn’t realise that the marching crowd is getting bigger and more restless. There is conflict between the apartheid police and the black people who are striking.
One of the strikers, a young man named Ruben (whose nickname is China), helps to move Zodwa’s coffee-cart away from danger of the crowd. Zodwa is very grateful to him and offers him coffee and food. This is the start of the friendship between Zodwa and Ruben. After the strike China loses his job. As their relationship develops, China gives Zodwa the nickname Pinkie, because her skin is peach-coloured. China finds another job at a shoe factory. When he gets paid by his new employer China takes Pinkie to choose a gift from a cheapjack’s shop. The cheapjack is a man named Naidoo. Naidoo clearly likes Pinkie and he starts coming to her cart for coffee. One day when he cannot pay he gives Pinkie a ring in exchange for coffee and cakes. When China sees the ring on Pinkie’s finger he gets very jealous and accuses Pinkie of being in love with Naidoo.
China pulls out a knife and points it at Pinkie’s throat. She thinks he is going to kill her. But then China realises that he is frightening Pinkie. He apologises to her and leaves. He never sees Pinkie again, as three days after this, Pinkie and all the coffee sellers are chased away from the area by the police. When China comes back to visit her she is gone. All he can do is hope that one day they will meet again.

Note: 

• Cheapjack - a seller of cheap goods.

2. Title

The story is focused on Pinkie, the coffee-cart girl in the title of the story. Although the title is about Pinkie, everything that happens to her is caused by the realities of the apartheid system. For example, she is caught up in the conflict between the apartheid police and the oppressed black workers, and it is only because of China that she is not hurt. Later in the story she is forced by apartheid laws to move to another place to sell her coffee and pancakes.

3. Themes

The main themes are:

• Life affected by apartheid: The strike takes place because of the political situation where white-owned businesses and apartheid laws work together to oppress and impoverish black people. It is because of the strike that the two young people meet. If it had not been for the difficult working conditions China would not have met Pinkie. At the end of the story the political situation interferes again in their lives by forcing Pinkie to work elsewhere, preventing them from meeting again.
• Violence against women/women’s powerlessness: Pinkie is the only female character. The story shows her to be very vulnerable both to the general violence of the strike and to personal violence from China. She has no control over her own life and is pushed around by individuals like China, and by the apartheid state.
• Love: A young man meets a young woman and a bond is established between them.
• Jealousy: When another man, Naidoo, shows an interest in Pinkie, China becomes violently jealous. China’s uncontrolled emotion becomes an obstacle in his relationship with Pinkie.
• Loss: China loses his job and he loses Pinkie. We lose Pinkie at the end of the story, because she is chased away by the police. Like China, we don’t know what happens to her.

4. How is the story told?

4.1 Setting

The story is set in an industrial area in a city during apartheid. Throughout the story the harshness of apartheid shapes the lives of the characters. We are constantly aware of the poverty in the city and the fact that the lives of the people are worth little. Pinkie tells China that unless he accepts her coffee and buns he will “starve to death in this cruel city”.

4.2 Structure and plot development

The story starts with the strikers marching. The writer’s description of the march already gives a sense of tension. In the middle of the chaos is Zodwa, who seems calm as she watches the marchers from her coffee- cart. It is only when one of the coffee-carts gets knocked over that she reacts. “She climbed down from her cart, looking like a bird frightened out of its nest.” China helps to move Pinkie’s coffee-cart before it gets damaged.
Against the background of the strike and unrest China and Pinkie start a quiet friendship. When China finds another job he promises to buy Pinkie a gift. They go to a cheapjack’s shop to choose the gift. Naidoo, the cheapjack, takes a liking to Pinkie and starts to visit her to buy coffee. The complication in the story is that Pinkie has two admirers: China and Naidoo. China is shy and is not able openly to tell Pinkie that he loves her. Naidoo is more direct and able to chat and joke with Pinkie more easily.
China’s jealousy of Naidoo creates the rising tension in the story. One day China notices that Pinkie is wearing a ring. She says Naidoo gave it to her to pay for three days’ worth of coffee and cake. China’s jealousy becomes so great that he accuses Pinkie of being in love with Naidoo and threatens her with a knife. This is the climax or crisis point in the story.
China then realises that he is scaring Pinkie, and he apologises to her. He leaves.
The story does not have a clear resolution as Pinkie is forced by apartheid laws to leave the area three days later. When China comes back some days later she is gone and he is left with his dreams of how things might have been.

4.3 Characterisation

The main characters in the story are Pinkie, China and Naidoo.
Pinkie is the main character or protagonist in the story. She is called “Pinkie” by China because she has a “peach-coloured face”. This is ironic, because apartheid oppressed black people on the basis of the colour of their skin, and yet here is a black woman with light-coloured skin. It points to how unworkable the system of racial oppression really was.
Pinkie is a shy and gentle woman and seems to accept the harshness of her life. She is small and seems fragile. The writer uses descriptions of small creatures when describing her:

looking like a bird frightened out of its nest
She panted like a timid little mouse cornered by a cat.

China is the antagonist in the story. He too has had a hard life. In the past he was in jail. He is not able to express his emotions well with words. Instead, he is quick to get angry and use violence. He seems to feel that he ‘owns’ Pinkie and is jealous of her having any other friends. His jealousy causes him to threaten Pinkie.

However, China is able to show some remorse for the way he treats Pinkie.
He is sorry for frightening her and says to her:
“I pray you never in your life to think about this day.”

Both Pinkie and China have difficulty letting each other know how they feel about each other. This is mainly because of the cruelty and hardships of the apartheid city in which they live. It makes gentle emotions like love seem dangerous and they both “panicked at the thought of a love affair”.
From the start, Pinkie is a bit afraid of China – he attracts and repels (drives her away) her at the same time:

She felt “a repelling admiration”.
She felt he was the kind of man who could be attractive as long as he remained more than a touch away from the contemplator;

China also carried on “a dumb show”, by not telling Pinkie that he loved her:

Pinkie and China panicked at the thought of a love affair and remained dumb.

The seriousness of China and Pinkie’s relationship is contrasted with Naidoo’s ability to chat easily and joke with Pinkie. His anecdotes “sent Pinkie off into peals of laughter”. Naidoo’s relationship is a source of jealousy for China. He suspects that Naidoo likes Pinkie and thinks that Pinkie is in love with Naidoo.
Naidoo also gives some comic relief to the story, as he mispronounces words for comic effect.

4.4 Style

The relationship between Pinkie and China is explored through the use of dialogue and descriptions.
Dialogue works to give us an immediate idea of the characters’ thoughts, feelings and attitudes. Another technique that the writer makes use of is contrasts. For example, the love of China and Pinkie contrasts with the harshness of their world.
In addition, the writer also contrasts aspects of their personalities. For example, at first China seems frightening to Pinkie:

There was something sly in those soft, moist, slit eyes, but the modest stoop at the shoulders gave him a benign appearance; otherwise he would have looked twisted and rather fiendish.
There was something she felt in his presence: a repelling admiration.

The violence of China as opposed to the sweetness of Pinkie is shown right at the beginning of the story when, even though he helps Pinkie, China is seen as one of the violent strikers:

Almost rudely he pushed her into the street, took the cart by the stump of a shaft and wheeled it across the street,

When China first looks carefully at Pinkie he notices her fragility:

His eyes travelled from her small tender fingers as she washed a few things, to her man’s jersey which was a faded green and too big for her, her thin frock, and then to her peach-coloured face, not well fed, but well framed and compelling

Another contrast between China and Pinkie is when China takes her to choose a gift for herself. It is typical of her character that she would buy something pretty such as “a beautiful long bodkin, a brooch, and a pair of bangles”. It is also in character for China to buy something harsher for himself such as “a knife, dangling from a fashionable chain”.
Note the contrasting images and personification in the description which follows, which shows the many emotions China and Pinkie feel for each other:

Within, heaven and earth thundered and rocked, striving to meet; sunshine and rain mingled; milk and gall pretended friendship; fire and water went hand in hand; tears and laughter hugged each other in a fit of hysterics; the screeching of the hang-bird started off with the descant of a dove’s cooing; devils waved torches before a chorus of angels.

At the end of the story the writer uses ellipsis twice to emphasise the incompleteness of the story:

• “I’ll tell her all about myself, all about my wicked past; she’ll get used to me, not be afraid of me any more …” Here the ellipsis indicates that we will never know whether this wish of China comes
• “And still he sat in the coffee-cart which was once Pinkie’s all through the lunch hour …” Here the ellipsis emphasises that we, like China, do not know whether they will ever see each other

4.5 Narrator and point of view

The writer uses a third person point of view to tell the story. This approach allows the reader to learn about the characters from what they say and do. It also allows us to appreciate how the political setting explains so much about them.

4.6 Diction and figurative language

The way the writer uses words and descriptions helps to convey meaning in the story. For example, the writer uses many figures of speech and sound devices in the story:

• Similes and metaphors
  In the first line of the story the writer uses two similes to describe the striking marchers: “The crowd moved like one mighty being, and swayed and swung like the sea.”
  Pinkie is described as having “a peach-coloured face” (a metaphor is used to compare her face to a peach).
  Later, Pinkie realises that China is angry:
  “She sensed a gathering storm” (in this metaphor, China’s anger is compared to a coming storm).
  When China threatens Pinkie with a knife a simile is used to compare Pinkie to a frightened mouse being hunted by a cat:
  “She panted like a timid little mouse cornered by a cat.”
• Personification
  One example of personification used in the story is “the law was brandishing batons”. This image of the law being armed shows that apartheid laws were not about justice or equality, but about violence and oppression.
• Oxymoron
  The writer uses oxymorons for effect in the writing, especially when writing about the confused feelings that China and Pinkie have for each other. Pinkie is described as having “a repelling admiration” for China. ‘Repelling’ means something that is distasteful or repulsive, while ‘admiration’ means something to respect and approve of.

4.7 Tone and mood

Right from the beginning of the story we are made aware of the harshness of life.
The tone created by the strike is one of confusion and danger:

The crowd moved like one mighty being, and swayed and swung like the sea.
Grimy, oily, greasy, sweating black bodies squeezed and chafed and grated.

We are constantly aware of the poverty and grime in this part of the city. The tone of the words the writer uses to describe the area and the people is despairing:

A dreary smoky mist lingered in suspension, or clung to the walls; black sooty chimneys shot up malignantly

The old shopkeepers are described as having:

a vague grimace on their faces, seeming to sneer at the world in general

Later in the story the tone of fear is emphasised by the writer’s description of China threatening Pinkie with a knife:

At that very moment she realised fully the ghastliness of a man’s jealousy, which gleamed and glanced on the blade and seemed to have raised a film which steadied the slit eyes.

At the end of the story the coffee-carts are empty and deserted. Their emptiness emphasises China’s loss of Pinkie. Yet the story ends on a hopeful tone as we read that China hopes that one day he will see Pinkie again:

We’ll meet in town some day, China thought. I’ll tell her all about myself, all about my wicked past; she’ll get used to me, not be afraid of me any more …

Mood: How does this story make you feel? Happy, sad, angry or indifferent? What are the reasons it makes you feel this way?

Summary
The Coffee-cart Girl by Es’kia Mphahlele

1. Title
   • Focuses the story on Pinkie, the coffee-cart girl, surviving in apartheid South Africa
2. Themes
   • Life affected by apartheid
   • Violence against women/women’s powerlessness
   • Love
   • Jealousy
   • Loss
3. How is the story told?
   3.1 Setting
   • An industrial area in a city during apartheid
     3.2 Structure and plot development
   • Complication: Pinkie has two admirers
   • Rising tension: China’s jealousy of Naidoo
   • Climax/crisis point: China threatening Pinkie with a knife
   • Resolution: None; the reader is left wondering what happens to the characters next.
     3.3 Characterisation
   • Protagonist: Pinkie is the main character
   • Antagonist: China opposes her
   • Naidoo: A source of tension (China’s jealousy) and comic relief
     3.4 Style
   • Dialogue and descriptions: Used to explore Pinkie and China’s relationship
   • Contrasts: The love of Pinkie and China compared to their harsh world; China’s violence compared to Pinkie’s sweetness; China choosing a knife compared to the pretty things that Pinkie chooses from Naidoo’s shop
   • Ellipsis: Emphasises the incompleteness of the story
     3.5 Narrator and point of view
   • Third person
     3.6 Diction and figurative language
   • “peach-coloured face”
     Metaphor
   • “She sensed the gathering storm”
     Metaphor
   • “The crowd moved like one mighty being, and swayed and swung like the sea.”
     Two similes
   • “She panted like a timid little mouse cornered by a cat.”
     Simile
   • “repelling admiration”
     Oxymoron
   • “the law was brandishing batons”
     Personification
   • “fire and water went hand in hand”
     Personification
     3.7 Tone and mood
   • Tone: Begins with a tone of despair and danger in the strike; tone of fear increases at the point of Pinkie being threatened by China; ends on a hopeful note as China imagines meeting up with Pinkie again
   • Mood: How does this story make you feel? Happy, sad, angry or indifferent? Give reasons for your answer.

Activity 9

Read the extract below and answer the questions that follow.

Extract A

[China and Pinky meet again after the violent strike.]

1. Describe the events that lead to China saving Pinkie’s cart
   Give THREE points.                                                                       (3)
2. Why does Pinkie refer to China as “uncle” in line 2 of extract A? (1)
3. Choose the correct answer to complete the following In line 3, China says: “Don’t uncle me, please.” His tone in this line is one of:
   1. happiness.
   2. satisfaction.
   3. annoyance.
   4. sadness.                                                                                     (1)
4. Refer to lines 6-9 of extract A (“His eyes travelled ... soiled black beret”). What do these lines show you about Pinkie’s circumstances?  (1)
5. In lines 11–14 of extract A (“There was something .. a repelling admiration”), Pinkie has mixed feelings about China. What are these feelings? (2)
6. Refer to lines 17 of extract A (“just like those ... chamber of horrors”).
   1. Identify the figure of speech in these (1)
   2. In what way does China remind Pinkie of the wax figures? (1)
7. How is China affected by the strike? (1)
8. How are Pinkie and China victims of apartheid prejudice? (2)
9. Later, Pinkie gives China coffee and pancakes. What does this behaviour tell us about the kind of person Pinkie is? State TWO points(2)
10. At the end of the story Pinkie disappears because the police no longer allow her to operate her coffee-cart on the street. In your opinion, is the action of the police justified? Discuss your view (2)  [17]

Activity 10

Read the extract below and answer the questions that follow.

Extract B

[China attacks Pinky in her coffee-cart.]

1. Complete the following sentences by using the words in the list below;

   jersey; guilty; ring; happy; compassionate; jealous; aggressive

   China sees Pinkie wearing a (a) .... He is (b) ... because Naidoo gave it to her. China becomes (c) ... towards Pinkie. Later, he feels (d) ... about this behaviour.                       (4)
2. How does Naidoo make a living? (1)
3. Is the following statement TRUE or FALSE? Write “true” or “false” and give a reason for your answer.
   Pinkie accepted the gift from Naidoo as a token of his love.        (2)
4. Refer to line 6 of extract B (“She panted like ... by a cat”).
   Why does the writer compare Pinkie to a mouse and China to  a cat?            (2)
5. Refer to lines 7-8 of extract B (“He had sent ... a knife before”).
   What does this line show you about China’s past behaviour?       (1)
6. Refer to line 12 of extract B (“She looked at him, mystified”). Explain why Pinkie feels this way.      (2)
7. Refer to the last paragraph of extract B (“The following day ... him any more”).
   1. Why does China’s behaviour change at this stage in the story? (1)
   2. In your opinion, is China being realistic when he hopes that Pinkie will not be afraid of him anymore?    (2)
8. Does Pinkie really forgive China? Give a reason for your answer (1)
9. Pinkie and China do not meet Is this an effective conclusion to this story? Discuss your view.    (2) [18]

Words to know

THE DUBE TRAIN BY CAN THEMBA

• Summary
• Title
• Themes
• How is the story told?
• Activity 11
• Activity 12

Daniel Canadoce (“Can”) Themba (1924–1968) was born in Marabastad in Pretoria. He studied at Fort Hare University and later moved to Johannesburg, where he worked as a teacher and journalist on Drum magazine. Many of his stories are about the lives of the people in Sophiatown in Johannesburg where he lived. This was a mixed- race suburb which was very vibrant during the 1950s, but it was later destroyed by the apartheid government. In the early 1960s he moved to Swaziland, where he died a few years later.

1. Summary

The narrator is at Dube Station in Soweto on a cold Monday morning, waiting for the train to Johannesburg. All his descriptions of the station and people emphasise his depression, which he feels is shared by all the people around him.
When he gets onto the train he sits opposite a huge man. When the train gets to Phefeni Station a young woman enters the carriage and sits next to the narrator. Soon afterwards a tsotsi jumps onto the train and begins verbally harassing the girl. When the girl reaches her stop and wants to get off the train the tsotsi prevents her and slaps her. She tries to get away from him by jumping over the narrator but the tsotsi follows her.
No one dares to say anything to stop the tsotsi, until an older woman starts shouting at the men and calling them cowards. This causes the tsotsi to swear at the woman. This angers the huge man sitting opposite the narrator and he gets up and moves towards the tsotsi.
The tsotsi pulls out a knife and cuts the big man’s chest and arm. The big man is enraged and, in spite of his injuries, he grabs the tsotsi and lifts him up. He throws him out of the train window.
Everyone is shocked, but the incident soon becomes just another event on the morning Dube train.

2. Title

The title focuses on the train journey rather than on any characters in the story. The writer intends us to see the train journey as a comment on the lives people experience. Even when bad things happen people just accept them. The incident on the train happens to people no one knows or is concerned about. It soon becomes:
Just an incident in the morning Dube train.

3. Themes

The main themes of this story are:

• Violence, crime and gangsterism in the townships; and
• People’s passive attitudes to these issues.

The train passengers do not at first take action when they are faced with gangsterism and violence. Nobody stops the tsotsi from harassing the girl, or prevents the tsotsi from stabbing the big man, or stops the man from flinging the tsotsi out of the window. The large man who takes action against the tsotsi also behaves in a violent way, which is not a solution to the social problem of crime.
Perhaps the writer is saying that violence has become so common that people no longer see it as a problem:

too many passengers had seen too many tragedies to be rattled by this incident.

People have become so used to violence that they are not shocked by such incidents. They consider them as a break in their dull lives. Although the narrator is also guilty of not getting involved, the writer uses him to convey the message that the people are too used to crime and too passive to fight against it.

4. How is the story told?

4.1 Setting

The story takes place at the Dube station and on the Dube train. It is on the train trip from Dube to Johannesburg that the events involving the girl, the tsotsi and the huge man take place.
The narrator links the train trip with life in general:

the prospect of congested trains filled with sour-smelling humanity, did not improve my impression of a hostile life directing its malevolence plumb at me.

4.2 Structure and plot development

At the beginning of the story the narrator gives a description of the environment at the station and the people who, like him, feel depressed on that Monday morning. The faceless, nameless people add to his feeling of despair.
When the narrator gets on to the train he describes the passengers more individually. The writer describes the huge man who sits opposite him, a young girl who gets on the train later and a tsotsi who sees the girl and comes to harass her.
The tsotsi’s harassment of the girl is the complication in the story. It creates the rising tension, to the point where the huge man gets up to intervene, after the tsotsi insults a woman who yells at the men nearby to stop the tsotsi. When the tsotsi draws a knife it creates panic in the carriage:

the woman shrieked and men scampered on to seats.

The climax of the story occurs when the tsotsi stabs the big man who confronts him. The man then picks the tsotsi up and flings him out of the train window.

The story ends with a negative and disturbing resolution because, although the problem with the tsotsi has been dealt with, the violent action of the man is also a criminal act. The narrator of the story comments at the end of the story:

Odd, that no one expressed sympathy for the boy or the man.

4.3 Characterisation

The main characters in the story are people who are part of the crowd on the train:

• A huge man who sits opposite the narrator. He is described as “a hulk of a man; his hugeness was obtrusive to the sight when you saw him, and to the mind when you looked away”. His presence feels “obtrusive” because he is so large and it feels as if he is blocking the narrator’s view and he can’t see past him.
• A young girl, who is described as “pert, arrogant, live”. She is young but acts more mature than she is.
• A young tsotsi who jumps onto the train and starts to harass the girl.
• An old lady who shouts at the men in the carriage for not stopping the tsotsi.

The men in the carriage “winced. They said nothing, merely looked around at each other in shy embarrassment”. It is only when the tsotsi swears at the woman, that the huge man becomes offended and takes action. He does not react when the young girl is being harassed.
In the story the huge man, the girl and the shouting woman act as protagonists. The tsotsi is the antagonist as he is in opposition to them. It is the tsotsi’s actions that drive the events that take place on the train.

4.4 Style

The narrator of the story notices what is going on with the tsotsi and the girl, as well as all the details of the train journey. The events in the carriage are viewed between station stops. At one point the narrator gives a long description of a bridge and the view of the city skyline, which looks attractive after “the drab, chocolate-box houses of the township, monotonously identical row upon row”.
The writer uses township slang and dialect as ways to indicate the atmosphere of the life he is describing. “Tsotsi”, “Sies” and “Hela, Tholo, my ma hears me, I want that ten-’n-six!” are examples of slang. In the story slang is used by the tsotsis to communicate with each other. It sets the tsotsis apart from the other passengers. The narrator says of their exchange of words:
The gibberish exchange was all in exuberant superlatives.

4.5 Narrator and point of view

The narrator tells the story in the first person. He refers to himself as “I”.

4.6 Diction and figurative language

The way the writer uses language in the story helps to express meaning.
For example, the description of the big man on the train is significant as it helps us build up a picture of him:
a hulk of a man ... The neck was thick and corded, and the enormous chest was a live barrel that heaved back and forth.
With this metaphor of the man’s chest being an enormous live barrel we have an image of how huge he was and don’t question his ability to lift up and throw the boy later.
The writer’s description of the ‘blue’ Monday includes phrases such as “hostile life”, “the grey aspect around me”, “savagery of the crowd” and “all was wrong with the world”, which give the impression of a dreary day which matches his depression.
The writer uses figurative language to describe the scene and the characters:

• Simile
  For example, his description of the movement of the train leaving the station as making the platform look as though it is “a fast conveyor belt”.
• Metaphor
  The woman who shouted at the tsotsi used “barbed words” – her words are compared to barbs, which could mean insults or sharp thorns.
• Oxymoron
  The narrator watches the tsotsi with “grim anticipation”. “Anticipation” is usually associated with looking forward to something positive. Here it is paired with “grim”, which means horrible, awful or unpleasant.

4.7 Tone and mood

From the start of the story the writer gives us a picture of a dreary Monday morning at the station. The narrator surveys the scene with displeasure; the tone of his thoughts conveys a feeling of gloom:

Despairing thoughts of every kind darted through my mind: the lateness of the trains, the shoving savagery of the crowd, the grey aspect around me.

The tone of gloom and despair is continued when the narrator is seated on the train:

the other passengers, looking Monday-bleared, had no enthusiasm about them. They were just like the lights of the carriage – dull, dreary, undramatic.

The writer emphasises how bored and depressed the passengers on the train usually are by contrasting this with how they behave at the end of the story:

[They] break out into a cacophony of chattering.
They were just greedily relishing the thrilling episode of the morning.”

The writer emphasises the fact that people are so used to violence, that they are not so much shocked as excited by what happened on the train. This creates a tone of excitement.
Mood: How does this story make you feel? Happy, sad, angry or indifferent? What are the reasons it makes you feel this way?

Summary
 The Dube Train by Can Themba

1. Title
   • Focuses on a train journey
2. Themes
   • Violence, crime and gangsterism
   • Peoples’ passive attitudes to these issues
3. How is the story told?
   3.1 Setting
   • At the Dube Station and on the train
     3.2 Structure and plot development
   • Complication: The tsotsi’s harassment of the girl
   • Rising tension: The continued harassment of the girl
   • Climax: The stabbing of the big man and the tsotsi being thrown out of the train window
   • Resolution: Disturbing because the violence of the man against the tsotsi is also a criminal act
     3.3 Characterisation
   • Protagonists: The big man, the girl and the shouting woman
   • Antagonist: The tsotsi
     3.4 Style
   • Descriptions: Of the township and the city
   • Slang/dialect: For example, “tsotsi”, “sies”, “hela”
     3.5 Narrator and point of view
   • First person
     3.6 Diction and !gurative language
   • “the enormous chest was a live barrel”
     Metaphor
   •  “barbed words”
     Metaphor
   •  “like a fast conveyor belt”
     Simile
   • “grim anticipation”
     Oxymoron
     3.7 Tone and mood
   • Tone: Mainly a gloomy, despairing and depressed tone; except when the violence breaks out, when the tone becomes excited
   • Mood: How does this story make you feel? Happy, sad, angry or indifferent? Give reasons for your answer.

Activity 11 

Read the extract below and answer the questions that follow.

Extract A

[The narrator describes a typical Monday morning.]

1. Read the following statement and complete the sentence by filling in the missing words. Write down only the words next to the question number (1a)–1b)).
   In lines 1 and 2 “a child of the sun” is an example of personification.
   The a) … is being described as the b) … of the narrator. (2)
2. Refer to paragraph 1.
   1. Quote no more than FOUR consecutive words from the extract to show that this story is written in the first person. (1)
   2. Using your own words, briefly describe how the narrator feels on a Monday morning. State TWO points. (2)
   3. In your view, why does he feel this way? State TWO points. (2)
3. Refer to paragraph 2.
   Quote TWO consecutive words to show that the narrator has a negative outlook on life. (1)
4. Refer to line 10 (“… shoving savagery of the crowds …”).
   Which figure of speech is used here? (1)
5. Choose the correct answer to complete the following sentence: In line 13, the word “flukes” refers to …
   1. unfortunate accidents.
   2. lucky charms.
   3. unlucky coincidences.
   4. a stroke of good luck. (1)
6. Refer to the story as a whole.
   Is the following statement TRUE or FALSE? Give a reason to support your answer.
   The narrator’s journey was dull and uneventful. (2)
7. What point is the narrator making by including the description of the train carriage and the station? State TWO ideas. (2)
8. A girl boards the train at Phefeni station.
   1. Explain what the narrator finds unusual for a girl of her age.State TWO points. (2)
   2. Explain why the narrator is surprised by the girl’s reactions later, when the tsotsi attacks her. State TWO points. (2) [18]

Activity 12 

Read the extract below and answer the questions that follow.

Extract B

[The narrator describes the reactions of the passengers.]

1. Refer to line 1.
   1. Who is “our caveman lover”? (1)
   2. Why is this person described as a “caveman”? (1)
   3. Quote ONE word from paragraph 2 which shows that the narrator is comparing the “caveman” to an animal. (1)
2. Refer to line 7.
   What caused the “caveman” to reel? (1)
3.  Refer to line 12.
   Using your own words, explain why the woman calls the men “poltroons”. (1)
4. Refer to paragraph 4 of the extract.
   Quote FOUR consecutive words to show that the woman believes that the men have strong fatherly instincts. (1)
5. Refer to line 18.
   What does the use of the word “Sies!” suggest about the woman’s feelings? (1)
6. Later in the story the attacker draws a knife when the big man confronts him.
   How do the following people react when they see the knife?
   1. The woman (1)
   2. The male passengers (1)
7. The big man, who has been sitting quietly all the time, comes to life because of the incident described in the extract.
   1. Why, do you think, does he not react when the tsotsi attacks the young girl? State TWO points. (2)
   2. What causes the big man’s violent reaction later? (2)
8. Do you feel sorry for the attacker who is flung from the train and probably killed? Explain your answer. (2)
9. The passengers on the Dube train choose not to get involved when the tsotsi attacks the girl. They also do nothing when he is flung from the train. Why do you think this is the case? Discuss your view. (2) [17]

Words to know

THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY BY JAMES THURBER

• Summary
• Title
• Themes
• How is the story told?
• Activity 13
• Activity 14

James Thurber (1894-1961) was an American journalist, writer and cartoonist. For many years he worked for The New Yorker, a literary magazine. He lost one eye early in life and, as a result, he was not able to play sports like his peers. To pass the time he would escape into a rich fantasy world. He wrote many stories and memoirs. He often illustrated his stories with his own drawings.
To read more about james Thurber, go to www.ThurberHouse.org

1. Summary

The story takes place on a snowy day during World War 2 (1939-1945) in an American town called Waterbury. Walter Mitty, an elderly man, is taking his wife to town so that she can go to the hairdresser and he can do some shopping while she is there.
As Walter Mitty drives his wife into town, does his errands and waits for her, he escapes into the following five fantasy worlds of his “secret life”. These are:

• Fantasy 1: He imagines that he is a Commander of a navy hydroplane going through a heavy storm – the worst storm in naval history. In his real life his wife shouts at him for driving his car too fast.
• Fantasy 2: He imagines that he is a renowned surgeon, saving a millionaire’s life. In his real life he drives past a hospital, which triggers his fantasy.
• Fantasy 3: He imagines he is a brave defendant in a murder trial. In his real life he walks past a boy selling newspapers who is shouting the headlines about a famous trial called the Waterbury trial.
• Fantasy 4: He imagines he is a heroic bomber pilot fighting the Germans. In his real life he reads an article in a magazine titled, “Can Germany Conquer the World Through the Air?”.
• Fantasy 5: He imagines that he is a man bravely facing a firing squad without a blindfold. In real life he is waiting outside a shop for his wife and it begins to rain.

2. Title

The title includes the words “secret life”, which encourages the reader to read the story in order to discover what this life is, and why it is “secret”.

3. Themes

A main theme in the story is the conflict between fantasy and reality. Mitty appears to be a hero to himself in his fantasy world, but in his real world he is weak and inadequate.
Another theme is the power of fantasy and imagination. It is only by escaping into his fantasy world that Mitty can find some sense of power and relief from his real world where he is the object of ridicule in his wife’s and others’ eyes. Walter Mitty represents all of us who aspire to a life of glamour and heroics to brighten up our everyday reality.

4. How is the story told?

4.1 Setting

The setting of the story is an American town called Waterbury. Although much of the action takes place in a car, we also follow Walter Mitty as he goes shopping and waits at the hotel for his wife.

4.2 Structure and plot development

The story is structured so that it has two layers:

• In the first story layer Walter Mitty has a rich and imaginative fantasy life in which he is a daring and respected hero.
• In the second story layer Mitty has a nagging wife and a boring life.

Mitty’s real-life problem is to find something to counteract the nagging of his wife and the boredom of the real world. These problems rarely have satisfactory resolutions, because he is often forgetful and feels inadequate.
In his fantasies, however, Mitty has a number of problems and complications to solve. These problems, however, he always resolves brilliantly.
In each of the fantasies Mitty is faced with a situation that is at crisis point or has reached a climax:

• In fantasy 1 he fearlessly guides a hydroplane safely through a huge storm.
• In fantasy 2 an important machine used for an operation is starting to fail. Mitty fixes it by replacing a faulty piston with a fountain pen, and successfully continues with the operation.
• In fantasy 3 he tells the court about his amazing skills with a gun – that he could have fired a shot accurately at 300 feet using his left hand.
• In fantasy 4 he is the only one who is brave enough to go and bomb an enemy ammunition dump.
• In fantasy 5 he bravely faces a firing squad, “erect and motionless,
  proud and disdainful”.

In each of his fantasies Mitty plays the part of a highly respected and heroic man. Not all his fantasies reach a resolution as they are often interrupted and he has to return to the real world. In his real life the complications rarely have satisfactory resolutions because he is so forgetful and inadequate. The end of the story is an anti-climax as Mitty is left standing in the rain waiting for his wife. However, even then, he imagines himself to be “Walter Mitty the Undefeated”.

4.3 Characterisation

The main characters in the story are Walter Mitty and his wife.
Walter Mitty is the protagonist or main character in the story. His wife is the antagonist as she is mostly in opposition to him. She constantly nags him and reminds him to do things, which leaves him feeling weak and inadequate. For example:

• She scolds him for driving too fast.
• She nags him to wear his gloves.
• She reminds him to buy some overshoes.
• She is cross when she can’t find him in the hotel.
• At the end of the story she makes him wait for her in the rain.

Whenever Mitty does try and answer his wife she implies that he is old or ill:

• When he says he doesn’t need overshoes, she says: “We’ve been all through that ... You’re not a young man any longer.”
• When he asks her, “Does it ever occur to you that I am sometimes thinking?” her response is: “I’m going to take your temperature when I get you home.”

The character of Mrs Mitty is a good example of a caricature, which is an exaggerated representation of a type of person. She is a typical nagging, bossy wife. She is also an example of a stereotype. She is a stereotype because the writer has not given any additional features to her character.
By contrast, all the characters in Mitty’s fantasies are distinguished by their youth, inexperience or reverence for Mitty:

• In fantasy 1 the crew of the hydroplane believe that, “The Old Man’ll get us through … The Old Man ain’t afraid of Hell!”
• In fantasy 2 the doctor, Mr Pritchard-Mitford, in the operating theatre compliments him on a book he has written, saying it was a “brilliant performance”. Dr Remington says that he and Pritchard-Mitford are not worthy to be compared to Mitty. Dr Renshaw feels that the situation in the theatre is beyond his control, so he asks Mitty to take over.
• In fantasy 3 Mitty gets the better of the District Attorney and the Judge in the courtroom.
• In fantasy 4 Mitty tells the sergeant that he will fly the plane alone even though the sergeant believes it is too hard a task.
• In fantasy 5 Mitty bravely faces the firing-squad.

The other characters we meet in the story besides Mitty and his wife in the real world are mainly like his wife - they are authority figures who make him feel small and pathetic. These are:

• Traffic cops who order him to watch how he is driving;
• The parking attendant who has to park his car;
• The young garageman who has to help him with his snow tyres; and
• The passerby who laughs at him.

At the end of the story Mitty finally escapes from all this torment to a world where he will face the firing squad heroically.

4.4 Style

The strength of the story lies in the writer’s use of contrasts.
For example, Walter Mitty is a timid, inadequate, forgetful, absent-minded man who is constantly being picked on by his wife. By contrast, his wife has an attitude of certainty and control. Whereas he listens to her without comment, Mrs Mitty constantly comments on his behaviour, as she thinks he does everything wrong and she knows better.
She often treats him as if he were a child. For example:
“I’m going to take your temperature when I get you home.”
She gives the impression that it is she who will get him home, but in reality it is he who will drive. As a result of being controlled in this way, Mitty feels humiliated and seeks to find an escape from her demands. It is not surprising that his fantasy world forms a pleasurable contrast to his real world. Here, at least, he is the brilliant, brave and dependable hero who saves the day and whom everyone admires.

4.5 Narrator and point of view

The narrator is not one of the characters in the story. The narrative is told using the third person.

4.6 Diction and figurative language

The way the writer uses figurative language and literary devices is very effective in the story.
The story can be read as a satire revealed to us by the fantasies that Walter Mitty has about himself. The satire works through the irony used throughout the story because, in his fantasy life, Mitty is completely different from what he is in reality. In his fantasies he is always respected and admired for his bravery and ability to save others in dangerous situations. In his real life he is the opposite of this.
Onomatopoeia (words that imitate real-life sounds) is always used in the fantasies. Sounds like “pocketa-pocketa” are used to show the reader that Mitty is in his “secret life”. It indicates the sound of the hydroplane and the aneasthetiser. The “rat-tat-tatting” indicates the sound of guns and flame throwers used by bomber pilots.
Note also the use of grammatical punctuation marks, namely the ellipsis, to indicate when Mitty is entering or coming out of one of his fantasies.
In order to add humour to the story the writer makes use of a number of malapropisms (words that sound like the correct one but are wrong) and neologisms (made-up words). For example, in Mitty’s hospital fantasy the malapropisms “Obstreosis of the ductal tract” and “streptothricosis” sound like medical conditions, but they are not the correct terms. The gun in the courtroom fantasy is called by the neologism “Webley-Vickers 50.80”, but there is no gun with that name in reality.

4.7 Tone and mood

When the story starts we are in the middle of one of Mitty’s fantasies. The tone in this fantasy is excited and optimistic, conveyed by the writer’s use of multiple exclamation marks:

“We’re going through!”
“Rev her up to 8500!”
“Full strength in No. 3 turret!”

The next fantasy has Mitty in the middle of a life-threatening situation, so the tone is serious, but confident. Later, when he imagines himself facing a firing squad, the tone is scornful, “proud and disdainful”.
This contrasts with the tone Mitty’s wife uses when she speaks to him. She is usually irritable and scolding:

“What are you driving so fast for?”
“Why don’t you wear your gloves? Have you lost your gloves?”
“Why do you have to hide in this old chair? How do you expect me to find you?”

The dreariness of Mitty’s real life is emphasised when Mitty’s wife leaves him waiting in the cold rain while she goes shopping. This creates a tone of sadness – we feel pity for poor, clumsy Mitty as he tries to create a richer life for himself. We almost welcome his last fantasy, when he faces a firing squad, because at least he is strong and brave even though he is facing death.
Mood: How does this story makes you feel? Happy, sad, angry or indifferent? What are the reasons it make you feel this way? 

Summary
The secret Life of Walter Mitty

1. Title
   • “Secret life” makes the reader want to read the story to find out about the “secret”
2. Themes
   • Conflict between fantasy and reality
   • The power of fantasy and imagination
3. How is the story told?
   3.1 Setting
   • An American town called Waterbury. Much of the action occurs in thecar.
     3.2 Structure and plot development
   • First story layer: Walter Mitty’s fantasy life
   • Second story layer: Walter Mitty’s boring life and nagging wife
   • Crisis points/climaxes: Occur in each of his five fantasies, although not all reach a resolution
   • Complications: Occur in Walter Mitty’s real life because he is forgetful and inadequate
   • Anti-climax: The end of the story, as Walter Mitty is left standing in the rain waiting for his wife
     3.3 Characterisation
   • Protagonist: Walter Mitty, the main character
   • Antagonist: Mrs Mitty, who opposes him in most things. She is presented as a caricature and a stereotype.
   • Characters in Walter Mitty’s fantasies: All treat him as a hero
   • Characters in Walter Mitty’s real life: All make him feel small and pathetic
     3.4 Style
   • Contrasts: Between the characters of Walter Mitty and his wife; between Walter Mitty’s fantasy life and real life
     3.5 Narrator and point of view
   • Third person
     3.6 Diction and figurative language
   • Satire: The irony in the complete contrast between Walter Mitty’s character in his fantasy life and his character in real life
   • “pocketa-pocketa”, “rat-tat-tatting”
     Onomatopoeia
   • “Obstreosis of the ductal tract”, “streptothricosis”
     Malapropisms
   • “Webley-Vickers 50.80”
     Neologism
     3.7 Tone and mood
   • Tone: In Walter Mitty’s fantasy life the tone is excited and optimistic, serious, confident and proud. In his real life the tone is irritable and scolding. The anti-climax at the end creates a sad tone.
   • Mood: How does this story make you feel? Happy, sad, angry or indifferent? Give reasons for your answer.

 Activity 13

Read the extract below and answer the questions that follow.

Extract A

[Walter waits for his wife.]

1. Where is Walter Mitty and why is he there? (2)
2.  What is he doing? (1)
3.  Explain the meaning and significance of “Can Germany Conquer the World Through the Air?” (2)
4.  What grammatical signs do we have to show that he begins to fantasise? (2)
5.  What is the challenge or problem facing Mitty in this fantasy?
   Give a reason for your answer. (2)
6. Which THREE words could be used to describe Mitty as he is in his secret world. Choose the correct words from the list below.
   Sick, Heroic, Anxious, Brave, Respected, Fearful. (3)
7.  Briefly explain why Mitty has this fantasy. (4)  [16]

Activity 14

Read the extract below and answer the questions that follow.

Extract B

[Walter and his wife drive in to town.]

1. What evidence does this passage give that Mrs Mitty is a nagging wife? (2)
2. What evidence does this passage give to show that Mitty tries to do things his way. (2)
3. What else does he usually do to escape his wife? (2)
4. What does driving past the hospital make him think of? Describe his thoughts in detail. (4)
5. What word in the passage tells us that he is bored? (1)
6. Answer TRUE or FALSE and give a reason for your answer. Do you agree that Walter Mitty is a good driver? (2) [13]

Words to Know

THE SISTERS BY PAULINE SMITH

• Summary
• Title
• Themes
• How is the story told?
• Activity 15
• Activity 16

Pauline Janet Smith (1882–1959) was born in Oudtshoorn, in the Western Cape. Her father was a British doctor who came to South Africa in the hope of curing his ill-health. When Pauline Smith was 13, she and her sister were sent away from their beloved Karoo to boarding school in England.
Although she never lived permanently in South Africa again, she visited many times over the next 40 years. During her extended visit from 1913- 1914, she kept a journal which she used later as the basis for her first collection of short stories, called The Little Karoo, for her novel, and The Beadle. Her stories describe the isolated rural areas of the Little Karoo and the lives of the farming people who lived there.

1. Summary

Two sisters, Marta and Sukey, live on a farm called Zeekoegatt with their father, Burgert de Jager. Their mother has recently died of a disease of the heart caused, in part, by their father’s “water-cases”. Their father is always trying to get water from a neighbouring farmer, Redlinghuis, and has spent a great deal of money on legal fees.
In his last attempt to get water their father loses more money than ever and, in order to get water from Redlinghuis’s farm, has to bond some of his lands to Redlinghuis. That means that instead of paying the money he owes, he gives the neighbour some of his land with the intention of buying it back when he has money again. When their father is unable to pay to get the land back again Redlinghuis tells him that he will take Marta as a wife instead.
Sukey is very angry that Marta is being offered to Redlinghuis, but Marta assures her that it is the right thing to do – it will save their father’s farm. When Sukey confronts Redlinghuis and tells him that Marta is too good for him, and that she will offer herself up instead, Redlinghuis tells her that if he can’t have Marta he will take their farm.
When Marta marries Redlinghuis he buys a tent-cart so that he can drive around all day and show off his new wife to everyone – “the wife that Burgert de Jager sold to me”. Marta never complains about her husband, but she is clearly not happy and grows weaker and becomes sickly, until it is obvious she is dying. Before Marta dies, Redlinghuis disappears into the mountains with his gun. His body is found six days after Marta dies.
The story ends the night after the burial, with Burgert de Jager blaming himself for the deaths because of his demands for water. Sukey, however, tells him she will not judge him.

2. Title

The title of the story indicates that the focus is on the two sisters, Marta and Sukey, who are devoted to each other.

3. Themes

The themes in the story are land, patriarchy, tradition, devotion, obedience, submission, female self-sacrifice, compassion, bitterness, the meaning of sin and the right to judge.
In this quiet rural world the most important source of wealth is land. Owning land for generations is a sign of wealth and standing in society. It is not difficult to understand why Burgert de Jager is so obsessed with keeping his land, and why Marta is ready to sacrifice herself to help her father keep it. However, one of the underlying messages of the story is that it is destructive to attach more importance to land than to the welfare of people.

4. How is the story told?

4.1 Setting

The setting of the Little (Klein) Karoo is important, even though there are few descriptions in the story. We know that it is a very harsh, drought- stricken world where a strong belief in tradition and obedience to God and family rules the lives of the people. These are also important themes in the story.

4.2 Structure and plot development

The complication in the story arises from the fact that Burgert de Jager has tried for many years to get water from the Ghamka river through a neighbouring farm owned by Jan Redlinghuis and has spent a great deal of money on legal fees. He is so obsessed with this that he does not notice how it is affecting his wife, who dies in his “bitterness and sorrow”.
The conflict between the two farmers creates the tension in the story. Burgert de Jager eventually owes Redlinghuis so much money for allowing the water to pass through his farm that he is forced to make a deal with him - Redlinghuis will either marry Marta or take over the De Jager’s farm. This tension rises in the story when De Jager decides that Marta must marry Redlinghuis to save the farm.
The story reaches a climax when Marta becomes weaker and weaker from the humiliation of her position, and eventually dies. Sukey is very unforgiving towards her father and blames him for the deaths of both her mother and sister. This causes tension and conflict between Sukey and her father.
The resolution to the story only comes after Marta has died and Redlinghuis has shot himself. Sukey comes to understand the goodness of Marta, and she finds some compassion for her father and tells him:

“Do now as it seems right to you ... Who am I that I should judge you?”

4.3 Characterisation

The main characters in the story are the sisters, Marta and Sukey, and their father, Burgert de Jager, who are the protagonists. The antagonist is Jan Redlinghuis, the farmer who opposes them and lives next door.
The two sisters are very different from one another, but they have great affection for each other.
Marta is very loving, gentle, unselfish and accepting. She shows this by agreeing to do as her father asks in order to help him save the farm. She tells Sukey:

“if I do right, right will come of it, and it is right for me to save the lands of my father.

Marta is willing to accept her fate. She does not even blame Redlinghuis for demanding that she marry him:

“There is not one of us that is without sin in the world and old Jan Redlinghuis is not always mad. Who am I to judge Jan Redlinghuis?”

Sukey is also prepared to sacrifice herself to save her gentle and passive sister, when she tries to persuade Redlinghuis to take her instead of Marta, but she is much tougher and more judgemental. She believes her father has done wrong in sacrificing both his wife and his daughter, and she tells him that he is at fault. She says to her father:

“It is blood that we lead on our lands to water them. Did not my mother die for it? And was it not for this that we sold my sister Marta to old Jan Redlinghuis?”

Sukey is also very judgemental of Redlinghuis, based on what people say about him. She says to him:

“it is said that you are a sinful man, Jan Redlinghuis, going at times a little mad in your head”

Sukey loses her faith in God as she cannot believe that God would allow the marriage of Marta and Redlinghuis. She tells her father:

“There is no God or surely He would have saved our Marta.”

Burgert de Jager’s obsession with getting water for his farm leads to the death of his wife and his daughter Marta. It also causes the break in the relationship between himself and his daughter Sukey.
Burgert de Jager and Jan Redlinghuis are mostly seen through the eyes of Sukey. They are both seen as obsessive and greedy. However, near the end of the story they both seem to realise they have been wrong and feel sorry about it. Burgert de Jager says to Sukey:

“It is true what you said to me, Sukey. It is blood that I have led on my lands to water them, and this night will I close the furrow that I built from the Ghamka river. God forgive me, I will do it.”

Jan Redlinghuis becomes remorseful when Marta is at the point of death. He says to Sukey before he goes into the mountains and takes his own life:

“Which of us now had the greatest sin – your father who sold me his daughter Marta, or I who bought her? Marta who let herself be sold, or you who offered yourself to save her?”

By saying this, he points to the fact that no one should judge, as everyone has played some part in the tragic events.

4.4 Style

The story is told through a combination of dialogue and description of the events, but only from the point of view of the narrator, Sukey. We are not told by the writer what the characters look like, or what the land looks like, or how they view their surroundings, because the focus is on the attitudes and reactions of the characters to the troubles that they experience.
The style of the language in the dialogue is old-fashioned and mimics (copies) the sentence structure of Afrikaans to give us a closer impression of the speakers’ context and culture. An example of this is: “this night will I” instead of ‘tonight I will’ as the writer wants to follow the Afrikaans word order, namely ‘sal ek’.

4.5 Narrator and point of view

The first person narrator, Sukey de Jager, is a young girl living on a farm in the Little Karoo. She is strong-willed and the story is told from her point of view.

4.6 Diction and figurative language

The way the writer uses words and word order emphasises the meaning she wants to convey to the reader.
For example, repetition is used throughout the story for emphasis:

• To emphasise the pain of their lives due to her father’s obsession with water-rights, Sukey repeats “bitterness and sorrow” when she says:
  With each new water-case came more bitterness and sorrow to us all. Even between my parents at last came bitterness and sorrow. And in bitterness and sorrow my mother died.
• When Redlinghuis puts Burgert de Jager under pressure to pay him back, Sukey emphasises the growing pressure by saying: And from that day Jan Redlinghuis pressed him, pressed him, pressed him, till my father did not know which way to turn.
• Marta explains why she will marry Redlinghuis:
  “if I do right, right will come of it, and it is right for me to save the lands of my father.”

This emphasises the idea of loyalty and what is appropriate behaviour.
Repetition is therefore used to focus on key themes in the story.
Sukey also uses sarcasm when answering her father’s questions. For example, when he says:

“Is it not wonderful, Sukey, what we have done with the water that old Jan Redlinghuis lets pass to my furrow?”

Sukey answers:

“What is now wonderful? It is blood that we lead on our lands to water them.”

It is also interesting that Redlinghuis’s farm is called “Bitterwater” which
symbolises that his water is not a source of goodness.
The writer also uses an idiom (a clichéd saying) in the story:

“my father’s back was up against the wall”

This means that the father has no options left, he has nowhere to turn.
The writer also uses figurative language in the story. For example:

• Simile
  I went back to my father’s house with my heart heavy like lead.
  Sukey’s heart is compared to lead.
• Metaphor
  “It is blood that I have led on my lands to water them”

Here, Sukey’s father compares the water from Jan Redlinghuis to blood because in order to get this water, lives have been lost. ‘Blood’ here could also refer to ‘flesh and blood’ or family.

4.7 Tone and mood

In this story the narrator’s tone mostly emphasises the sorrow and despair that the characters experience. For example, when Sukey refers to Marta, she remembers her only as having a “still, sad face”.
The writer emphasises this tone of despair near the end of the story when Marta dies at sun-down. It is as if Sukey and her father are entering an emotional night-time.
However, the story ends with a more hopeful tone when both Burgert de Jager and Sukey come to deeper emotional insights. Burgert de Jager finally realises that his actions have caused the deaths of his wife and his daughter, and he asks for God’s forgiveness. Sukey doesn’t scold her father, but says what her sister Marta would say:

“Who am I that I should judge you?”

Mood: How does this story make you feel? Happy, sad, angry or indifferent? What are the reasons it makes you feel this way?

Summary
The Sisters by Pauline Smith

1. Title
   • Focuses on the two sisters, Marta and Sukey
2. Themes
   • Land, patriarchy and tradition
   • Devotion, obedience and submission
   • Female self-sacrifice
   • Compassion and bitterness
   • The meaning of sin
   • The right to judge
3. How is the story told?
   3.1 Setting
   • The Little (Klein) Karoo
     3.2 Structure and plot development
   • Complication: The legal cases brought by Burgert de Jager against Jan Redlinghuis
   • Conflict: Between Burgert de Jager and Jan Redlinghuis because of the water issue and then the money owed due to the expensive legal cases
   • Rising tension: Grows when De Jager decides that his daughter Marta must marry Redlinghuis
   • Climax: Marta becomes weaker and weaker because of her humiliation, and then dies
   • Resolution: Sukey comes to understand the goodness of Marta and finds compassion for her father
     3.3 Characterisation
   • Protagonists: Marta, Sukey and Burgert de Jager are the main characters
   • Antagonist: Jan Redlinghuis opposes their actions
     3.4 Style
   • Dialogue: Uses the sentence structure of Afrikaans to give a better impression of the speakers’ context and culture
   • Description: Of events, not the land or the people
     3.5 Narrator and point of view
   • First person narrator (Sukey de Jager)
     3.6 Diction and figurative language
   • “With each new water-case came more bitterness and sorrow to us all. Even between my parents at last came bitterness and sorrow. And in bitterness and sorrow my mother died.”
     Repetition
   • “What is now wonderful? It is blood that we lead on our lands to water them.”
     Sarcasm; Afrikaans sentence structure; metaphor
   • “my father’s back was up against the wall”
     Idiom
   • “I went back to my father’s house with my heart heavy like lead.”
     Simile
   • “It is blood that I have led on my lands to water them.”
     Metaphor
     3.7 Tone and mood
   • Tone: Mostly a tone of sorrow, bitterness and despair; ends with a more hopeful tone.
   • Mood: How does this story make you feel? Happy, sad, angry or indifferent? Give reasons for your answer.

Activity 15

Read the extract below and answer the questions that follow.

Extract A

[Marta agrees to marry Jan Redlinghuis.]

1. Complete the following sentences by using the words provided in the list below. Write only the words next to the question numbers (1a) – 1d)).
   

   orange; Jan Redlinghuis; Sukey; Grootkops; Ghamka; Marta; Burgert de Jager; Platkops

   This short story is set near the a) ... river in a place called b) ... The narrator of the story is c) ... and her father is d) ... (4)
2. Why does Marta’s father ask her to marry Jan Redlinghuis? State TWO points. (2)
3. Using your own words, explain why Marta agrees to marry Jan Redlinghuis. (2)
4. Choose the correct answer to complete the following sentence. Write only the answer (A–D).
   Sukey’s father’s agreement with Jan Redlinghuis proves that he is ...
   1. arrogant.
   2. careful.
   3. selfless.
   4. selfish. (1)
5. Sukey thinks that Jan is “a sinful man” and often “a little mad” (line 5).
   In your opinion, is he mad? Give a reason for your answer. (2)
6. Briefly describe the relationship between the two sisters, Marta and Sukey. Give an example to substantiate your answer. (2)
7. Name TWO aspects of Marta’s character that are shown in this extract. (2)
8. Sukey goes to see Jan Redlinghuis the next day.
   1. Explain why Sukey goes to see Jan Redlinghuis. (2)
   2. Identify the theme which is shown here. (1)
9. Discuss your views on Marta’s decision to marry Jan Redlinghuis. (2) [20]

Activity 16

Read the extract below and answer the questions that follow.

Extract B

[Marta has died.]

1. Which aspect of her personality caused Sukey’s mother to be severely saddened and upset by the feud between her husband and Jan Redlinghuis? (1)
2. Is the following statement TRUE or FALSE? Write “true” or “false” and give a reason for your answer.
   Mrs de Jager died of cancer. (2)
3.  Give ONE reason why the people are looking for Jan Redlinghuis (lines 1–3). (1)
4. Explain why Jan Redlinghuis goes to the mountain. (2)
5. Refer to line 8 (“It is blood ... on my lands”).
   1. Identify the figure of speech used here. (1)
   2. Explain the meaning of this line in the context of the story. (2)
6. Briefly explain how Burgert de Jager changes in this story. (2)
7. Quote a sentence which proves that Sukey is submitting to her father. (1)
8. In your opinion, who is to blame for Marta’s death? Explain your choice. (3) [15]

Words to Know