THE SOFT VOICE OF THE SERPENT SHORT STORY QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS GRADE 12 The Soft Voice of the Serpent and Other Stories is the second short story collection by the South African writer Nadine Gordimer, and her first to be published outside South Africa. It was published on May 23, 1952, by Simon & Schuster in the United States, and in the United Kingdom by Gollancz in 1953.

LORD OF THE FLIES GRADE 12 NOTES – LITERATURE STUDY GUIDE Lord of the Flies is the 1954 debut novel of British author William Golding. The plot concerns a group of British boys who are stranded on an uninhabited island and their disastrous attempts to govern themselves. The novel’s themes include morality, leadership, and the tension between civility and chaos.

Introduction

Lord of the Flies is about a group of boys who are stranded on an island. The novel is an allegory. An allegory is a story that has two meanings and is understood on two levels. On one level it tells a story about how the boys survive – how they organise themselves and find food and shelter.
On another level the boys represent different kinds of people in the world. The conflicts and power struggles that take place among the boys represent the wars, power struggles and cruelty found in the world.
In an allegory, the characters and events become symbols that represent other things in the world.

 1.The author

William Golding was born in England in 1911 and died in 1993. As well as being a writer, he was a teacher at an expensive boys’ school. His experience as a teacher showed him that children could be very cruel to one another.
He fought in the Second World War (1939-1945) and saw for himself the destruction and cruelty of war. These horrific events made William Golding believe that all human beings were capable of extreme evil. He also believed that it was only through the laws of society and personal self- control that people could stop themselves from acting out the evil in their natures. He expressed his belief in the dark side of human nature in this, his first novel, which he wrote in 1954.

 2.Background

This section outlines some of the things that would have influenced William Golding when he was writing Lord of the Flies.

 2.1 War

During the Second World War (1939-1945) more than 60-million people were killed and many cities were destroyed by bombs. The Holocaust and the dropping of the atom bomb were two of the worst events of that terrible war.

• The Holocaust was the mass murder of about eleven million people by Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party in Germany. Those murdered included Jews, gypsies, communists, homosexuals and the disabled.
• Hiroshima and Nagasaki are the two Japanese cities on which America dropped atomic bombs. Those who weren’t killed immediately died in the following months from burns, radiation sickness, and other injuries and illnesses.

The use of atomic weapons horrified people. Many were very worried about the possibility of an atomic war that could destroy the world. It led to a tense period in international relations called the Cold War. This was not an actual war, but describes the bad relations between the United States and the Soviet Union that lasted from the late 1940s until 1991. Although the United States and the Soviet Union never fought each other directly, each of them threatened to destroy the other with nuclear weapons.
William Golding was interested in what makes people violent and leads them to fight each other, especially when they are in very difficult situations. In Lord of the Flies he shows us how pointless war is. For example, the boys would have had a much better chance of living safely on the island if they had remained friendly with each other. But in the end, Jack destroys any chance of their being able to live on the island by setting it on fire. In this way, the fire becomes a symbol of the atom bomb, which was used at the end of the Second World War.

 2.2 Social attitudes

Some of the characters in the novel show negative attitudes towards others, who come from different backgrounds. This reflects attitudes the boys have learned from adults in their society. For example, the upper classes (people in higher income groups) may consider themselves superior and look down on people from the lower classes. In Lord of the Flies, Piggy is from a working-class family (low income group). Most of the other boys in the novel seem to be from richer, upper-class families. One example is Ralph, whose father is a military officer, and the choirboys, who came from a private school.
The officer who arrives at the end of the novel says that he expected British schoolboys to have behaved better. This suggests that he believes that Western civilisation makes the British superior to people from other cultures. This “superior” attitude is also shown in the language used in the novel.
For example, a “savage” is considered to be a person who is uneducated, wild, fierce, and cruel. Some Westerners regard all black people as “savages” and have no respect for them. When Piggy refers to Jack’s group as “painted niggers” he is probably talking the way he has heard many adults talk.

 3. Title

One of the names of Satan (the devil) in Hebrew is “Beelzebub”, which means “lord of the flies”. By using this name as the title of the novel, the author symbolises the evil that is found in the hearts of people who behave in cruel and savage ways.

 4. How the story is told

This section outlines the different elements in the novel that the writer uses to tell the story.

 4.1 Setting

In Lord of the Flies a group of boys ends up on a tropical island somewhere in the Pacific Ocean when the plane they are in is shot down. They find they are the only people on the island; there are no grown-ups at all.
There is a beach with a lagoon – a pool of salt water separated from the sea by a coral reef. Beyond the coral reef is the Pacific Ocean. Behind the beach are the jungle (forest) and a mountain of pink rock. Fruit such as bananas grows in the forest. There are butterflies, birds and wild pigs. The island is beautiful and the weather is extremely hot, so hot that at noon the coral reef looks as though it is floating.

There is a “scar” through the jungle caused by the passenger section of the aeroplane that crash-landed, destroying trees and other plants.
We are not told when the story takes place, but we do know it is in an imaginary future during a nuclear war in which atom bombs have destroyed most of Europe. According to Piggy, most of the adults have been killed. Perhaps the boys in the plane that was shot down were being flown to a safer place, away from the war.

Fact:

• During World War 2, many children were sent to smaller towns or rural areas which were less likely to be bombed.

 4.2 Characters

The central character, which is who the story is mostly about, is called the protagonist. The character that the protagonist opposes, or is in conflict with, is called the antagonist.
In Lord of the Flies, Ralph is the protagonist and Jack is the antagonist who opposes him.

Lord of the Flies is an allegory. This means that the story of the boys on the island symbolises something else in the real world. Each of the main characters has a different role to play in the story and represents a different theme relevant to the real world.

 Main characters

This section outlines some of the key features of the main characters. As you read the novel, and this study guide, look for examples that show these features of the characters.

Ralph

Ralph is elected leader of the boys at the beginning of the story and tries to create a democratic and orderly society.
This character is charming and inspires the other boys to want to be like him. He is a productive and practical leader who cares for people. He has a strong sense of what is right and what is wrong, and prefers to think carefully before making a decision.

In the end his goodness is defeated by the evil around him.

• Symbolises order, civilisation and democracy

Jack

Jack is the leader of the choir boys when they arrive on the island.
This character is arrogant and does not allow anybody to argue with him about his decisions. He has many negative qualities: he is a bully, wild, selfish and cruel. He likes to show off. He becomes a brutal and power-hungry dictator.

• Symbolises savagery and violence

Piggy

Piggy is an outcast and is made fun of by the other boys.
He is an orphan who suffers from asthma (a condition that affects his breathing) and is not fit or athletic. He is intelligent, knowledgeable, inventive and has common sense. He is also cautious and timid, and avoids dangerous or risky activities.
Eventually he becomes the victim of the other boys’ brutality and a symbol of the fact that they have become totally uncivilised.

• Symbolises civilisation, order and reason

Simon

Simon is the boy who helps Ralph while the others just play. He is good, reliable and wise, although considered strange by others, especially because he often faints and has fits. He appreciates the beauty of nature and is not afraid of the dark; he likes to visit his secret place to think there. He is a visionary (a prophet or a person who can see a deeper truth).
This character realises what the “beast” really is, but the other boys do not understand him. In the end he, too, becomes a victim.

• Symbolises goodness and wisdom and the way those values are destroyed when people become barbaric (savage)

Roger

This character frightens and bullies the little boys. He also murders Piggy.
Roger is violent and brutal, and enjoys hurting other people. He is Jack’s right-hand man. He is secretive and says little in the beginning of the story

• Symbolises evil and savagery

Minor characters

• Sam and Eric: Two boys who are twins and therefore treated as one person; basically decent, but not heroes; also called Sam ‘n Eric or Samneric
  Symbolise people who give in under pressure
• The Biguns: The bigger boys, about 11 or 12 years old
  Symbolise people who support a leader who gives them power and material things
• The Littluns: The small boys, about 5 or 6 years old
  Symbolise the ordinary, powerless people who suffer

 Make your own character charts

A character chart can help you to keep track of the evidence about a character as you revise the story. In your character chart:

• Write the characteristics (features or qualities) of the character in the first column
• Write the evidence for these characteristics in the second Include the chapter number for the evidence so it is easier to find again.

We have filled in Ralph’s character chart for you – so you can see how to do it in the other character charts.

 4.3 Structure and plot development

The events that happen in Lord of the Flies take place chronologically, which means they are described in the order in which they happen.

Exposition

• The island is described and we meet Ralph, Piggy, Jack, Simon, Roger, Samneric and the other (Chapter 1)

Rising action

• A conflict develops between Ralph and Jack
• The fear of the beast increases and affects the behaviour of the boys. No one listens to Simon’s explanation of the beast (Chapters 2-8)

Climax

• This begins after Simon finds the “lord of the flies” (the pig’s head on the stick). He also finds the dead airman who was mistaken for the beast. When he hurries to tell the boys, he is killed
• This is the turning point of the Now the conflict between Ralph and Jack becomes a war – the war between good and evil – leading to the death of Piggy and to Ralph having to run for his life. (Chapters 9-11)

Falling action

• Sam and Eric betray Ralph’s hiding place and he is hunted
• The tribe sets the forest alight to smoke Ralph out (Chapter 12)
  It’s not much of a rescue – the boys manage to escape from the island and their madness, but only to go back to the real world where a nuclear war is going on!
  But perhaps now they are wiser – they’ve learned from their experience …

4.4  Themes

This section provides a summary of the themes in Lord of the Flies. More examples are given in the “Chapter by chapter” section of the guide.

Good and evil

• The island on which the boys are stranded is so beautiful and unspoilt by people that it seems like a paradise – a perfect place to live. This reminds the reader of the Garden of Eden in the Bible before Adam and Eve were tempted by the devil (Satan) and brought evil into the world. It suggests that the boys will bring evil to the island.
• People can be both good and evil. The struggle between good and evil is shown in the novel through contrasting characters. For example, Simon is good while Roger is evil, and the way in which some characters are tempted to act badly (for example, Jack becomes more brutal and cruel as the story goes on).
• Goodness is related to friendship and helping oneanother. In the novel, civilisation and democracy represent values that are considered to be good, while corruption, savagery, violence and cruelty are evil.

Civilisation and savagery

• For the boys, civilisation means their homes in Britain where they had food and shelter – not the wilderness of the island where they have to struggle for even their most basic needs. Ralph, in particular, wants to go back to civilisation and hopes that someone will see the smoke from the fire and rescue them
• Civilisation also relates to a society that is democratic (everyone has a right to speak), and where there is some law and order
• Savagery is related to violence and William Golding’s message is one of non-violence.

Innocence and corruption

• Innocence is linked to goodness, and being unaware of the bad side of human nature. It is the innocence of the boys that made the island at first seem like paradise. They want to have fun and adventure.
• Gradually, it seems as if this innocence is lost. For example, Ralph seems hopeful at the beginning of the story, but he realises how hard it is to be a responsible, caring leader.  In Chapter 7, even he acts violently, when he attacks the boar. By the end of the novel he weeps “for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart” (Chapter 12).
• Corruption refers to the temptation to act in a way that is not good. For example, refusing to act for the good of the group, or society as a whole, creates corruption.
• Jack’s innocence seems to be corrupted by power as he becomes more violent and cruel. He is a leader, yet he abuses his power by punishing the boys who do not obey him

Order and disorder

• Order is related to democracy and civilisation. Some rules, or laws, are needed to help people work effectively together. For example, in meetings the conch is used in order to make sure that everyone does not talk at once.
• However, there is a danger in having too much order and not allowing anybody the freedom to choose. For example, Jack makes a lot more rules than Ralph, but Jack’s rules are meant to make the boys do what he wants, not to look after them
• Disorder is related to chaos and savegery

Leadership

• There is a contrast between two types of leadership. These represent the struggle between democracy and dictatorship
• Ralph is a responsible, caring leader who believes in democracy
• Jack is a dictator – he wants to be in charge so he can tell others what to He enjoys the power that he has over the other boys.

Power

• Power relates to authority: the right to give orders and make decisions on behalf of In a democracy the people who vote have power – they give their elected leader this authority.
• Ralph is the leader who is first elected. However, later in the novel most of the boys choose to follow Jack instead of Ralph.
• Jack abuses this power when he acts like a dictator
• Physical strength and weapons also give people power – the power to harm others through violence, or the threat of violence. For example, Jack’s knife gives him the power to kill the pig.

Wisdom

• Wisdom is a combination of knowledge, experience and good judgement. A wise person has the ability to see things in a clearer way than others do.
• Both Simon and Piggy (whom Ralph describes as “wise” in Chapter 12) are wise
• Yet, they are both killed. Perhaps William Golding is suggesting that if there were more wise leaders in the world there would be less war and violence

Fear

• William Golding was interested in exploring what makes people violent, or makes them act in ways that are not rational and are not based on logic or reason. Fear, especially fear of something people do not understand, is one cause of violence
• In the novel, not only the littluns, but also the older boys, are afraid of the unknown beast.  In Chapter 3 even Jack is uneasy in the forest.

4.5 Symbols

In Lord of the Flies William Golding uses many symbols. The symbols are linked to themes in the novel.

A symbols quiz

Write down in column B the themes that the symbols relate to. Choose the themes from the list below.
Themes: Good; evil; civilisation; savagery; fear; democracy; wisdom; innocence; corruption; authority; order

 5. Style

This section explains some of the features of the way of writing used in the novel.

 5.1     The narrator

• Lord of the Flies is written in the third person. The author describes what the different characters think and feel. It is not written from the point of view of only one character

 5.2     Diction and figurative language

• William Golding writes vivid descriptions that show the contrast between the natural beauty of the island and the horror of what happens on it as a result of the boys’ activities. For example, compare the description of the secret place in the forest that Simon finds at the end of Chapter 3 with the horror of the pig’s head that he saw in Chapter 8.
• William Golding uses figurative language in his descriptions. For example, in Chapter 8 a metaphor and a simile help us to imagine the horror of the pig’s head that Simon looks at:
  “The pile of guts was a black blob of flies that buzzed like a saw.”
  From the metaphor we imagine hundreds of flies feeding on the innards (guts) of the pig. The simile, and onomatopoeia, “buzzed like a saw” help us imagine the noise they make, which is as loud as an electric saw. These figures of speech emphasise how evil and disgusting the pig looks.
• The word “buzzed” in the quote above is an example of onomatopoeia. “Buzzed” sounds like the noise flies It also sounds like the noise of an electric saw.

 5.3     Dialogue

• The boys in Lord of the Flies talk like British schoolboys in the 1950s. For example, they use words like “Wacco” and “wizard”, meaning great or excellent (Chapter 1).
• The way a character speaks can also show something about his or her social class. For example, Piggy’s incorrect grammar (“When we was coming down…” or “Them fruit …”) reveals that he comes from a working-class family

5.4 Tone and mood

• The tone changes throughout the novel, but generally it is a tone of horror and fear. Here is a good example of the way the author creates a tone of horror:

“The flies had found the figure too. The life-like movement would scare them off for a moment so that they made a dark cloud round the head. Then as the blue material of the parachute collapsed the corpulent figure would bow forward, sighing, and the flies settle once more.” (Chapter 9)

• Mood is the feeling a reader has when reading the novel, such as happiness, sadness, anger or indifference. How did Lord of the Flies make you feel?

CHAPTERS

• Chapter 1; The sound of the shell
• Chapter 2: Fire on the mountain
• Chapter 3: Huts on the beach
• Chapter 4: Painted faces and long hair
• Chapter 5: Beast from water
• Chapter 6: Beast from air
• Chapter 7: Shadows and tall trees
• Chapter 8: Gifts for the Darkness
• Chapter 9: A view to a death
• Chapter 10: The shell and the glasses
• Chapter 11: Castle rock
• Chapter 12: Cry of the hunters

Chapter by Chapter

Introduction

This section of the study guide contains:

• A summary of what happens and who is involved – the main events and characters in the chapter
• The main themes and symbols, and some examples of language use in the chapter
• Activities with exam-type questions for you to test yourself, and answers to these activities.

A summary of the main events

Use this table to see which chapter to turn to when revising a particular part of the story.

• What happens in the chapter?
• Who is involved
• Themes
• Symbols
• Diction and figurative language
• Activity 1

Chapter 1: The Sound of the Shell

1. What happens in the chapter?

This is the boys’ first day on the island. There is a war raging and some boys are evacuated from England on an aeroplane. The plane that carried the boys was shot down and crashed on an uninhabited island.
Ralph meets Piggy at a lagoon on the beach, which is just a short distance from the site of the plane crash. When Ralph realises there are no adults on the island he is delighted, but Piggy is worried. Ralph finds the conch and Piggy, who recognises what it is, is quick to realise its importance. Ralph blows the conch and other boys, big and little, come from other parts of the island to join him on the beach.
The boys see the need to have a leader. Roger suggests they vote and Ralph is elected, much to Jack’s disappointment. To keep Jack happy, Ralph tells him that he will be in charge of the choir boys, who will be the hunters. Ralph also tells everyone about Piggy’s nickname. This upsets Piggy because he has told Ralph that he hates being called by that name.
Ralph, Jack and Simon explore the island and when they are on the peak (the highest point) of the mountain they realise that nobody lives on the island. They find a piglet (a young pig), but Jack cannot yet bring himself to kill it. Jack vows that next time “there would be no mercy”, he will not draw back from the gruesome act of killing. He will be brave enough to do it. Jack and Ralph seem to be friends and the island seems to be a paradise.

2. Who is involved?

Ralph

• Ralph is good-natured: there is “a mildness about his mouth and eyes that proclaimed no devil”.
• Ralph appears to be innocent: he stands on his head in delight because there are no adults on the island.
• Ralph is insensitive (does not consider how someone else might feel) when he tells the others Piggy’s nickname. However, he shows that he is not always insensitive and can empathise with others, for example, when the boys vote for Ralph to be leader he realises Jack is disappointed and says he should be leader of the hunters.
• Ralph is calm and makes the other boys feel confident as “there was a stillness … that marked him out.”

Piggy

• Piggy is intelligent, knowledgeable and has common sense – he knows that the adults at home have been killed and realises that the boys’ situation is a problem rather than fun. He also knows that the conch is valuable and can be used to call people to come together.
• Piggy understands the need for some order and asks for the children’s names and tries to remember them.
• Piggy is mocked by the other boys because he is overweight. This makes him feel separate from the others: “the boys were a closed circuit of sympathy with Piggy outside”.

Jack

• The first time Jack is mentioned his shadow is compared to a bat and then we read that “something dark was fumbling along”. This gives us an uneasy feeling that will be developed later.
• Jack is arrogant when he immediately says he should be chief.
• Jack is authoritarian – it seems that the choir boys dare not disobey him and they vote for him to be chief “with dreary obedience”, without enthusiasm. The fact that he cannot kill the pig suggests that he is still influenced by the way he was brought up at home. He sees this inability to kill the pig as a weakness, not as kindness or respect for life.

Simon

• Simon faints when he reaches the platform where Ralph is standing.
•  Simon is sensitive to beauty, comparing the flower buds to candles. (Unlike Jack, who destroys them.)

Roger

• Roger appears secretive and says little.

Samneric

• Sam and Eric are identical twins. Together they are called Samneric and they are both enthusiastic about collecting firewood.

3. Themes

Innocence

• In the beginning the boys are excited about being on the island, which seems to be a beautiful, unspoilt paradise, and “a kind of glamour was spread over them”.

Order and disorder

• The boys obey the sound of the conch, which represents authority and also democracy, as they then vote for a leader. This is an example of how the boys start to create order out of the disorder of their arrival on the island.
• Piggy also tries to bring order by collecting the boys’ names.

Leadership

• Jack is the leader of the choir boys, he controls them.
• Ralph shows leadership when he says they should explore the island.

Civilisation and savagery

• Jack’s inability to use his knife to kill the pig suggests he is still influenced by civilisation.
• The way Jack sticks the knife into a tree trunk is a hint of violence to come and suggests savagery.

Good and evil

• At this time there is friendship among the boys, particularly between Jack and Ralph. But when the boys push a rock down the mountain, destroying the plants, this already shows how destructive humans are and is a sign of evil entering paradise.

4. Symbols

The conch

• The conch symbolises order and authority, and the boys obey its call.
• The title of the chapter, “The Sound of the Shell”, also points us to the themes of leadership, authority and democracy.

5. Diction and figurative language

The author’s use of metaphors, personifications and similes helps us to imagine the rock and the plants in the forest as living things, like people.

Metaphors

• Metaphors are used to describe the beauty and peace of the island. For example: “The air was thick with butterflies, lifting, fluttering, settling
  …” By describing the air as “thick”, as though it were a syrupy liquid, Golding helps us to see how many of these delicate, lovely butterflies filled the air.

Personification

• Personification is when an author writes of a thing or animal as though it were a person. When the boys push the rock it becomes almost human: “The great rock loitered, poised on one toe, decided not to return …”

Similes

• Similes are used in the chapter. For example, when the rock falls, one of the boys shouts: “Like a bomb!” This suggests the loud noise and damage created by the moving rock. Another example of a simile is the plant creepers the boys struggle through as they climb the mountain which are “as thick as their thighs”.

Diction

Authors choose words that will maximise the effect of an idea. Golding first shows us the candle-flower bushes as beautiful, the way Simon sees them. Then he suddenly changes the tone by using the strong, harsh word “slash” and we realise how little Jack appreciates the beauty. What Jack does feels almost like a small murder, with the scent as the plant’s blood. In chapter one we read that the bushes were dark, evergreen and aromatic and the many buds were waxen green and folded up against the light. Jack slashed at one with his knife and the scent spilled over them.

Activity 1

Read the following extract and answer the questions below.
[The boys elect a chief.]

Questions

• Why is it necessary for the boys to elect a chief? (2)
• Refer to lines 2-3 (“ ‘I ought to … sing C sharp’”). In these lines Jack gives reasons why he should become chief. Do you consider these reasons to be acceptable? Discuss your views. (3)
• Refer to line 11 “the conch”.
• What is a conch? (2)
• Earlier in this chapter, what happened when Ralph blew the conch? (1)
• In Chapter 1, what does the conch represent? (2)
• Refer to line 25 “With dreary obedience the choir …”
  What do you think these words suggest about Jack as a leader? (1)
• At the end of Chapter 1 Jack is not able to kill the pig, although he would like to do so. What does this inability (being unable) to act show about him at this point in the novel? (1) [12]

• What happens in the chapter?
• Who is involved
• Themes
• Symbols
• Diction and figurative language
• Activity 2

Chapter 2: Fire on the Mountain

1. What happens in the chapter?

The events in this chapter happen later during the boys’ first day on the island. In Chapter two the boys still see the island as a good place with “that glamour, that strange invisible light of friendship, adventure and content”, but already bad things are happening.
Ralph calls a meeting. The meeting takes place after Ralph, Jack and Simon have explored the island. Ralph tells the meeting that they are on a deserted (uninhabited) island. He makes a rule that the person who holds the conch can speak and the others must listen. Ralph creates order by explaining the rules that will apply at their meetings.
Piggy, on the other hand, is worried that no one (their parents or any other adults) knows where they are. The knowledge that they are stuck on the island makes the boys feel afraid. Ralph tries to make them feel better. He says it is a “good island”, there is food and water. They will have fun on the island until the grown-ups come to fetch them. A little boy with a purple birthmark on his face says he is afraid of the “snake-thing”, a “beastie” he saw during the night. Ralph also says the boys must make a fire on the mountain so that the smoke will attract a ship that will rescue them.
Immediately the boys rush off excitedly and all work together to collect wood. They light a fire using Piggy’s glasses to reflect the sun on the wood but after the flames flare up “twenty feet in the air” they soon die out. Piggy is upset when no one listens to him although he has the conch and Jack tells him that the rules do not count on the mountain. Ralph disagrees and says they need more rules. Then Piggy sees that the fire has spread to the forest below and the little boy with the birthmark is missing. He is never seen again – he must have died in the fire.

2. Who is involved?

Ralph

• Ralph displays leadership qualities and is mature and responsible as he wants to keep order. For example, when everyone speaks at once he makes a rule: “ ‘We’ll have to have “hands up” … I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak.’ ”
• Ralph is kind to the little one when he explains that “beasties” and snakes are found only in big countries. He can also be forceful, as we see when he shouts at Jack that there “isn’t a beast” and he also tells Jack they need more rules.
• Ralph believes in decent (civilised) behaviour and makes a rule: “ ‘Where the conch is, that’s a meeting.’ ”
• Jack and Ralph both like being the leader, but they do not know everything. They bothe felt embarssed when they did not know how to start a fire. A good leader is a person who can admit when he or she does not know something.

Jack

• Jack can be intelligent, for example, he thinks of using Piggy’s glasses to light the fire.
• Jack wants power and tries to take control, leading the boys in their rush up the mountain and ignoring Ralph.
• Jack is disrespectful and looks down on Piggy. He speaks rudely to him, telling him to “Shut up!”

Piggy

• Piggy is the most mature and sensible of the boys. He thinks the others are a “crowd of kids” when they rush off to make a fire without thinking first.
• Piggy shows he is responsible and caring as only he realises that a little boy is missing. He is horrified by the thought that the boy might have been killed in the fire.

Simon

• Simon is kind and fair. While others mock Piggy he defends him, telling Jack that Piggy helped because it was his glasses that lit the fire.

3. Themes

Order

• Ralph makes the rule that only the boy who holds the conch may speak.

Leadership

• Ralph is seen as the democratic leader, who wants to give everyone a chance to speak. Ralph loses control to Jack for a while but later stands up to him, saying, “Where the conch is, that’s a meeting. The same up here as down there.”

Fear

• Fear is introduced to the island when the little boy talks of the “snake- thing” and the “beastie”.

Disorder

• There is disorder because making the fire has not been thought through properly and it sets the forest alight. The chapter title, “Fire on the Mountain”, refers to this fire and its tragic result, the little boy who we think dies in the fire.

4. Symbols

The conch

• The importance of the conch as a symbol of order increases, as it now also stands for a form of democracy because anyone who holds it has a turn to speak.

The fire

• The fire symbolises two opposite things: returning to civilisation by attracting a ship and destruction, when the forest burns and the child dies.

The snake-thing

• The “snake-thing” the child is afraid of reminds us of the snake in the Garden of Eden. Together with the “beastie” it introduces both fear and the idea of evil to the island.

5. Diction and figurative language

The writer uses metaphors to help us to imagine and understand what he is describing. For example:

Metaphor

• The child who talks of the “beastie” is described as “a shrimp of a boy”, which makes us think of him as extremely small and helpless.
• At the very end of the chapter, the horror of the thought that this small boy has been trapped in the fire is increased by the metaphor, “the drum-roll continued”. Comparing the noise of the fire to the sound of a drum reminds us of the drum-rolls played at some funerals, and of soldiers’ drums. It is as though the island has declared war.

Simile

• “A tree exploded in the fire like a bomb”. Like the metaphor of the drum- roll, this simile makes us think of war and danger.

Activity 2

Read the following extract and answer the questions below.
[The boys gather wood.]

 Questions

1. Complete the following sentences by using the words provided in the list below. Write only the words next to the question number (1(a)- 1(d)).
The (a) … boys gather wood to light a (b) … fire to attract passing (c) … with its (d) … (4)

2. To whom does “society” in line 1 refer? (1)
3. Refer to lines 1-3: “The shameful knowledge … to begin confession.” Give TWO reasons why this knowledge is so “shameful”. (2)
4. In line 4 the writer mentions that Ralph turns “crimson in the face”. Which emotion causes Ralph to turn crimson? (1)
5. In line 14, “Psss. Psss.” is an example of… A apostrophe
B onomatopoeia C assonance
D oxymoron (1)
6. Give TWO of Piggy’s characteristics that we learn from the words “labouring cautiously” in line 16. (2)
7. Give TWO reasons why all the boys “took up the cry” (line 20). (2)
8. In your opinion, should starting a fire on the island have been the most important concern? Discuss your view. (2) [15]

• What happens in the chapter?
• Who is involved
• Themes
• Symbols
• Diction and figurative language
• Activity 3

Chapter 3: Huts on the Beach

 1. What happens in the chapter?

Some days later Jack is obsessed with hunting the pigs, but has not yet been successful, while Ralph and Simon are trying to build shelters for the boys, which they find difficult. The other boys do not help with the shelters and Ralph is puzzled and frustrated that most of the boys have lost focus (they are not thinking about the important things).
Tension arises between Jack and Ralph because Jack thinks hunting is the priority but Ralph thinks keeping the signal fire burning and making shelters should come first. Ralph is upset because he and Simon are the only ones working – all the others are swimming and having fun. During their disagreement Jack shouts at Ralph, but both boys calm down.
Ralph says the boys are afraid and have nightmares: “As if it wasn’t a good island.” The littluns and the biguns are frightened when the beast is mentioned. Ralph continues to insist on the importance of the fire, while Jack is very excited about the idea of hunting. They think and feel very differently and neither understands the other; they are “two continents of experience and feeling, unable to communicate.”
Simon walks through the jungle. He is followed by the smaller boys, who are obviously intrigued by him. He helps the littluns by getting them fruit that is high up in the trees and out of their reach. When he is alone he wanders deep into the jungle until he finds an open but peaceful place. The plants create a little cabin in which he sits and looks out at a pair of butterflies dancing in the clearing. Later in the novel he makes this place his sanctuary (a quiet and safe place where he can get away from the others).

2. Who is involved?

Ralph

• Ralph shows he is a responsible and caring leader by trying to provide shelters for the boys. He is aware of the boys’ fear and wants the shelters to give them homes.
• Ralph wants to go back to civilisation and insists on keeping the fire burning.
• Ralph shows a deeper understanding of human nature when, complaining that people do not help with the tasks, he thinks: “people were never quite what you thought they were”.

Jack

• Jack is changing from the boy in Chapter 2 who could not kill the pig to a wilder, crueler person. For example:
• Jack loves hunting so much that he becomes almost like an animal, “dog-like”, as he stalks his prey: “a furtive thing, ape-like …” He even thinks it would be a good idea for him and his hunters to paint their faces so the pigs will not see them coming.
• Jack has a “compulsion to track down and kill that was swallowing him up”. While hunting provides an important source of food, Jack’s desire to hunt is more vicious than it needs to be. A compulsion is an irresistible urge or impluse.
• Jack’s eyes indicate the wild and dangerous streak in him: while he is hunting his eyes are “bright blue … and nearly mad”. When he tells Ralph about hunting: “The madness came into his eyes again.”

Simon

• We are beginning to see that Simon is a truly good person. For example:
  1. Simon is the only boy who helps Ralph with the shelters, which shows that he is responsible and unselfish.
  2. Simon is very kind – he picks the best fruit for the littluns, which they cannot reach.
• He is different from other boys and Ralph says, “He’s queer. He’s funny.” (Ralph uses the word queer here to mean strange or peculiar, not as an insulting word for gay people.)

3. Themes

Civilisation and savagery

• Ralph wants to return to civilisation. This is shown by his focus on building shelters and on keeping the fire lit.
• Jack is drawing away from the civilised world. This is seen when he “had to think a moment before he could remember what rescue was”. He is becoming more savage. He wants not only to hunt but also to kill.

Power

Although Ralph is the leader he has little power, apart from the authority of the conch, to control the boys and make them work together for the good of their little society.

Fear

• Not only the littluns but also the older boys are afraid of the unknown beast. Even Jack is uneasy in the forest. Fear makes people act and feel in a way that is not based on rational or logical reasoning. For example, Jack admits that when he is hunting he feels as if “ ‘… you’re not hunting, but – being hunted, as if something’s behind you all the time in the jungle’ ”, although his common sense tells him that there is nothing behind him.

Good and evil

• The struggle between good and evil is shown in the contrast between Simon, who acts as a good citizen (by doing his share of work in building the huts and helping the littluns pick fruit), and Jack, who is obsessed with killing.

4. Symbols

The fire

The fire that the boys make represents their desire to be rescued and return to civilisation. However, in this chapter, the smoke from the fire is pale. This suggests that they do not yet feel very strongly about going home, in some way they are enjoying their adventure.

5. Diction and figurative language

The writer uses metaphors to help us to imagine and understand what he is describing. For example:

Metaphors

• The description of Jack and Ralph as “two continents of experience and feeling, unable to communicate” compares the two boys to different continents. The continents of the world are separated from one another by oceans and the people who live on them have completely different cultures and languages. Similarly, the two boys think and feel quite differently and cannot understand each other. The metaphor emphasises their difference and inability to communicate.

Similes

• The simile at the start of the chapter, “He was down like a sprinter”, shows us how Jack looks when he is tracking a pig. A runner on the starting block bends down, his hands touching the ground, his head low, which is how Jack moved through the forest.

Note: The use of language in this chapter creates some vivid pictures in our minds.
I like the description of Simon finding his hidden sanctuary: “he wormed his way into the centre of the mat” – as if he is a creature of the forest, a worm!

Activity 3

Read the following extract and answer the questions below.
[Jack returns from hunting and Ralph and Simon have been building shelters.]

Questions

1. Why does Ralph complain about the fact that Jack’s hunters “came back hours ago” and have been swimming? (Line 4) (2)
2. What do you think causes the “madness” that comes into Jack’s eyes? (Line 8) (2)
3. Complete Jack’s sentence beginning “Are you accusing – ” (Line 23) Begin your answer: “Are you accusing me of … (2)
4. Briefly sum up the cause of the conflict between Ralph and Jack in this extract. (2)
5. “Then he went on with the safe, changed subject.” (Lines 29-30)

a) What is the “safe, changed subject” that is discussed? (1)
b) Why is it “safe”? (2)

6. We are told that “snakes” is a “shameful syllable” and that: “Snakes were not mentioned now, were not mentionable.” (Lines 42-43) What event that happened earlier makes the boys feel that way? (2)
7. Jack’s obssession with hunting shows that he is adapting well to his environment. Do you agree? Give a reason for your answer. (2) [15]

• What happens in the chapter?
• Who is involved
• Themes
• Symbols
• Diction and figurative language
• Activity 4

Chapter 4: Painted Faces and Long Hair

1. What happens in the chapter?

More days later – the day that the ship passed by… The boys are used to life on the island, but at night many are afraid. Talk about the beast continues among the boys. They are dirty, their hair is long and most are almost naked. The littluns develop stomach ailments and diarrhoea because they eat too much fruit. Sometimes the small boys are harassed by the bigger ones, but for them life has settled down to a routine of playing, searching for fruit and food and sleeping.
Three littluns are building sand castles and Roger, followed by Maurice, destroys the castles. Maurice is a follower and copies Roger, but he leaves when Percival cries because Little Johnny kicked sand into his eyes. Maurice’s upbringing still influences him – he can still feel bad when someone is hurt. Roger follows little Henry and throws stones around him, but deliberately avoids hitting him as he, too, is still influenced by what he was taught at home. Henry enjoys trapping and having power over the tiny sea creatures. All three boys show unkindness. Jack arrives and he and the big boys smear coloured clay on their faces (so that the pig will not see them) before they go hunting.
Piggy, Ralph and Simon are on the beach when Ralph sees a ship far out at sea. The boys become very excited. Ralph rushes up the mountain followed by the others. He is deeply upset because the fire has gone out and they have lost a chance to be rescued. He is also furious with Jack, whose hunters were supposed to be watching the fire.
Jack’s obsession with the desire to kill a pig grows, so he continues his hunt. He and the hunters, feeling very pleased with themselves, arrive carrying a dead pig. Ralph is furious and confronts Jack about the fire going out and the others are upset when they learn that a ship passed by without seeing them. Jack hits Piggy and one lens of his glasses breaks.
Jack also refuses to give Piggy any meat, so Simon gives his meat to Piggy. Eventually Jack apologises to Ralph. The boys eat roast pig and then dance around Maurice chanting, “ ‘Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Bash her in.’ ” Ralph, who has been watching them, announces that he is calling a meeting.

The chapter title, refers to the way Jack is forgetting his civilised upbringing and to the way his character is changing. The long hairsuggests that the boys have been on the island for long enough for their hair to grow.
The boys have been on the island for a while and we can see the effects on them. They have not been able to create a successful life without the help of civilisation and the authority of adults.
The power struggle continues. Jack’s successful hunt could make the boys feel more loyal to him than to Ralph, but the dignity of Ralph’s silence about the fact that the fire has gone out makes his authority stronger.

2. Who Is Involved?

Roger

• Roger is mean and deliberately destroys the littluns’ castles. He also throws stones at Henry.
• The memory of the behaviour he was taught at home stops Roger from aiming to hit Henry, but he enjoys confusing him.

Ralph

• Ralph can be insensitive: he is impatient with Piggy and isn’t very kind to him.
• Ralph usually controls his feelings, but rescue means everything to him and in his disappointment he becomes enraged with Jack and the hunters.
• Ralph does not know what to feel: his anger and pride make him want to refuse the meat, but his hunger makes him eat it.
• Ralph gets his authority back by keeping silent and not moving. As a result the others are forced to build the fire somewhere else and they realise that Ralph cannot be bullied and is still the leader.
• Ralph realises that somehow what has happened has made it impossible for him and Jack to be friends again: “Not even Ralph knew how a link between him and Jack had been snapped and fastened elsewhere.”

It seems as if the crisis over the fire finally destroys any friendship between Ralph and Jack.

Jack

• When Jack paints his face, he changes his identity and is freed from the rules of his upbringing: “the mask was a thing on its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness”. (Here “mask” means the paint.)
• Jack only apologises to Ralph to make the hunters admire him, not because he is really sorry. He is being manipulative.
• Although killing and blood excite him Jack is not yet completely hardened – when he boasts about cutting the pig’s throat, his body jerks: “twitched”. This shows that the memory of killing a living creature makes him feel uncomfortable, although he does not admit it or even realise it.
• It seems that Jack enjoys being cruel, as he mocks Piggy and refuses to give him any meat.

Piggy

• Piggy is a little lazy, using his asthma and fatness as an excuse for not helping with tasks that need physical work.
• Piggy is so disappointed at losing the chance of being rescued that he criticises Jack, which is not like him, he is usually too cautious and afraid to do that.

Simon

• Simon feels deeply: when he sees there is no smoke from the fire he cries out “as though he had hurt himself”. When the ship disappears, he cries, “smearing the water from his cheeks”.
• Simon is kind and generous, giving his meat to Piggy when Jack refuses to give Piggy any. He also picks up Piggy’s glasses after Jack hits him.

3. Themes

Innocence and corruption

• In this chapter we see the boys move further away from civilised and decent behaviour. It seems as if they are losing their innocence and becoming corrupt.

Good and evil

• Simon’s kindness and generosity contrast with the cruelty and violence shown by the hunters. The hunters enjoyed killing the pig and seeing the blood.
• Even the little boys enjoy hurting others (Johnny) or controlling living beings (Henry) when no adults are there to teach or discipline them.

Civilisation and savagery

• The painted faces help Jack and the boys to forget the rules and morals they were taught at home. The words they chant while bringing the pig back from the hunt: “ ‘Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood.’ ” And later: “ ‘Bash her in.’ ”, show how far they are moving away from decent behaviour and closer towards savagery.

Leadership

• The different leadership styles of Ralph and Jack are shown again. Ralph controls his anger and uses silence to assert his authority. Jack loses control of his temper when he is criticised and turns to violence when he hits Piggy.

4. Symbols

Fire

• The fire, which could bring rescue, goes out, indicating that the boys are moving further away from civilisation.

Piggy’s glasses

• The glasses show Piggy’s intelligence and belief in reason. When they are broken this suggests how unthinking the boys are becoming; they are beginning to act without thinking about the results of what they do.

The pig hunt:

• The pig hunt is a symbol of the desire to kill; of the violence and savagery that is taking over.

5. Diction and figurative language

The writer uses metaphors to help us to imagine and understand what he is describing. For example:

Metaphor

• After the fire has been lit, Piggy takes his glasses back and “Before these fantastically attractive flowers of violet and red and yellow, unkindness melted away.” Here are two examples of metaphor in one sentence: the fire is compared to flowers, and unkindness is compared to a block of ice that melts in the warmth of the fire. The two metaphors don’t quite match, as flowers are not hot and cannot make something melt. This is called a mixed metaphor, and can be confusing. But in this case it works because it also makes one think of a bad mood melting away when one sees something beautiful. Which is what happened to Piggy and the other boys: “They became a circle of boys round a camp fire and even Piggy and Ralph were half-drawn in.”

Simile

• “When the sun sank, darkness dropped on the island like an extinguisher
  …” This suggests a fire extinguisher putting out the light from the sun. This simile makes us understand how suddenly the darkness came, and that is a bit frightening, because people sometimes talk about life being “extinguished”.

Activity 4

Read the following extract and answer the questions below.
(Note: stars next to a word in the extract tells you that the meaning of the word is given at the end of the extract.)
[A ship has passed the island.]

 Questions

1. Refer to line 2: “the smoke of home had beckoned.”

(a) What is being referred to in these words? (1)
(b) Explain why the smoke is described as “the smoke of home”. (1)

2. Refer to lines lines 9-10: “his voice rose insanely. ‘Come back! Come back!’ ” What is Ralph feeling at this point in the novel? Explain why he feels this way. (2)
3. Choose the correct answer from the choices given below. Write down only the question number and the number of the answer you choose. (1)
“Ralph clenched his fist and went very red.” (Lines 16-17) This shows us that Ralph:

A) is embarrassed because Simon is crying.
B) is angry with Jack and the hunters for allowing the fire to go out.
C) is upset because the ship passed them by.
D) is very sunburnt.

4. Why do the boys paint their faces before the pig hunt? State TWO reasons. (2)
5. Give two reasons why, in your opinion, the event described in this extract makes Ralph feel closer to Piggy. (2) [9]

• What happens in the chapter?
• Who is involved
• Themes
• Symbols
• Diction and figurative language
• Activity 5

Chapter 5: Beast from Water

1. What happens in the chapter?

The evening of the day that the ship passed by Ralph is upset by everything that happened on the mountain and realises it is very difficult to be a leader. He goes for a walk by himself to decide what needs to be done to bring more order to the island. He wishes he was as clever as Piggy, who thinks in an original way. He decides he must call an assembly “to put things straight”, even though the sun is setting and it is getting dark. Ralph compares the way things have gone wrong to how hopeful he felt when the three boys first explored the island.
At the assembly Ralph lists the things that have gone wrong on the island:

• The water shells are not kept filled;
• No-one helped him and Simon to build the third hut;
• The area is dirty because people go to the toilet wherever they want; and
• The signal fire is not kept alight.

Ralph makes a new rule that the only fire allowed is the signal fire on the mountain, and the boys must take their food there to cook it. The boys protest against this rule.
Ralph changes the subject by talking about the boys’ fears. He says they have to discuss the beast and “decide there’s nothing in it”. A littlun claims he saw a beast during the night, but it seems it was only Simon. Then little Percival says the beast comes out of the sea. Simon suggests the beast is “only us” but is not able to explain what he means. Jack makes a bold statement that if there is a beast he and his hunters will pursue it and kill it.
Jack challenges Ralph’s leadership, shouting Ralph down when he tries to restore order, saying rules are rubbish. The boys are easily worked up by Jack and do not behave properly, causing the meeting to break up in disorder. In the end they go off to play and scream with laughter or fear. Ralph is depressed and wants to give up as chief, but Piggy and Simon persuade him not to. The three boys wish there were adults to take control.

2. Who is involved?

Ralph

• Ralph is growing in insight and understanding, for example:
  1. He realises the importance of thinking wisely, but has difficulty in making decisions quickly and needs to think about them first: “The trouble was, if you were a chief you had to think, you had to be wise.”
  2.  He recognises that he cannot think as clearly as Piggy does: “I can’t think. Not like Piggy.” However, he decides to call an assembly and plans the speech he will make “point by point”.
• Ralph is also losing hope: “The world, that understandable and lawful world, was slipping away. Once there was this and that; and now – and the ship had gone.” The chaos of the meeting makes him feel as if the world has gone mad. At the end of the chapter he will not risk blowing the conch because he is scared the boys will ignore it.
• Ralph is so disheartened (he has lost his confidence) that he wants to give up being the chief.

Piggy

• Piggy thinks reason and science can solve all problems and does not believe in the beast. He is so angry about the boys’ talk of the beast and of ghosts that he asks: “ ‘What are we? Humans? Or animals? Or savages?’ ”
• Piggy believes in civilised behaviour and measures the behaviour of the boys against the behaviour he was taught by adults. He is horrified and asks: “ ‘What’s grown-ups going to say?’ ”
• Like Ralph, Piggy longs for adults to take charge and restore order.
• Piggy shows insight when he suggests that what they have to fear could be people. (Later we see Piggy is correct.) He also realises that Jack hates him and hates Ralph for being the leader.

At this stage in the story Ralph is losing his authority. Jack is gaining control, by appealing to the boys’ emotions rather than to reason and logic.
Yes, it seems that disorder is becoming stronger than order, but Ralph remains the leader for a while longer.

Simon

• Simon is brave to speak at the meeting because he hates speaking in public but he believes he must tell the other boys what he believes about the beast.
• Simon is unusually wise for such a young child. He shows this when he says of the beast, “maybe it’s only us”. He is trying to say that evil does not come from outside, it is in people, it is “mankind’s essential illness”.

Jack

• Jack insults Piggy and Ralph.
• When Jack challenges Ralph’s authority, shouting, “ ‘Bollocks to the rules!’ ”, he shows that he does not care about the rules of a fair society.
• Jack knows how to manipulate the boys and takes advantage of their fears and emotions so that they are more impressed with his challenges than with Ralph’s reasoning.
• Jack shows off and boasts about his ability as a hunter, which is more exciting and interesting to the boys than Ralph’s attempt to establish order and be rescued.

Maurice

Maurice cleverly stops the littluns crying by clowning around, falling clumsily to make them laugh. At this time he still understands the importance of restoring order.

3. Themes

Order and disorder

• As Ralph says, “Things are breaking up.” By the end of the chapter rules and Ralph’s authority and the conch are ignored, even though Ralph was elected democratically. The meeting ends in chaos under Jack’s influence and the boys are beyond Ralph’s control.

Loss of innocence

• Ralph’s earlier hope and optimism are being destroyed by his experiences.

Power

• Jack wants power, but Ralph wishes there were adults to take over and put the situation right. Jack’s ability to control the boys and his power to influence them is growing.

Leadership

• Ralph tries to use reason and logic to persuade the boys to do what he suggests. Jack, on the other hand, appeals to the boys’ feelings and emotions. His emotional methods of persuasion are more effective.

Fear

• The boys are particularly afraid of the beast when it is dark and especially when Percival says it comes out of the sea. One cannot see what monsters there might be in the sea. The chapter title, “Beast from Water”, refers to this fear of the unknown. Even Jack feels uneasy in the forest at times, although he says there is no beast. Piggy, with good reason, thinks it is people who should be feared. Only Ralph and Simon are not afraid.

Wisdom

• Simon thinks the beast is the evil in the nature of the boys themselves.

4. Symbols

The conch

• The conch, which is a symbol of authority, order and democracy, is losing its effectiveness. Ralph will not blow it to call the boys back as they might ignore it: “Then we’ve had it. We’ll be like animals.”

The beast

• The “beast” that Percival says comes out of the water fills the boys, especially the littluns, with terror. Only Simon sees that it is not an actual creature, but the evil that lies inside the human heart.

5. Diction and figurative language

The writer uses personification and metaphors to help us to imagine and understand what he is describing. For example:

Personification

•  A sinister (threatening harm or evil) mood, or feeling, is created by descriptions like: “Two grey trunks rubbed each other with an evil squeaking that no one had noticed by day.” To suggest that the noise the tree trunks make is “evil” is personification, as being evil requires a mind and will, and is associated with people rather than plants. A similar example is given in the same paragraph, “a flurry of wind made the palms talk”.

Metaphors

• There are very interesting metaphors in this chapter. One example is, “he was a silent effigy of sorrow”. Here Percival, before he begins to howl, is compared to a statue representing sorrow.

Note: The beast from the water is a reference to the Bible – the Book of Revelations, Chapter 13, Verse 1, which describes such a creature a s a symbol of an evil power: “And i saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name.”

Activity 5

Read the following extract and answer the questions below.
[Ralph, Simon and Piggy are alone after the meeting “to put things right” has broken up in disorder.]

Questions

1. Match the names in COLUMN 1 to the descriptions in COLUMN 2. Write down only the question number (1(a) – 1(c)) and the letter (A – D) of your answer. (3)

2. Is the following statement TRUE or FALSE? Write “true” or “false” and give a reason for your answer. Ralph did not want to go on being chief because he was tired of the responsibility. (2)
3. Explain why Piggy says if they had no fire they would stay on the island until they died. (2)
4. Why do you think Jack hates Piggy? Give TWO reasons for your opinion. (2)
5. In your OWN WORDS explain the reasons Piggy gives for saying that Jack hates Ralph. (2)
6. “ ‘I had the conch,’ said Piggy simply. ‘I had a right to speak.’ “ (Line 14) What theme is referred to in these words? Give a reason for your answer. (2)
7. Before this extract, earlier in Chapter 5, the boys had a meeting. Why did Ralph call the meeting? (2) After the meeting has broken up, why does Ralph refuse to blow the conch to call the boys back? (2) [17]

• What happens in the chapter?
• Who is involved
• Themes
• Symbols
• Diction and figurative language
• Activity 6

Chapter 6: Beast from Air

1. What happens in this chapter?

The events in this chapter take place later that night and the next morning. We are reminded that a war is going on in the outside, adult world when a plane is shot down and the dead pilot lands on the mountain. As the wind blows, his parachute lifts him up and down. Samneric are on duty to watch the fire that night. They fall sleep and the fire nearly goes out. At dawn the next day they find the ashes and manage to blow them so the flame flares again and they can build the fire. The twins see a shape (of the dead pilot) moving on the mountain. They are terrified and run to tell Ralph they have seen the beast. They exaggerate what they have seen and terror spreads among all the boys. Immediately, without thinking it through, Jack wants to hunt the beast and tries to take charge. Ralph gets the boys on his side when he reminds them that they want to be rescued, and he takes control again.
They set out to investigate the unexplored part of the island, with Jack leading the way at first. Piggy stays behind to look after the littluns. At castle rock Ralph goes ahead into the unknown area. Jack follows him and the others join them. The boys have fun rolling down the big rocks and do not want to leave, but Ralph insists they go on. He is determined to keep the signal fire going and the boys obey unwillingly.

2. Who is involved?

Samneric

• The twins are unable to do anything separately and are treated as one in any activity: “By custom now one conch did for both twins, for their substantial unity was recognized.”

Ralph

• In the power struggle with Jack, when Jack refuses to obey the rule about the conch Ralph takes control of the situation with his common-sense reasons and his appeal to the boys’ desire to be rescued.
• Ralph shows his courage, strength of character and sense of duty when, in spite of his “personal hell” of fear, he goes ahead first to the unknown part of the island – castle rock: “Something deep in Ralph spoke for him. ‘I’m chief. I’ll go.’ ”
• Ralph shows his determination to continue the task of finding the beast and relighting the signal fire when he insists that they go on, because the hope of rescue is “all we’ve got’ ”.

Jack

• Jack is selfish and acts on his desire to lead the hunt without thinking about what is sensible or practical.
• When Jack joins Ralph at castle rock it is because he wants to share the “glory” and not because he is worried about Ralph’s safety.

Piggy

• In spite of Piggy’s belief in science and reason, the twins’ sighting of the beast upsets him and he is worried about being left unprotected with the “littluns”.
•  Piggy is so tense during the power struggle between Ralph and Jack that he has an asthma attack.

Simon

• Simon’s wisdom and ability to reason make him doubt there is a beast: “with claws that scratched, that sat on a mountain-top, that left no tracks and yet was not fast enough to catch Samneric”.
• Simon’s insight gives him a picture of the beast as “the picture of a human at once heroic and sick”. In other words, the beast is a part of human nature that will show itself if it is not controlled by the laws of society. This shows us Simon as a visionary (a prophet or a person who can see a deeper truth) and a mystic (a person who gains deeper knowledge through meditation or deep thought. Think here of how Simon likes to be alone in his secret place.)
• Simon knows he is an outsider, and when Ralph smiles at him he is “happy to be accepted”, although, moments later, Ralph forgets about him.

3. Themes

Fear

• Different characters react to fear in different ways. Everyone except Simon is terrified and most, including Piggy, put their own safety first. Jack uses their fear as an opportunity to seize power. Ralph controls his fear and puts his duties as leader first; he also admits to himself that “he did not really expect to meet any beast”.

Power

• The power struggle between Ralph and Jack reflects the struggle between good and evil.

Goodness, order, civilisation

• Ralph stands for goodness in his concern for the safety of the littluns and for order and civilisation in his determination to keep the signal fire burning.

Disorder and savagery

• Jack stands for disorder and savagery, not only in his obsession with hunting but also in his warlike instincts. On first seeing the castle rock, he exclaims: “What a place for a fort!”

Wisdom

• Only Simon realises that the beast is the evil within human beings.

Good and evil

• Simon’s vision of “a human at once heroic and sick” reveals both the good and the evil in human beings. Perhaps we could see Ralph as “heroic” and Jack as “sick”, in the sense of being evil.

4. Symbols

The beast

• The boys go in search of the beast, the symbol of evil.
• Only Simon realises that the beast is inside them.
• The title of this chapter, “Beast from Air”, refers to the airman who landed on the island. It also echoes the “beast of the earth” in Revelations chapter 13. This was a false prophet, just as the airman is a false beast – not a beast at all, but a broken body returning to the earth from which it came.

The conch

• The conch is a symbol of order, authority and democracy.
• The conch is ignored by Jack, who shouts: “We don’t need the conch any more.” This symbolises the breakdown of order and democracy in the boys’ society.

The fire

• Ralph is determined to keep it alight; here it represents civilisation.

The “beast” keeps changing its identity.
Yes, first they call it a “beastie” and “snake-things”, then it is Simon in the forest at night, then the beast of the sea, and now, the airman.
It is as though a beast is always with us, but we do not understand what it is.

5. Diction and figurative language

The writer uses irony and metaphors to help us to imagine and understand what he is describing. For example:

Irony

• The dead airman, shot down in the adults’ war, makes Ralph’s and Piggy’s longing for grown-ups to restore order very ironic as war is perhaps the greatest disorder in human society. What they think of as representing order in fact represents the opposite.

Metaphors

• “Soon the darkness was full of claws, full of the awful unknown and menace.” Language like this creates a tone and mood of fear. The darkness is compared here to something with claws, like Samneric’s description of the “beast”.
• When Ralph looks at the enormous ocean it is described by a metaphor that compares it to a “leviathan”, a huge sea monster that, in earlier times, was believed to refer to Satan. This reminds us of the “beast from sea” in chapter five.

Activity 6

Read the following extract and answer the questions below.
[The beast is being described.]

 Questions

1. Match the names in COLUMN 1 to the descriptions in COLUMN 2. Write down only the question number (1(a)-1(c)) and the letter (A-D) of your answer. (3)

2.

(a) To what does “the figure” in the extract refer? (1)
(b) How does the figure end up on the island? State TWO points. (2)
(c) Who discovers the figure on the mountain top later? (1)

3. Refer to line 6 (“Here the breeze was fitful…”).

(a) Why does the writer describe the breeze in this way? (1)
(b) What does the breeze do to the figure? (1)

4. The figure lands close to where the fire normally is.

(a) How does this affect the boys’ plans? State THREE things. (3)
(b) How do Jack and Ralph differ in their views of the importance of the fire? (2)  [14]

• What happens in the chapter?
• Who is involved
• Themes
• Symbols
• Diction and figurative language
• Activity 7

Chapter 7: Shadows and Tall Trees

1. What happens in the chapter?

The events in this chapter take place on the same day in the afternoon. The boys keep walking up the mountain to see if they can find the beast. Ralph wishes he were neat and clean in his comfortable home. Faced by the huge ocean, Ralph feels it is impossible that they will ever be rescued, but Simon tells him he will go home again; they smile at each other in friendship.
A boar (wild pig) appears and Ralph wounds it with his spear. He is thrilled by this and by the respect the boys show him, but Jack blames him for the wound on his arm from the boar’s tusks (horns). Full of excitement, Ralph joins enthusiastically in the dance of “Kill the pig” and Robert, acting the part of the pig, is hurt by the boys, who are all violently over-excited. Jack suggests that next time they must use a littlun in their dance. He cannot curb his violent tendencies. It is getting late, but they go on with their journey up the mountain.
Ralph worries about Piggy and the littluns, who have been left alone, and Simon runs back to the beach to tell them where the older boys are going. The others continue to climb. Then, as the route becomes more dangerous and it is getting darker, the boys do not want to go on. However, Jack decides to climb higher and challenges Ralph, mocking him for being afraid. Ralph asks Jack why he hates him, but gets no response. Roger joins the two as they climb higher while the rest go back. Then Jack goes on alone but is soon back, terrified, saying he has seen the beast. Ralph and Roger climb up and see the hunched (bent over) figure of the pilot, which, to them, looks like a beast. Terrified, the three run away down the mountain.

The tension increases again in this chapter as the bigger boys actually see something that to them looks like a beast!
Finding something like that on a dark, windy night must have been so scary! No wonder even Jack and Ralph ran away.

2. Who is involved?

In Chapter 7 it seems as if the emotions of all the boys except Simon are becoming more intense and their thinking is becoming less logical. Jack and Ralph put themselves in danger in order to compete to be heroes. Ralph suddenly becomes like the others when he attacks the boar. Although they are older than Samneric, Jack and Ralph also panic when they see the airman.

Ralph

• In this chapter we see two sides of Ralph. At the start he wishes he could be clean and neat again and daydreams about his home (the civilised side); then we see his pride when he wounds the boar (the uncivilised side).
• After that Ralph loses his self-discipline and moral sense and is caught up in the “Kill the pig” dance, joining in the attack on Robert. “Ralph too was fighting to get near, to get a handful of that brown, vulnerable flesh. The desire to squeeze and hurt was over-mastering.” This shows us how easily people who are usually good can be caught up in mob hysteria and become violent. (Think of what we still see happening today.)
• Fortunately, Ralph’s better self returns and he shows his caring side when he worries about Piggy alone with the littluns.
• Ralph shows his common sense when he realises it is too dark to continue the dangerous climb, but when Jack returns, terrified, after seeing the airman, Ralph silences the “inner voice of reason”. The three climb higher before running away in terror when they see the shape “like a great ape” apparently moving.

Jack

• When Jack says, “Kill a littlun” the boys think he is joking, but as readers we are not so sure. In the dance he grabs Robert by the hair and waves his knife at him: his violence is only just under control.
• Jack continues to challenge Ralph and suggests he is a coward. We see his anger whenever he feels he is not in the lead. However, in spite of his boasting, his courage fails and he is terrified when he sees the beast.

Simon

• We see Simon as a visionary when he tells Ralph he will go home.
• Simon is happy to go back to Piggy on his own as he has no fear of the beast.

Roger

• Roger says very little and almost never shows any feelings. This makes him mysterious and perhaps we should feel uneasy about him.
• The only feeling Roger shows is fear, when he runs away with the other two boys at the end of the chapter.

3. Themes

Fear

• The beast now has a physical form (the dead airman that looks to the boys like a strange creature) that is confirmed by three of the big boys; they now all believe there is something real to fear.

Savagery

• Robert could have been killed in the “Kill the pig” dance in which all the boys were wildly excited and attacked him. Violence and savagery are increasing: the boys suggest a drum and fire for their dance and a real pig or even a person to attack.
• The title of the chapter “Shadows and Tall Trees”, refers not only to the trees and shadows that the boys move through, but also suggests the darkness (shadows/darkness/evil and savagery) growing in the boys’ hearts.

Civilisation

• Ralph wants the comfort and order of home – but we also see how easily civilised behaviour can change.

Wisdom

• The only boy to show wisdom is Simon, who tells Ralph he will go home, and who returns to the beach without fear.

Innocence and corruption

• Even Ralph, the responsible and caring leader, can give way to the beast inside of himself and behave violently. It seems as if his innocence has been corrupted.

4. Symbols

The beast

• The sight of the unfortunate dead man confirms the boys’ fear that there is a beast on the island. At the same time, the power of the beast inside the boys, particularly Jack, is increasing.

The pig hunt

• This is a symbol of savagery; we see this in the dance in which Robert could have been killed.

5. Diction and figurative language

The writer uses irony and metaphors to help us to imagine and understand what he is describing. For example:

Irony

• It is ironic that Ralph, who starts off longing for home, should take part in the savage behaviour during the dance, which is the opposite of his orderly and gentle life at home.

Metaphor

• Jack is described by the metaphor of a “stain in the darkness”. A stain is a mark that stands out on something, so Jack’s body is a dark shape showing up against the slightly less dark night. However, a stain is usually considered to be a bad thing that spoils whatever it marks. This suggests the evil within Jack that spoils the paradise of the island.

It is ironic that the beast that the boys fear is the most helpless of things –  a dead body; but they do not know yet that what they see is dead. The wind makes it move so they believe it is alive.

Activity 7

Read the following extract and answer the questions below.
[Jack, Roger and Ralph climb the mountain to find the beast.]

Questions

1. Use the words in the box below to complete the following sentences. Write down only the letter given in the space and beside it write the correct word. (4)
Ralph felt very ………….(a) when he wounded a (b) . He then joined in the game of “Kill the pig” and hit (c) with a spear and wanted to (d) him.

2. Choose the correct word to complete the sentence below. Write down only the number of the question and beside it the letter of the correct answer.
The person who runs back to tell Piggy that the boys are going to climb up the mountain is …

(a) Sam
(b) Simon
(c) Robert (1)

3. Refer to line 1. Why did Jack walk behind Ralph and Roger in spite of “all his brave words”? (2)
4. What was the tragic result of the earlier fire that had left ashes on the mountain? (2)
5. Refer to lines 15-16. What figure of speech is used in the words “a hiss of breath”? Choose the correct answer and write only the letter (A-D) next to the question number. (1)

A simile
B personification
C onomatopoeia
D alliteration

6. Refer to line 22. (“He took two leaden steps forward.”)

(a) Name the figure of speech used in this line. (1)
(b) Explain how this figure of speech helps us to understand the way Ralph is moving. (1)

7. “Before them, something like a great ape was sitting asleep with its head between its knees.” (lines 23-24)

(a) To what do the words “something like a great ape” refer? (1)
(b) Explain why it “lifted its head” when the wind blew. (1)

8. How does Ralph show a new feeling of friendship for Simon and why does he feel this way? (2)
9. What is surprising about Ralph’s behaviour during the “Kill the pig” dance? (1)
10. Why is Simon not afraid to go alone in the growing dark to tell Piggy what has happened? (1) [18]

• What happens in the chapter?
• Who is involved
• Themes
• Symbols
• Diction and figurative language
• Activity 8

Chapter 8: Gift for the Darkness

1. What happens in the chapter?

The events in this chapter take place at dawn, the next day. Ralph tells Piggy about the beast, which is in the exact place the fire had been, so they can’t light a fire there. Jack is furious when Ralph calls his hunters “Boys armed with sticks”. Jack takes the conch and calls a meeting at which he criticises Ralph and tries to have him voted out as leader. Jack is unsuccessful and angry, and rushes off in tears. Piggy is happy to see Jack go. Ralph feels they can do nothing to improve their situation, but Simon says all they can do is go up the mountain to see just what the beast is.
Piggy says they should light a signal fire on the beach. They discover many of the bigger boys have followed Jack. The boys felt guilty about supporting Jack openly but sneaked off after him later. Jack and his followers hunt and kill a sow (female pig) with extreme cruelty. They leave the sow’s head on a stake as a peace offering for the beast. Simon has slipped off to his secret place in the forest and sees the boys do this.
After this, Jack and his hunters, “Demonic figures with faces of white and red and green” burst in on Ralph’s group and steal burning branches from
the fire on the beach. Jack, hoping the rest will join his group, invites them to feast on roast pork. Before he leaves Maurice and Robert announce: “The chief has spoken.” At the same time, in the forest, Simon is still looking at the pig’s head and imagines the beast is speaking to him. It warns him not to interfere or the other boys will kill him. Simon falls unconscious (he has a fit).

The conflict between Ralph and Jack has reached a crisis point.
Jack’s behaviour takes the story to a new level of horror.

2. Who is involved?

Ralph

• Ralph has lost hope of being rescued. He does not think that smoke from a fire on the beach, as Piggy suggests, will easily be seen from a ship at sea.
• Ralph is also worried that he might become like the others and not care about being rescued.
• Ralph speaks to the boys who have stayed with him but finds it difficult to concentrate as he tries to persuade them that they must keep the signal fire going on the beach.

Jack

• The last democratic thing Jack does is blow the conch to call a meeting to try to remove Ralph as leader. When he fails he feels humiliated and furious and leaves, crying.
•  When Jack returns with his new followers he has taken off all his clothes, the last signs of his civilised upbringing, and he feels “…safe from shame or self-consciousness behind the mask of his paint”. (The “mask” hides any last traces of the way he was brought up and gives him a new identity.)
• Leaving the pig’s head as an offering to the beast, as if the beast was a god, shows that Jack has lost all sense of civilised values. Jack now steals what he wants – the fire – without any guilt. Jack tries to tempt Ralph’s group to join him with the promise of a feast with fun and roast meat.
• Jack sees himself as an all-powerful leader and, like a typical dictator, has trained his followers to say, “The chief has spoken!” (Hitler’s Nazis had to say, “Heil (hail) Hitler!”)
• During the pig hunt Jack is happy because he enjoys using his skill and having meat to eat, but even more because he enjoys the power and cruelty of killing.
• Jack is also cunning and chooses to attack a sow that is helpless as she is feeding her babies, rather than a boar, which is dangerous.
• Jack’s evil is increasing at a great rate.

Piggy

• Piggy’s rational mind makes it hard for him to believe Ralph has seen the beast, but, when he is convinced of its reality he is frightened.
• Piggy shows his understanding of people when he warns Ralph that insulting Jack and his hunters is dangerous.
• When Jack leaves Piggy is delighted and feels they are better off without him. He is so pleased he even helps collect wood.
• Piggy shows common sense by saying they could make the fire on the beach. But he loves food and is tempted by the thought of eating meat at Jack’s feast.

Simon

• Simon shows great courage by standing up to speak at the meeting.
• Simon makes the only intelligent suggestion: to go up the mountain to see what the beast really is. Mocked and ignored, he slips away to his secret place and imagines that the pig’s head (the “Lord of the Flies”) is talking to him.
• The pig’s head tells Simon, “I am the Beast”.
• The head spells out to Simon the choices he has: he can go back to the boys and accept things the way they are, or be killed by Jack and his group as they (the beast and the boys together – in other words the evil inside them) are going to have “fun”. “Fun” here means being violent and savage.

Roger

• Until now Roger has been rather a mysterious character, but his disgusting cruelty to the sow shows him to be a sadist – someone who takes pleasure in causing pain and suffering.
• Roger even spears a helpless piglet.

3. Themes

Good and evil

• This chapter shows the boys splitting into two groups (good and evil): Ralph, Simon, Piggy, Samneric and the littluns on the one hand, and Jack and the rest of the biguns on the other.
• The evil inside Jack and his group, particularly Roger, is controlling their behaviour and they care only about the “fun” of violence, savagery and killing – and about having meat to eat and satisfying their desires and needs.
• The chapter title, “Gift for the Darkness”, refers to the pig’s head on a stick, which Jack said was a gift for the beast. “Darkness” refers to evil.

Civilisation and savagery

• Ralph and Piggy still believe in civilised values and want to return home.
• For Jack and his group all civilised behaviour has gone. They even get rid of their clothes. Clothes are a sign of civilisation and taking the clothes off is a sign of the loss of civilisation.

Wisdom

• Simon shows great wisdom. In his meeting with the pig’s head he shows the depth of his insight, his basic goodness and his courage.

Power

• Jack obtains the power he wants so much when he becomes leader of nearly all the big boys.

4. Symbols

The pig’s head

The description of the pig’s head makes its symbolism clear. It is surrounded by flies and is therefore the “Lord of the Flies” – the title of the novel. One of the names of Satan is Beelzebub, which means “lord of the flies”. It symbolises the evil that is found in people that makes them behave with cruelty and savagery; this is revealed to us in Simon’s encounter with the pig’s head.

The conch

The conch, the symbol of order and democracy, is not taken by Jack when he steals the fire, showing that he does not care about civilised behaviour and that democracy will have no place when he is dictator.

The pig hunt

The pig hunt is vividly described, letting us see the bloodlust (the uncontrollable wish to kill or hurt others), cruelty and savagery of the boys.

5. Diction and figurative language

Again the writer uses similes and metaphors to help us to imagine and understand what he is describing. For example:

Simile

A simile is used in this description of Jack when he is hunting: “He was happy and wore the damp darkness of the forest like his old clothes.” Old clothes are comfortable and familiar and we feel at home and at ease in them. This simile tells us that this is how Jack feels in the forest, emphasising his love of hunting.

Metaphor

“… their voices had been the song of angels” – is a metaphor and it is also ironic. It suggests that one might expect angelic behaviour from choir-boys, but these boys, far from being angelic, have turned into bloody and savage hunters.

Activity 8

Read the following extract and answer the questions below.
[Piggy suggests an alternative place for the fire.]

 Questions

1. Refer to lines 3-11 (“His speech made … without a fire”). Identify and discuss the theme of the novel revealed in these lines. (4)
2. Refer to line 8 (“I said we … a certain person”). Explain how Piggy’s behaviour has changed now that this “certain person” is absent. (3)
3. In your view, who is the better leader, Jack or Ralph? Motivate your answer. (3)
4. Chapter 8 is entitled “Gift for the Darkness”.

(a) What is this “Gift”? (1)
(b) Discuss what the offering of this “Gift” tells you about the boys at this stage in the novel. (3)[14]

• What happens in the chapter?
• Who is involved
• Themes
• Symbols
• Diction and figurative language
• Activity 9

Chapter 9: A View to a Death

1. What happens in the chapter?

The events in this chapter take place on the same day, in the evening. When Simon wakes after his fit he climbs the mountain; his mood is gloomy after his meeting with the pig’s head, but he repeats his earlier words: “What else is there to do?” He climbs to where Ralph saw the beast and finds it is the rotting body of the airman. He frees the body, loosening the strings of the parachute that held it down and made it move with the wind. Simon sees the boys on the beach below and goes down in the dark to tell them the truth about the beast: that it is quite harmless.
Ralph and Piggy realise the rest of the boys have left to join Jack’s feast. The temptation of meat is too great and they join them. Jack behaves like a king or god, giving orders that are obeyed immediately: “Jack, painted and garlanded, sat there like an idol.” The word “garlanded” means that Jack had flowers around his neck, like an idol who is worshipped.
Ralph and Piggy are given meat and then Jack asks who is going to join his tribe. Ralph and Jack confront each other over who is the chief. The approaching storm makes Ralph’s talk of shelters attractive to the boys, but Jack distracts them from their fear of thunder and lightning by starting the “Kill the pig” dance. The boys become a mindless, frenzied (crazy) mob as Simon, exhausted, crawls into the circle, trying to tell them his news, and is mistaken (or seen as a substitute) for the beast. The hysterical boys have become like a mob of wild animals and Simon is beaten and torn to death by the “tearing of teeth and claws”. The next morning his small body is washed gently out to sea. (The boys do not really have claws, but the word suggests their animal-like behaviour.) During a storm that same evening the body of the airman is blown off the face of the mountain and lands on the beach. This frightens the boys, who run away into the darkness.
This chapter, which tells of Simon’s death, forms the climax of the novel and is the turning point.
After this point the situation deteriorates quickly and there is open war between Jack and his group and the other boys.

2. Who is involved?

Simon

• Simon shows great courage in climbing the mountain alone to investigate the beast. His climb is a search for truth.
• We see Simon’s compassion and strength of character when he frees the rotting body that is so awful to look at it has made him vomit.
• Simon shows more courage by ignoring the warning of his vision and going down to tell the boys that the beast is only a harmless, dead man, so they can be freed from their fear. He can be said to have sacrificed his life to bring them the truth.
• The chapter title, “A View to a Death”, refers to Simon’s view from the mountain of Jack’s group on the beach, at the place where Simon will die. The chapter title foreshadows Simon’s death. In literature, foreshadows means to give a hint about something that will happen later in the story.

Ralph

• Ralph wisely understands why the boys have joined Jack: it is not only for meat but also for “pretending to be a tribe, and putting on war-paint”. (The boys feel secure because they are part of a tribe.)
• Ralph tries to stand up to Jack but, when the dance begins, he joins in with the group, which makes him feel safer during the violent storm: “They were glad to touch the brown backs of the fence that hemmed in the terror and made it governable.” Ralph becomes part of the mob. The word “brown backs” refers to the backs of the other boys.

Piggy

• Piggy loves food and uses the weak excuse of making sure nothing goes wrong to persuade Ralph to go to the feast.
• Because of his knowledge of people Piggy urges Ralph to leave when he realises there is going to be trouble.

Jack

• Power has corrupted Jack and he behaves like a typical dictator, demanding total obedience and service from his tribe.
• Jack’s contempt for any laws except his own is shown when he tells Ralph the conch does not count on his part of the island.
• Ironically, Jack has now become the evil beast to be feared.

The Littluns

• The littluns, who are innocent, soon start imitating the dance of Jack’s tribe.

3. Themes

Good and evil

• In this chapter we see evil triumphing. It is hard to resist being drawn into it as it seems to have good things to offer – food and belonging, in this instance. Even Piggy and Ralph give in to temptation.
• From the vicious murder of Simon it seems that evil and violence have defeated goodness.

Civilisation and savagery

• Savagery seems to replace civilisation when Piggy and Ralph join the dance.

Innocence and corruption

• Jack has been corrupted by power. Innocence has vanished from the island.

Fear

• Jack, like all dictators, uses fear to control his people. It is the beast inside him that is to be feared.

4. Symbols

The beast

• The real beast is the dead airman and it is not a threat at all. But the boys do not know that. When Simon comes out of the jungle the boys attack and murder him believing they are freeing themselves from “the beast” of whom they have been so scared.

5. Diction and figurative language

This chapter contains very dramatic descriptions of the storm and the killing of Simon. The writer builds up an atmosphere of danger and evil by linking the approach of the storm to the growing violence and evil on the island. The beginning of the dance is made more dramatic by the thunder and lightning, as if nature was pointing out the horror of the violence.

Metaphor and simile

• Golding uses vivid description to help us imagine the storm:
  The dark sky was shattered by a blue-white scar. An instant later the noise was on them like the blow of a gigantic whip.
• In a metaphor the lightning is compared to the scar of a wound that has torn the sky apart, “shattered” it. “Shattered” makes us picture something being violently broken. A simile describes the noise of the thunder: it is so loud it hurts the ears the way a big whip would hurt your body if it struck you with force. The metaphor and simile help us to see and hear the fierceness of the storm.

Personification

• Nature itself seems to mourn (grieve over) Simon’s death, as the sea shows up the delicate beauty of his little body:
  The water rose farther and dressed Simon’s coarse hair with brightness. The line of his cheek silvered and the turn of his shoulder became sculptured (carved) marble. We are filled with sadness.

Irony

•  There is a lot of irony in this chapter, the greatest irony being that the one truly good person is murdered as if he were the beast, when he is coming to tell the truth about the beast. Another irony is the way the boys are terrified when the wind blows the parachute and airman on to the beach and then out to sea; in fact the object they have (wrongly) feared is leaving the island.

Mood and tone

• At the beginning of Chapter 9 the author uses colour to suggest a mood of despair and horror, for example:
  Colours drained from water and trees and pink surfaces of rock, and white and brown clouds brooded. Nothing prospered but the flies who blackened their lord and made the spilt guts look like a heap of glistening coal.
  Note also in this quotation the personification – “clouds brooded”, metaphor – the pig is the “lord” of the flies, and simile – “like a heap of glistening coal”.
• This description contrasts with the description of Simon’s body being washed into the sea at the end of the chapter.
  Softly, surrounded by a fringe of inquisitive bright creatures, itself a silver shape beneath the steadfast constellations, Simon’s dead body moved out towards the open sea.
• The tone here is gentler and the reader imagines the brightness of the stars (“constellations”). There is a sense that Simon has finally found peace away from all the madness of the island. His goodness and gentleness is also, finally, appreciated and cared for, by the “fringe of inquisitive bright creatures” that surround him as his body moves out to sea.

Activity 9

Read the following extract and answer the questions below.
[Ralph and Piggy join Jack’s party to feast on roast meat on the beach.]

Questions

1. Refer to line 1. To what does the “threat of violence” refer? (1)
2. Refer to lines 2-3. Jack does not ask for a drink but gives an order. What does this tell us about the kind of leader he is? Give a reason for your answer. (2)
3. Why does Ralph turn crimson (red) when Jack reminds Ralph that he is eating the food he, Jack, has provided? (2)
4. This extract shows the conflict between Jack and Ralph and their two different methods of leadership. Explain how the conflict between the two boys can be described as a conflict between democracy and dictatorship. (4)
5. Do you think that Piggy’s advice to “Come away” (line 40) is good advice? Give a reason for your opinion. (2)
6. Why do Ralph and Piggy join the “kill the pig” dance? (1)
7. Briefly relate the events that lead to Simon’s death. (3)  [15]

• What happens in the chapter?
• Who is involved
• Themes
• Symbols
• Diction and figurative language
• Activity 10

Chapter 10: The Shell and the Glasses

1. What happens in the chapter?

The events in this chapter take place the next day and night. Piggy and Samneric are the only biguns left in Ralph’s group. Ralph is full of guilt at having joined the mob that killed Simon and he calls it murder. Piggy, who remained outside the dance, will not face this truth and insists that Simon’s death was an accident and even blames Simon himself. Ralph then says he too was outside the dance. Samneric arrive with some wood and also claim they were not involved. None of them can face their guilt and shame.
On the other hand, Jack, now called “The Chief”, tells his uneasy followers that they did not kill the beast and that it will return. This way he removes their guilt and holds on to his power by making sure they are still afraid of the beast, from which he will protect them. He is being manipulative. He has moved his tribe to the castle rock, which can be defended by pushing rocks down on the narrow entrance. He now punishes harshly anyone who displeases him.
On the beach Ralph and the other three cannot collect enough wood to keep the fire going at night, although they would like its comfort in the dark. They are woken up by Jack, Roger and Maurice who attack them and steal Piggy’s glasses so they can light their fires. However, they do not bother to take the conch.

2. Who is involved?

Ralph

• Ralph is horrified by the killing of Simon and his own part in it, but then lies and says he was not involved. We see how he has been corrupted in spite of his basically good values.
• Ralph shows insight when he says that he is frightened “of us”. Ralph comforts himself at night by imagining going home, but at the same time the outside world is fading from his memory as he struggles to remember the war against the “Reds” (Communist Russia). His concentration has also been affected by life on the island and he again struggles to express what he needs to say about the signal fire.

Piggy

• What happened to Simon is too dreadful for Piggy to admit.
• Piggy was the only one of his group who did not participate in the killing.
• As always, Piggy is aware of how adults might judge the boys and insists that he and Ralph pretend they were not at the dance: “We never done nothing. We never saw nothing.”
• Piggy does not help collect wood because of his asthma – or his laziness?
• When his glasses are stolen Piggy is very distressed as without them he is almost blind and is helpless.

Jack

• Jack lies about Simon’s death to maintain his power and authority; the only sign of any guilt he might feel is when he moves uncomfortably (“squirmed”) and looks down when it is first mentioned.
• Jack uses fear and cruelty to ensure obedience from his tribe and a boy, Wilfred, is tied up and beaten.
• Like all leaders who seize power illegally, Jack is afraid of an attack from others who might do the same to him and places guards at the entrance to the castle rock, using the big rocks as weapons.
• Jack lies about the beast not being dead as fear of the beast will keep his tribe loyal.
• Jack has no morals left and steals Piggy’s glasses in a violent night raid.

Roger

• Roger does not seem to give a thought to the horrific killing of Simon.
• As we have seen before, Roger is a sadist and when he hears of Wilfred’s punishment he realises that “the possibilities of irresponsible authority” will give him opportunities to enjoy more cruelty.
• Roger also approves of Jack as a “proper Chief” because he is warlike and is prepared to use weapons, like the big rocks, against his enemies.

3. Themes

Good and evil

• The forces of evil in the person of Jack and his followers are winning against the good. Simon is dead, Ralph has lost his leadership position and Piggy is made helpless when his glasses are stolen.

Civilisation and savagery

• Savagery is winning over civilised values. Jack is now always half naked and painted and rules by means of fear and cruelty. The author is now calling Jack and his group “savages”.

Leadership

• Jack is a dictator and Ralph, the democratically elected leader, has no authority over most of the boys. Democracy has been replaced by dictatorship. The chapter also shows how bad leaders can manipulate others by using fear (of harsh punishment) and suspicion.

4. Symbols

Many of the symbols have changed their significance (meaning) as the situation on the island worsens.

The conch

• The conch has lost its authority. Democracy has lost and Jack does not even bother to take the conch when he steals the glasses. He has no interest in democracy and any laws will be his own.

Fire

• For Ralph fire now means not only rescue but also comfort in the dark. For Jack it is only a means of cooking food and adding excitement to the dance.

Piggy’s glasses

• Without his glasses Piggy is helpless: he will no longer give his good advice. In Jack’s possession the glasses mean nothing more than a way to light a fire. His rule is based on power and fulfilling his desires, not on reason or thoughtfulness.
• The chapter title, “The Shell and the Glasses”, refers to the loss of both democracy (the conch being left behind like something that has no value) and intelligent thought (Piggy’s glasses being stolen).

5. Diction and figurative language

The writer uses sarcasm and humour to help us to imagine and understand what he is describing. For example:

Sarcasm

• The author uses sarcasm when he states: “Memory of the dance that none of them had attended shook all four boys convulsively.” He is writing about the fact that they deny being involved in Simon’s death. Sarcasm is an ironic expression, or tone. Here we know that the opposite of what is stated is true – of course the boys attended the dance!
• One of the few touches of humour in the novel comes when the boys boast of how they fought their attackers and we realise they were actually fighting one another in the dark.

Activity 10

Read the following extract and answer the questions below.
[Jack and his tribe have attacked Ralph’s group.]

Questions

1. What is the “wreckage” referred to in line 1? (1)
2. In line 3 it is mentioned that Piggy’s breathing is “easier”. Give TWO possible reasons why Piggy was breathing with difficulty earlier. (2)
3. Is the following statement TRUE or FALSE? Write “true” or “false” and give a reason for your answer. The person that Ralph is referring to in lines 12-13 is one of the attackers. (2)
4. Give TWO reasons why the boys have separated into two groups at this stage. (2)
5. Explain why Jack’s tribe does not take the conch. (2) [9]

• What happens in the chapter?
• Who is involved
• Themes
• Symbols
• Diction and figurative language
• Activity 11

Chapter 11: Castle Rock

 1. What happens in the chapter?

The events in this chapter take place on the second day after Simon’s death very early in the morning. Ralph, Piggy and Samneric gather by the dead fire but cannot find a spark. Ralph says they will never be rescued without a fire and that he would have given Jack fire if he had asked for it. Without his glasses Piggy is almost blind and he wants to go to Jack and tell him to give him back his glasses because “what’s right’s right”. Ralph wishes he could clean himself up and look respectable, even though the tribe will be painted.
As they approach Castle Rock they are challenged by Roger from the rock above the entrance and they hear war cries. Jack’s tribe, all of them painted, appear when Ralph blows the conch and Roger throws stones at him. Then Jack appears behind him with his hunters and their kill. Ralph confronts (challenges) Jack and demands Piggy’s glasses. When Ralph calls him a thief, Jack attacks. Ralph tries to reason with him and Jack responds by ordering his tribe to seize Samneric and tie them up. Ralph tries to make the boys see sense, but the tribe prepares to charge at him. Roger pushes a large rock over the edge and it hits Piggy, sending him flying through the air and on to the rocks in the sea below. The waves wash his body out to sea. The conch breaks into pieces and the tribe advances on Ralph, throwing their spears. Ralph runs for his life and hides in the dense (thick) forest.

2. Who is involved?

Ralph

• Ralph wants to behave in a civilised way and would like to look the way he did before the crash. He tells Eric he and his three followers will not paint their faces: “because we aren’t savages”.
• Ralph shows his sense of fairness and order when he says: “We’d have given them fire if they’d asked.”
• Perhaps because Ralph is so stressed he again has a problem with concentration and he struggles to remember why they need smoke.
• Ralph faces up to Jack without fear but loses his temper when Jack will not give back the glasses. He then tries to maintain civilised behaviour by reasoning (unsuccessfully) with Jack; he is still motivated by very English ideas about fair play and “playing the game”. But when he is attacked he defends himself and fights back bravely until he is forced to flee for his life.

Piggy

• Piggy is helpless and cannot find his way without his glasses; he turns to Ralph as the elected leader to help him get them back.
• Piggy is kind when Ralph has a problem remembering, saying: “ ‘You’re Chief, Ralph. You remember everything.’ ”
• Piggy wants to appeal to Jack’s sense of morality. He naively (innocently) thinks Jack might listen to him. (He is wise in many ways, but not when he still expects Jack to respect what is right or worry about what the adults would say.)
• When Piggy walks he is terrified as he cannot see where he is being led, but he finds the courage to blow the conch and try to persuade Jack and the tribe to be: “ ‘sensible like Ralph is’ ”.
• Piggy’s death is cruel and unnecessary.

Jack

• Jack has lost all sense of morality and, like a true dictator, will force others to obey him, for instance, when he orders Samneric to be tied up.
• Jack will try to destroy whoever opposes him.
• Jack feels no guilt or pity when Piggy is killed but tries to kill Ralph too.
• Jack has become the embodiment (a perfect example) of evil.

Roger

• Roger throws stones to torment Ralph’s group and, when the tribe is getting ready to charge, seizes the opportunity to fulfil his desire for blood by pushing down the rock which kills Piggy.
• We see Roger’s sadism again as he moves towards Samneric, who are still tied up, obviously looking forward to torturing them.

Samneric

• The twins Sam and Eric (Samneric) are aware of the “liberation into savagery that the concealing paint brought” and they would like to paint their faces too, and enjoy the freedom from law and order that this “disguise” would give them.
• However, so far as the twins remain loyal to Ralph; they are the only biguns who are loyal, apart from Piggy.
• Sam and Eric still show the innocence of well-brought-up English schoolboys in their polite protests when they are being tied up: “ ‘Oh, I say!’ ‘– Honestly!’ ”

3. Themes

Good and evil; civilisation and savagery

• With the death of Piggy, the capture of Samneric and the attack on Ralph, goodness and civilisation seem to have lost the battle against evil and savagery; Jack and his savages have won this battle.

Power

• By the end of the chapter Ralph has been robbed of all power and Jack, helped by Roger, has total power over everyone. Jack makes his own laws to suit himself and anyone who does not obey him is punished or destroyed.

Fear

• Jack has become the beast to be feared, proving that what Simon said about the beast being the evil inside human beings was true.

4. Symbols

The conch

• A symbol of democracy and lawful authority, the conch is described as “fragile” and “delicate”, showing how easily civilisation can be destroyed. It is smashed to pieces when Piggy falls, symbolising the final destruction of democracy and proper law and order on the island.

Piggy’s glasses

• The glasses are the source of fire and the symbol of insight and intelligence, and they are the cause of the final confrontation between Jack and Ralph. When Jack has them they become nothing more than a tool to light a cooking fire.

Fire

• The only fire left on the island is for cooking; the tribe has no interest in rescue.

4. Diction and figurative language

The writer uses less figurative language in this chapter as it mostly contains action and conflict. Here are examples of metaphors and dialogue:

Metaphors

• Perhaps the most striking metaphor is the one used to describe Roger: “The hangman’s horror clung to him.” A hangman is the person who hangs people who have been sentenced to death. The hangman is regarded with horror because of his dreadful job and his identity is often kept secret because otherwise people would avoid contact with him. After Roger has killed Piggy even Jack has some of the same feeling of horror for Roger and does not argue with him: “The Chief said no more to him …”

Dialogue

• The writer’s use of dialogue indicates the nature and background of the characters. Phrases such as “playing the game” (meaning to be fair), “Oh, I say!” and “Honestly!” (see notes on Ralph and Samneric) are typical of well-behaved boys from the middle/upper class in England in the 1950s. Even on the island some of the boys are still influenced by the behaviour/manners they were taught at home.
  • However, Piggy crudely (insultingly) calls the tribe “a pack of painted niggers”, language which shocks us today. He is using language that he has heard racist and prejudiced adults use.

Activity 11

Read the following extract and answer the questions below.
[Ralph and Piggy prepare to go to Castle Rock.]

 Questions

1. Refer to line 2 (“Blow the conch… as you can”).

(a) Briefly describe the events that lead to the conch being blown at this point in the novel. (2)
(b) Why is the blowing of the conch so important to Piggy? State TWO points. (2)

2. Match the names in COLUMN 1 to the descriptions in COLUMN 2. Write down only the question number (2(a)-2(c)) and the letter (A-D) of your answer. (3)

3. Refer to lines 6-7 (“Ralph pushed the conch into Piggy’s hands”).

(a) What does the word “pushed” show about Ralph’s feelings? (1)
(b) Explain why Ralph feels this way. (1)

4. Refer to line 11 (“Awful things has been done on this island”).
What does this sentence suggest about the behaviour of some of the boys. State TWO points. (2)
5. Refer to lines 12-13 (“So now you speak, Ralph, and tell us what – Or else – ” ).

(a) Why is Piggy’s sentence incomplete? (1)
(b) What do you think Piggy was going to say before he suddenly stopped? (2)
Complete the sentence he begins:
“Or else …
(c) Do you agree with Piggy that it was time for Ralph to take a stand and speak up? Explain your answer. (2)

6. Do you think Piggy is right to criticise Ralph’s leadership? Discuss your view. (2) [18]

• What happens in the chapter?
• Who is involved
• Themes
• Symbols
• Diction and figurative language
• Activity 12

Chapter 12:  Cry of the Hunters

1. What happens in the chapter?

The events in this chapter occur a short time later and the next morning. The last chapter contains the resolution of the novel, with the arrival of the English naval officer bringing rescue and an end to the conflict between Ralph and Jack and his tribe.
Ralph, bruised and cut by Jack’s spear, hides in the forest. He decides to go back to Jack’s beach. Moving through the forest he finds the pig’s skull, hideous on its stick. “A sick fear and rage swept him” and, grabbing the stick, he knocks it to the ground. At the Castle Rock he sees that the guards are Samneric. He manages to talk to them and they warn him that he will be hunted down the next day. Shame and fear make it difficult for them to answer Ralph’s question about what the tribe plans to do to Ralph, but eventually the twins admit: “They’re going to do you (kill you).” They give him some meat and tell him to leave quickly. Ralph tells them he will hide in the thicket (a clump of bushes or trees) nearby.
The next morning the hunt begins. Ralph hears a twin answering Jack and realises that Samneric have given away his hiding place. Two large rocks are pushed over on to the thicket. A “savage” comes close to him and Ralph stabs him with the stick that had held the pig’s skull. Then Jack sets fire to the forest to smoke Ralph out. Ralph meets another “savage” and stabs him too.
Then he runs, “with the swiftness of fear” through the burning forest, with the tribe chasing after him. He wishes he had time to think about his choices: should he climb a tree (and be trapped) or try to burst through the line of “savages” (but where would he go?). He misses Piggy, who could “talk sense” and advise him, and the “dignity” of the conch that made possible “solemn assembly for debate”.
While he is hiding a “savage” sees him in the undergrowth. He screams and hits the “savage”, then flees as the others come after him. In the meantime the fire is spreading quickly. He stumbles, falls and rolls on to the beach. He looks up to see a British naval officer who, from his cutter (a type of boat), saw the island on fire.
The officer looks at the filthy, wounded, boy who tells him two boys have been killed. (It seems that Ralph has forgotten the third, the littlun with the birth mark.) The officer looks at the group of painted “little boys” and another “little boy” with red hair and spectacles at his waist. He is surprised that British boys have not managed better.
Ralph weeps bitterly “for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy”. Rescue has come at last.

2. Who is involved?

Ralph

• Ralph uses violence when his life is in danger. Here he uses his spear three times, but does not seem to have killed any of the “savages”. On the third occasion he remembers Roger’s spear, which is sharpened at both ends, and, driven by the fear, anger and his instinct to survive, he screams “snarling, bloody”, like a trapped animal.
• Ralph’s basic decency makes him unwilling to believe that Jack and his savages, having killed Simon and Piggy, intend to kill him, but he also realises that “Jack … would never let him alone; never.” Horrified and terrified by the thought, he shouts aloud, “ ‘No. They’re not as bad as that. It was an accident.’ ” But, in fact, they are “as bad as that”.
• Although Ralph is usually sensible and realistic, when he sees the hideous pig’s skull he feels as though it has some sort of life or evil spirit in it and he hits it: “A sick fear and rage swept him.”
• Ralph feels very hurt when he realises that Samneric have become part of the tribe: “Words could not express the dull pain of these things.” He is in despair because there is no chance of rescue, and “Piggy was dead and the conch smashed to powder”.
• Ralph likes to think before he makes a decision, but in his dangerous situation he has no time to think carefully about what to do and he is forced to decide quickly whether he should hide or run.
• When he meets the officer Ralph finds it impossible to explain the situation on the island as he is overwhelmed by the way the island paradise has become a place of death and horror.
• Ralph feels deeply and, overcome by grief, he weeps bitterly. What he has learnt about the evil in mankind makes him very sad and he mourns the death of Piggy, whom he has come to realise was a “wise friend”.

Jack

• We do not meet Jack face to face in most of this chapter but we hear his voice and see the results of his lust (desire) for total power and his hatred of Ralph. Jack will stop at nothing to kill Ralph, not even setting the whole island on fire.
• Jack is increasingly cruel in his treatment of anyone who displeases him and does not hesitate to use Roger to torture Samneric to force them to join his tribe and, later, to tell him where Ralph is hiding.
• Although intelligent in some ways, Jack is not wise and he is unable to imagine the consequences (what will happen as a result) of his actions: the fire is destroying the island and their source of food.
• But when the officer arrives, he sees Jack as “a little boy”. Perhaps by now we may have forgotten, but Jack is only 12 years old.
• Facing an adult from the “civilised” world, all of Jack’s bravado (confidence) vanishes; he starts to say he, not Ralph, is the chief, but thinks it better to keep quiet. Perhaps Jack thinks that someone is going to be blamed for what has happened on the island. He is no longer the all-powerful dictator but a little boy afraid of getting into trouble.

Samneric

• When the twins are captured they are tortured by Roger and forced to join the tribe.
• Although they have abandoned Ralph and are now disloyal to him, they feel ashamed. The twins do not want him to be killed and warn him of the plan to hunt him; they also give him some meat.
• The next day Samneric give away Ralph’s hiding place, again after being punished by Jack or Roger, whom they describe as “a terror”. It is easy to condemn them as weak, but does any one of us know how we would behave if we were hurt or tortured? Remember, too, that the twins are younger than Ralph and Jack – the twins are not even 12 years old.

The tribe

• They obey Jack willingly and enjoy the excitement of hunting humans. The chapter title, “The Cry of the Hunters”, refers to the way they hunt Ralph, shouting and crying out: “The ululation spread from shore to shore.”
• When faced with an adult, however, they become “little boys” once more, no longer frightening but “standing on the beach making no noise at all”. When Ralph cries, they begin to sob too.

The naval officer

• He doesn’t understand the seriousness of the situation on the island and, seeing the boys in their war paint, he says, “Fun and games.” Ironically, “fun” was what the beast had promised Simon. By “fun” the beast meant evil and cruelty, not harmless games.
• However, the officer’s uniform reminds us that he is taking part in one of the most deadly of adult “games” – war.
• The naval officer disapproves of the disorder he finds and, when Ralph cannot tell him how many boys there are he says: “ ‘I should have thought that a pack of British boys – you’re all British, aren’t you? – would have been able to put up a better show than that –’ ” He shows not only his arrogance in thinking that the British would behave better than other people, but also his failure to understand the evil events that have taken place. He compares the boys’ situation to that in a 19th- century children’s book called Coral Island, in which a group of boys stranded on an island behave like gentlemen and bring “civilisation” to the island, showing his ignorance of what the boys are really like.

3. Themes

Fear

• Ralph is afraid for his life. He has real, physical reasons to be afraid.

Good and evil

• The evil of Jack and the tribe seems to have no limits as they hunt Ralph down. It comes to an end when they meet an adult and remember society’s laws, which they have broken and forgotten.

Civilisation and savagery

• Faced with the reality of the adult world the “savages” return to being “little boys”.
• Even Jack is afraid of punishment for breaking the laws of adult society and does not say that he was the leader.
• But again, what is the “civilisation” the boys will return to? The adult war is being fought with weapons far greater than the boys’ sharpened sticks, and with far more “savage” results – nuclear war.

Power

• The boys will lose all their power in the adult world, and the adults who hold the power are using it to wage a nuclear war that could put an end to all life.

Do you think they would ever have realised how bad their behaviour was if an adult had not appeared on the scene to remind them?
Who knows … it’s like the officer came just in time to restore order before they all got killed.

Innocence

• All the boys have lost the innocence that at first had made the island seem like a paradise to them.
• When Ralph weeps “for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy”, he has realised the evil that lies in the hearts of many people, even himself.

Leadership

• Ralph says that he was a leader on the island.
• Jack does not say he was a leader on the island. Jack will not take responsibility for the evil that he has caused, he acts like a coward, not a true leader.

4. Symbols

The conch

• Since the conch was destroyed, order and democracy have disappeared from the island.
•  Ralph misses the “dignity” and order the conch represented.

Fire

• Fire here is both destructive and the means of the boys’ rescue.

The beast

• Ralph, who did not believe in the presence of a physical beast, now knows that the real best is the “darkness of man’s heart”.

5. Diction and figurative language

The writer uses irony to help us to understand the resolution of the novel. For example:

Irony

The resolution (conclusion) of the novel, is filled with irony. Some examples are:

• The fire: It is ironic that in their attempt to destroy Ralph the members of the tribe set fire to the island. Firstly, they are destroying their food supply; secondly, Jack had mocked the idea of the rescue fire, yet it is his fire that brings them rescue.
• Rescue: Being rescued was Ralph and Piggy’s main aim but, when rescue comes, the boys will be going back to a world torn apart by a nuclear war. Ralph’s home, which he misses so much, quite possibly no longer exists.
• The officer: He compares the boys’ situation to that described in Coral Island, a fantasy (imagined story) that is the opposite of the reality of this island.

Activity 12

Read the following extract and answer the questions below.
[Ralph meets a naval officer on the beach.]

 Questions

1. Is the following statement TRUE or FALSE? Using your own words, give a reason for your answer.
“The naval officer is on the island because he saw the signal fire.” (2)
2. The officer thinks the boys are playing a game.
Briefly describe what is actually happening on the island when the officer arrives. State TWO points. (2)
3. Refer to lines 2-4 (“It was a … of a uniform”).
The writer describes the officer’s uniform in great detail.
How does the appearance of the officer differ from that of the boys? (2)
4. Refer to the words “wary astonishment” in lines 5-6.
Using your own words, explain what these two words show about the officer’s feelings about Ralph. State TWO things. (2)
5. Choose the correct answer to complete the following sentence: In line 6 the word “cutter” means…

A boat
B helicopter
C tank
D ship (1)

6. Refer to lines 10-16 (“The officer looked… had been answered”).

(a) Quote ONE word from the extract to show that Ralph is feeling uncomfortable. (1)
(b) Explain why it is so important to the officer to have the “question” in his mind answered.
State TWO points. (2)

7. Just before the events in the extract Ralph thinks of the boys as “savages”. Why does he now see them as “little boys”? (1)
8. The officer is disappointed because the boys cannot tell him how many of them there are.
Why does he expect them to be more organised? (1)
9. The games on the island often get out of control.
Do you think the boys’ violent behaviour can be excused? Explain your answer. (2)
10. Consider the novel as a whole.
Do you think evil wins in the end? Discuss your view. (2)
11. What does the novel as a whole convey about Ralph’s character? (3)
12. Is the following statement TRUE or FALSE? Sam ‘n Eric remain loyal to Jack throughout the novel. Give a reason for your answer. (2) [23]

A GRAIN OF WHEAT GRADE 12 NOTES – LITERATURE STUDY GUIDE “A Grain of Wheat” by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o is a seminal piece of East African literature that delves deep into the complexities of post-colonial Kenya. Its intricate narrative weaves together historical events, personal struggles, and societal transformations, making it a rich tapestry for literary analysis. For Grade 12 students embarking on the journey of exploring this profound work, this study guide aims to provide comprehensive insights and guidance.

OVERVIEW

• Kenyan words and phrases
• The author
• Background
• Title
• How the story is told
• Style

Kenyan words and phrases

There are many Kenyan words and phrases in the novel. Here is a list with their meanings in English.

Kenyan words

• Agikuyu: an ancient name for Kenya (Chapter 2)
• Askari: soldier, or guard (as in security guard) (Chapter 13)
• Gakaraku, micege, mikengeria, bangi: Kenyan names for plants (Chapter 1)
• Gikuyu: name of a Kenyan tribe (Ngũgĩ belongs to this tribe)
• Harambee: unity or working together
• Hodi: May I come in? (Chapter 2)
• Irimu: evil spirit (Chapter 9)
• Jembe: a gardening tool for digging (Chapter 1)
• Masai: name of a Kenyan tribe (Chapter 3)
• Mbwa kali: a vicious dog (Chapter 12)
• Miengu: leather skirts (Chapter 14)
• Mithuru: long skirts (Chapter 14)
• Mwenanyaga: a bright one (a name for God) (Chapter 3)
• Muthuo, Mucung’wa, Ndumo: names for Kenyan dances (Chapter 14)
• Panga: a tool for cutting plants (Chapter 1)
• Pyrethrum: a flower used for making insecticide (Chapter 8)
• Shamba: a small piece of land (Chapter 1)
• Shauri: argument (Chapter 4)
• Sufuria: a cooking pot (Chapter 1)
• Tanganyika: name for Tanzania during the colonial era (Chapter 11)
• Uhuru: freedom, independence (Chapter 1)
• Thingira: hut (Chapter 4)
• Wiyathi: freedom (Chapter 3)

Kenyan sayings

• Agu and agu: from the time of our ancestors (Chapter 6)
• Aspro ni dawa Kweli: Aspro is real medicine (Chapter 12)
• Gikuyu na Mumbi…Nikihiu ngwatiro: the woman who founded Kenya (Chapter 6)
• Kamwene Kabagio ira: put yourself first (Chapter 12)
• Kikulacho Kimo nguoni mwako: that which bites you is in your clothes (Chapter 2)
• Pole mama: sorry, mother (Chapter 2)
• Thai Thathaiya Ngai, Thaai: Praise God, peace be with you (Mau Mau and Gikuyu prayers would end with this phrase) (Chapter 3)
• Uhuru na Kazi: freedom and work (Chapter 1)

Vocabulary from the novel by chapter

These are the words from the novel you need to know. Learn them well!

Introduction

This novel by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, one of Africa’s greatest living authors, is about Kenya’s fight for independence. The book tells the story of the Mau Mau, which was a political movement fighting for Kenya’s freedom from British colonial rule. Kenya won its independence in 1963.
He chooses a typical Kenyan village, which he calls Thabai, for his story. The story is about what happens in this village, and in the lives of characters living there, in the five days leading up to the Independence Day celebrations (Uhuru day). The story of Kenya’s independence is told through the combined stories of the characters.

The main story takes place from 8 to 12 December 1963, but there are many shifts in time. The novel uses the technique of “flashbacks” to tell stories that happened in the past.

1. The author

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o was born in 1938 in Kenya, when the country was under British colonial rule. He was educated at a mission school, at Makerere University in Uganda, and then later at the University of Leeds in England.
Since 2002 he has been Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Irvine, in the United States of America.
He began his writing career in 1962 with a play written to celebrate the Independence of Uganda. A Grain of Wheat was first published in 1967 and is his third novel. It is also the last novel he wrote in English. After this, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o wrote in Gikuyu, his home language. During his career as a teacher of literature he has fought hard for African literature to have as much status and value as English literature.
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o experienced the Mau Mau rebellion against the British. One of his brothers was a member of the Mau Mau group of freedom fighters who fought for Kenya’s independence. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s later political views were often very critical of the Kenyan government, when Daniel arap Moi was the president.
In the late 1970s, after a performance of his play I Will Marry When I Want, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o was arrested and detained in prison without a trial. He was in prison for a year. After his release from prison, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o left Kenya and, since 1982, he has lived much of his life in exile.

2. Background

This section provides some background information about the social and political system of colonialism, and the independence movement in Kenya at the time that the novel is set in (the 1950s and early 1960s).

2.1 Colonialism
Colonialism is the domination by one country and its people over another. Between about 1500 and the early 1900s, many European countries looked beyond Europe for resources that they could control and trade in. They took over many parts of the world as “colonies” and introduced their own systems of government, economic organisation, religion and education.
By the 1900s, the British Empire ruled over colonies in North America, Australia, India and Africa. Over time, resistance to the control of the colonial powers grew, as people felt the colonial system exploited them and took away their political, social and economic freedom. Movements fighting for independence from colonial rule developed.
John Thompson, a British character in A Grain of Wheat, believes that:

the growth of the British Empire was the development of a great moral idea: it must surely lead to the creation of one British nation, embracing peoples of all colours and creeds, based on the just proposition that all men were created equal. (Chapter 5)

Ironically, colonialism was not based on the idea of all men being created equal at all. Unfortunately, men like Thompson did not understand the injustice of trying to “reorientate people into this way of life by altering their social and cultural environment”. (Chapter 5)

2.2 The Mau Mau
The Mau Mau was a movement that fought for independence from British rule in Kenya. The Mau Mau (also called the Movement) started in 1947 by taking revenge on “loyalists” – Africans who worked for or supported the British. In 1952, violence and opposition to the British had grown so great that the British governor in Kenya declared a State of Emergency and requested more troops from Britain.
During the State of Emergency, the British arrested thousands of Kenyans and detained them in detention camps. All over Kenya, people were forced to leave their land and their villages were placed under military guard. In Chapter 1 of A Grain of Wheat, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o describes this: “One day people in Thabai and Rung’ei woke up to find themselves ringed round with black and white soldiers carrying guns, and tanks.” (Chapter 1)
Britain accused the local political leaders of supporting the freedom fighters and causing the people to rebel. Many leaders, including Jomo Kenyatta, were arrested and sent to hard labour camps for several years.
Chapter 2 tells the history of the Mau Mau. “Its origins can, so the people say, be traced to the day the whiteman came to the country, clutching the book of God in both hands.”

2.3 The home guard
The home guard was organised by the British colonial government to protect the villages and fight against the Mau Mau. In the districts, the home guard was led by white officers and local officials, such as chiefs and headmen, who were given uniforms and armed with shotguns. Many considered Kenyans in the home guard to be traitors because they worked for the British.

2.4 Independence/Uhuru
In 1962, Jomo Kenyatta was released from prison. He became the Prime Minister of an independent Kenya on 12 December 1963. This day is still celebrated as Independence Day in Kenya, the day of ‘uhuru’ or freedom.

2.5 Neo-colonialism
“Neo” means “new”, so “neo-colonialism” means a new kind of colonialism, which started after independence in Kenya. Some African leaders abused their power and behaved no better than the colonial rulers. In the novel, such abuse of power is seen in the way in which the Member of Parliament (MP) cheats Gikonyo out of buying a farm. Towards the end of the novel Lieutenant Koina warns the people at the Independence celebrations that they must be careful:

“The Party must never betray the Movement. The Party must never betray Uhuru. It must never sell Kenya back to the Enemy! Tomorrow we shall ask: where is the land? Where is the food? Where are the schools?” (Chapter 14)

3. Title

The words “a grain of wheat” in the title express an important theme in the novel. This is the idea that, before a seed can grow into a new plant, it must first dry out and sacrifice its own life.
Grains of wheat are therefore a symbol for the people who started the Kenyan independence movement – those who sacrificed their lives so that others would live free from colonial rule

Waiyaki, a warrior-leader who fought the British, was one of those people. It is said that he was buried alive with his head facing towards the centre of the earth. He symbolises the first seed that grows into the freedom movement. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o compares him to a “seed, a grain, which gave birth to a movement whose strength thereafter sprang from a bond with the soil”. (Chapter 2)
In the novel, Kihika is the hero of the freedom movement and he can be seen as the second seed (he is executed at Rung’ei market). Kihika believed that Kenyans had to sacrifice their lives for Kenya’s independence.
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o takes the idea for the title from this quotation in the Bible:

But someone may ask “What a foolish question! When you put a seed into the ground, it doesn’t grow into a plant unless it dies first. And what you put in the ground is not the plant that will grow, but only a bare seed of wheat or whatever you are
planting.” (1 Corinthians 15:36 Holy Bible New Living Translation)

Before a seed can grow into a new plant, it must first die itself. “Some other grain” suggests different kinds of sacrifices that may lead to transformation and new life. In the novel the Kenyans must change from their colonial habits and work together to build their future.

4. How the story is told

This section outlines the different elements in the novel that the writer uses to tell the story.

4.1 Setting

• The story takes place in Kenya, mostly in and around a typical Kenyan village, which the writer calls Thabai.
• Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o writes about past and present events. The events that make up the main story of the novel take place in present time, during the five days leading up to the country’s first Independence Day celebrations – 8 to 12 December 1963.
• The stories about what happened to the characters in the past are told as flashbacks, or memories. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o also tells the reader about the history of Kenya’s fight for freedom.

 4.2 Characters

• The central character in a story is called the protagonist. In A Grain of Wheat, Mugo is a protagonist.
• The antagonist is a character who opposes, or is in conflict with, the protagonist. In A Grain of Wheat, Kihika is an antagonist. There are different ways in which Mugo may be seen to be in conflict with Kihika. For example, Kihika tries to involve Mugo in the independence struggle, but Mugo wants to be left alone.

Main characters

The main characters are the most important for the development of the story. This section only gives an outline of the main characters in A Grain of Wheat. Some more information is given in the chapter by chapter section of the guide.

• Mugo

Mugo grew up in Thabai village where he lived with his cruel, abusive aunt, Waitherero. His unhappy childhood caused him to become anti-social and isolated from the community.
After his aunt died he wanted to be left alone so that he could tend his shamba. However, he becomes involved in events that he feels he cannot control. He betrays Kihika.

• Gikonyo

In his youth Gikonyo was friends with Kihika, Mumbi and Karanja. He was a carpenter. He loved Mumbi and they were married. He was sent to the detention camps. He was released after he confessed to being a member of the Movement. After he returned from the camps he became a wealthy, successful businessman.

• Karanja

In his youth, Karanja was friends with Kihika, Mumbi and Gikonyo. Karanja lived with his mother, Wairimu. He also loves Mumbi, and he and Gikonyo are rivals. To avoid being arrested, and thinking of his own welfare, he confessed to being a member of the Movement. He worked for the British in the home guard and later became a Chief. He also worked in the library at the Githima Forestry and Agricultural Research Station.

• Kihika

Kihika is Mumbi’s brother and a hero of the struggle. Someone in the village betrayed him to the British and he was hanged, so he sacrificed his life for Kenya’s freedom.

• Mumbi

Mumbi is a beautiful, strong woman who grew up in Thabai. She is Kihika’s sister, and Gikonyo’s wife. She looked after her family during the State of Emergency, which shows she is caring and responsible. She is also compassionate and does not want to take revenge for her brother’s death.

• General R

A leader of a Mau Mau group and friend of Kihika, he wants to find the traitor who betrayed Kihika.

• Lieutenant Koina

Also a friend of Kihika, he is second in command in the group to General R.

Minor characters
People in Thabai

• Mbugua and Wanjiku: Mumbi and Kihika’s mother and father, with whom they lived happily during their childhood and youth
• Kariuki: Mumbi and Kihika’s younger brother
• Wambuku: Kihika’s girlfriend; during the State of Emergency Mugo tries to save her from being beaten by a home guard; but she later dies.
• Njeri: Mumbi’s friend, who is in love with Kihika; she joins him to fight and is also shot and killed
• Mwaura: A colleague of Karanja’s at the research station, and a spy for General R
• Warui: A village elder
• Wambui: An old woman who was a political activist during the struggle
• Waitherero: Mugo’s aunt who brought him up after his parents died; she treated him cruelly and she died of age and drink
• Githua: A villager who says that he lost his leg fighting in the struggle, but in fact he lost it in an accident
• Gitogo: A deaf and dumb young man who was thought to be a terrorist, and so was shot by the British
• The Reverend Jackson Kigondu: A Christian preacher who was brutally killed by the Mau Mau

British characters

• John Thompson: The head of Rira detention camp during the Mau Mau campaign, who later became a home guard District Officer. When the main story begins just before Uhuru he is retiring from being the Administrative Secretary (head) of Githima Forestry and Agricultural Research Station.
• Margery Thompson: John Thompson’s wife
• Dr Henry Van Dyke: A meteorologist at Githima who was in love with Margery; he was killed by a train before the main story begins.
• District Officer Tom Robson: A British official who was shot by Kihika
• Mrs Dickinson: The librarian at Githima Forestry and Agricultural Research Station
• Dr Lynd: A researcher at Githima Forestry and Agricultural Research Station. She owns an aggressive dog.
• Mr Rogers: An agricultural officer who had the idea of building a research station at Githima

4.3 Structure and plot development
The main story in A Grain of Wheat focuses on what happens in the few days that lead up to the Independence Day celebrations – the present time.
There are also a number of sub-plots, which are minor stories told alongside the main plot.
The stories the characters remember about what happened in the past (flashbacks) help us to understand the characters and their behaviour in the present time.

Summary of events leading up to Independence Day
The present tense events of the novel happen between Sunday 8 December 1963 and Thursday 12 December 1963, which is the date of the country’s first Independence Day.

Day 1: Sunday 8 December 1963
(Chapters 1 – 3)

This is the plot’s exposition and rising action:

• Mugo is living a lonely life in Thabai village.
• On Sunday evening, Gikonyo, Warui and Wambui, former freedom fighters, visit Mugo to ask him to speak in honour of Kihika at the Independence Day celebrations.
• General R and Lieutenant Koina, two Mau Mau representatives and former comrades of Kihika, also arrive. They have returned to Thabai to find out who betrayed Kihika. They believe the traitor is Karanja and hope that Mugo will help them to prove it.

Day 2: Monday 9 December 1963
(Chapters 4 – 8)

This contains sub-plots of the story, which are stories told alongside the main plot.

• Karanja is working at the Githima Forestry station. He is very worried because he thinks that his boss, Thompson, is going to leave Kenya, and so he will lose his position. Thompson really is planning to leave Kenya to return to Britain.
• Gikonyo goes to Nairobi to ask his parliamentary representative (MP) to give him a loan so that he can buy a farm. He wants to expand his business interests. Later, when Gikonyo returns to Thabai, he visits Mugo and tells him how he found everything had changed when he got home from detention. Mumbi had had Karanja’s child.

Day 3: Tuesday, 10 December 1963
(Chapters 9 – 12)

• Mugo meets Mumbi, who tells him about her life during the State of Emergency and about betraying Gikonyo with Karanja. General R comes back to speak to Mugo again, but Mugo is scared and rushes away.
• hompson tells Karanja that he is leaving. That evening Thompson and his wife Margery go to a farewell party that the British community have arranged for them. This is also one of the sub-plots.
• Gikonyo arrives home in a bad mood because he has lost his chance to buy the farm. He fights with Mumbi, who leaves him. This is another sub-plot.
• Gikonyo goes with Warui to Mugo to try again to persuade him to speak at the celebrations.

Day 4: Wednesday, 11 December 1963
(Chapter 13)

• Wambui persuades Mumbi to go to Mugo and ask him to speak at the Independence Day celebrations. Mugo becomes very upset and confesses to her that it was he who had betrayed Kihika.

Day 5: Thursday, 12 December 1963
(Chapter 14 and concluding chapters: Karanja; Mugo; Warui, Wambui; and Harambee)

At the Independence Day celebrations a race is organised and Gikonyo, Karanja, General R and Lieutenant Koina all take part. During the race, Gikonyo falls and breaks his arm. Mumbi rushes to help him and he is taken to hospital. This is another sub-plot.
General R makes the Independence Day speech instead of Mugo, and calls on the person who betrayed Kihika to step forward. General R believes this is Karanja, but Mugo stands up and confesses to the crowd that he was the traitor. This is the climax of the plot.
General R goes to Mugo’s hut to take him away to be tried (questioned and judged for his betrayal of Kihika). After his trial Mugo is executed.
This is the falling action and resolution of the plot.
After the celebrations, Karanja tries to persuade Mumbi to let him see his son, but she refuses. That night Karanja tries to leave Thabai, but the train rushes past him and he is left standing alone at the railway crossing. This is another sub-plot.
Later Mumbi visits Gikonyo in hospital and the novel ends with them agreeing, at least, to talk about their marriage. This short chapter, Harambee, provides hope at the end of the story that they will work together for their future. This is another sub-plot.

• Did you know  – Harambee is the official motto of Kenya. It means ‘all pull together’ in Kiswahili. It refers to living and working together as  a community.

4.4 Themes
This section provides a summary of the themes in A Grain of Wheat. More examples are given in the “Chapter by chapter” section of the guide.

Heroism
Heroism involves bravery and courage.

• Kihika is shown as the hero of the struggle. He was committed and strong. He made speeches which inspired the people to join the fight for freedom.
• The people of Thabai also consider Mugo to be a hero, because he was arrested for trying to protect a woman from being whipped by a home guard, and for his behaviour in the detention camps – he never confessed to taking the Mau Mau oath. Ironically, he had never taken the oath and so had nothing to confess. In fact, Mugo may be seen as what is known as an “anti-hero” (“anti” means against.) He has heroic qualities, as he was detained and suffered during the State of Emergency, and he shows bravery and concern for others, but he is not a typical hero. He betrayed his community’s hero (Kihika), and so caused his death. He is disturbed and feels very guilty. However, he wants to be a hero: “He would lead the people and bury his past in their gratitude.” (Chapter 8)

Suffering and sacrifice for freedom
In the novel, winning freedom comes at a price. Many people must make personal sacrifices and suffer for the good of the majority.

• Jomo Kenyatta, a real-life character, is mentioned often. He is seen as an example of a person who made personal sacrifices for his community. Like Mandela and his comrades on Robben Island, Kenyatta spent many years in prison. After Kenyatta was released, he went on to become the leader of his country.
• Kihika is like Kenyatta as he, too, is a great fighter. He is caught and hanged by the British, because Mugo betrays him. Kihika pays for Kenya’s freedom with his life.
• Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o also shows how people suffer if their personal relationships are troubled. Both Mumbi and Gikonyo suffer when Gikonyo returns from the camp. With John and Margery Thompson, we are also shown another marriage in which there is a lack of trust and communication between the partners.
• Mugo shows many sides to suffering. We are told about his sufferings from the way his cruel aunt treated him during his childhood. However, he suffers most because he feels guilty about his betrayal of Kihika. Perhaps because of the abuse during his childhood, he cannot get on with people and always feels that he is an outsider. In his confusion, Mugo believed that if he gave up Kihika he would be a hero, like Abraham in the Bible, who was called by God to sacrifice his son

Betrayal
Betrayal means to do something hurtful against a person who trusts you. In a war or political struggle, betraying someone means that giving up that person to an enemy.
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o explores many forms of betrayal. A key theme is political betrayal. Another is betrayal within marriage.
This table summarises the examples of betrayal in the novel.

Guilt
Guilt is a bad feeling a person gets because he or she has done something wrong, usually something that affects, or harms, another person.

• Mugo feels guilty after he betrays Kihika (for example, in Chapter 8). He feels that he needs to make up for this betrayal.
• Gikonyo feels guilty because, in the detention camp, he confessed to taking the Mau Mau oath. He did this so he could go back home, even though “The detainees had agreed not to confess the oath, or give any details about Mau Mau” (Chapter 7). He feels guilty afterwards that he has betrayed the Movement.
• Yet, ironically, when he gets home to find that in his absence Mumbi has had a child by Karanja, he too feels betrayed, and it is Mumbi who feels guilty.

The power of confession
Confession is when a person admits to something they have done wrong. This often makes the person feel better, as it can reduce their feelings of guilt.

• It seems that Mumbi’s confession to Mugo that she betrayed her husband (in Chapter 9) inspires Mugo to tell the truth in public about his betrayal of Kihika.
• Later, when Mumbi visits him to ask him to speak at the Independence Day celebrations, he breaks down and confesses to her that he betrayed Kihika.
• In Chapter 14, Mugo goes to the Independence Day celebrations. He overcomes the temptation to let Karanja take the blame for the betrayal of Kihika by thinking of Mumbi: “How else could he ever look Mumbi in the face?” Mugo confesses publicly to his betrayal of Kihika, telling the people that “this thing has eaten into my life all these years”. (Chapter 14)

Lack of communication

• Mugo’s isolation from his community is shown as unnatural. His silence and inability to speak is a main theme in the novel which Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o uses to show how important it is for people to communicate with one another to keep their relationship healthy.
• Mumbi tries to persuade Mugo to speak out to the people, and she tells Gikonyo: “We need to talk, to open our hearts to one another, examine them, and then together plan the future we want.” (Harambee)
• The troubled marriages of Gikonyo and Mumbi, and John and Margery Thompson show the problems that come when there is a break in communication.

Community and the collective
Instead of living in isolation and not communicating, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o believes it is better to live and work together.

• The character of Mugo, who always feels cut off from the other villagers, and the image of Karanja alone at the railway crossing at the end of the novel, represent what happens when one abandons and betrays one’s community. Karanja has separated himself from the people by collaborating with the British and abusing his power as a chief, Mumbi has rejected him completely, and even the train passes him by: “the train disappeared, the silence around him deepened; the night seemed to have grown darker”.
• At the end of the novel Gikonyo realises that he cannot live without Mumbi. When he thinks of carving a wooden stool as a gift for her we understand that he realises that he cannot stay isolated from Mumbi, and that he must forgive and communicate with her once again.

4.5 Symbols
In A Grain of Wheat Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o uses many symbols. Many of the symbols are associated with nature, such as “grains of wheat”, “water”, and “the forest”. The symbols are linked to themes in the novel.

The stool (Gikonyo’s carving)

• This carving represents and brings together most of the main ideas of the novel. When Gikonyo was a young man he wanted to make a carved stool for Mumbi as a gift and an expression of his love for her, but he could never think of the right design. At the end of the novel, he begins to make plans again:

He would now carve a thin man, with hard lines on the face, shoulders and head bent, supporting the weight. His right hand would stretch to link with that of a woman, also with hard lines on the face. The third figure would be that of a child on whose head or shoulders the other two hands of the man and woman would meet. Into that image would he work the beads on the seat? A field needing clearance and cultivation? A jembe? A bean flower? (Harambee)

The man and woman with “hard lines” represent the suffering people of Kenya. They also represent Mumbi and Gikonyo’s unhappy relationship. The child represents the hope for Kenya’s future, and also Gikonyo’s acceptance of Mumbi’s child and hope for their future together. The stool represents both political and personal reconciliation.

Water

• Water is often a sign of anxiety and despair for Mugo. The novel begins with Mugo waking from a bad dream. He is afraid that a dirty drop of water will fall from the roof of his hut into his eye:

The drop grew larger and larger as it drew closer and closer to his eyes. He wanted to cover his eyes with his palms; but his hands, his feet, everything refused to obey his will. (Chapter 1)

The dirty water represents Mugo’s guilt.

• After the Independence Day celebrations when Mugo confesses to betraying Kihika, he walks home in the rain. He sits on his bed as water drips from his hair down his face. However, the rain water does not bother him; it now seems cleansing:

A drop was caught in his right eyelashes … the drop entered his eye, melted inside, and ran down his face like a tear.
He did not rub the eye, or do anything. (Mugo)

• For the villagers, the rain on Independence Day is not heavy, but just a drizzle. It symbolises the state of shock the villagers are in after hearing Mugo’s confession.

The railway and the train station

• When the British came they brought western technology, such as the railway. Kenyans were suspicious. To them the train looked like an “iron snake” which was going to bring harm to them, as it was “quickly wriggling towards Nairobi for a thorough exploitation of the land”. (Chapter 2)
• Near the end of the novel, Karanja tries to get onto the train but cannot. This symbolises the British leaving him behind.
• The train station is used by the Kenyans as a meeting place. This is Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s way of saying that, although the station symbolises British power, it was used by the Kenyans for their own benefit. In other words, he does not believe that modern Kenya should reject everything that was brought there by the British. Read more about this in Chapter 7.

Running races

• When they were young Gikonyo and Karanja ran a race. This symbolises their competition to win Mumbi.
• Near the end of the novel the race at the Independence Day celebrations symbolises the attempts that Gikonyo, Karanja, General R and Koina make to break with the past.
• Although the two races between Karanja and Gikonyo take place at different times, the reader sees how much or how little has changed for everyone involved. Gikonyo loses both races, but he wins Mumbi. It is his fall and broken arm in the second race that brings her back to him at the end of the novel.

Forest

• When Kihika, Gikonyo and Karanja were young they and others would often go to the forest, where dances were held. In this case, the forest represents a place of happiness.
• The forest is also a symbol of the fight for freedom and a place of safety. Many of the fighters, in particular Kihika, fled to the forest, where they trained to fight and also hid from the British.

5. Style

This section explains some of the features of the way of writing used in the novel.

5.1 The narrator
The stories of many characters are told, at different times, woven together with the story of Kenya’s independence.
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o uses both third-person and first-person narration.

• Third-person narration is used when the narrator is not one of the characters in the story, but describes what they do, think and feel. The clue to a third-person narration is when the writer uses the words “he” and “she”. For example, the novel begins with this description of Mugo, in the third person: “Mugo felt nervous. He was lying on his back and looking at the roof. Sooty locks hung from the fern and grass thatch and all pointed at his heart.” (Chapter 1)
• First-person narration is used when the story is told from the point of view of one of the characters in the story. It is also used when Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o wants the reader to feel part of the community. For example, at the beginning of Chapter 14, “We hoped that Mugo would come out and join us …”

5.2 Diction and figurative language

• Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o gives the language an African flavour by including Kiswahili and Kikuyu words, as well as traditional Kenyan sayings, songs and old stories.
• The language of the Bible is also included in the book – beginning with the title, which is based on a biblical quote. The ideas and language of Christianity were brought to Kenya by white people, and are often used in the book to criticise the unjust colonisers. For example, in Chapter 2, Kihika says:
• “We went to their church … Mubia said, Let us shut our eyes. We did. You know, his remained open so that he could read the word. When we opened our eyes, our land was gone and the Sword of Flames stood on guard … he went on reading the word, beseeching us to lay our treasures in heaven where no moth would corrupt them. But he laid his on earth, our earth”.
• Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o uses a lot of imagery and figurative language throughout the book. For example, in a metaphor the train is compared to “an iron snake”.
• You will find examples in the next section of this guide (A Grain of Wheat – chapter by chapter).

5.3 Dialogue

• The lack of communication is a strong theme in the novel, and this is shown in the way dialogue is often broken or fails to achieve real communication between the characters. For example, when Mumbi went to Mugo’s house to persuade him to speak at the Independence Day celebrations, they had this broken conversation:

“You must – all these people are waiting for you. People want you.”
“No, no.”
“You must – all these people are waiting for you. People want you.”
“But – but – I cannot.” “They cry for you.”
“Mumbi, Mumbi,” he cried in a tormented voice. “You will, Mugo, you will.”
“No.” (Chapter 13)

• Sometimes the dialogue shows the racist nature of the relationships between black and white characters. For example, when Karanja visits Margery Thompson at her house, Margery leads a conversation with him that shows her racism:

“How many wives have you?” she asked …
“I am not married.”
“Not married? I thought you people – Are you going to buy a wife?” (Chapter 4)

5.4 Interior monologue

• Sometimes Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o writes about what a character is thinking as if he or she is talking to him or herself.
• For example, Gikonyo “sat on a chair and bit his lower lip to steady a bitterness close to tears as whispers went, simultaneously, through his head and heart: God was cruel, else, why didn’t he spare him this humiliation?” (Chapter 7)

5.5 Flashbacks
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o uses flashbacks throughout the novel to bring past events into the novel’s present events. Bringing these memories and histories into the present helps us to understand better each of the characters and why they respond to the events the way they do.
One example is Mugo’s memories of his unhappy childhood, which help us understand why he isolates himself from his community:

She had a way of getting at him, a question maybe, about his clothes, his face, or hands that made all his pride tumble down. He pretended to ignore her opinions, but how could he shut his eyes to her oblique smiles and looks? (Chapter 1)

5.6 Myths

• Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o often refers to mythical stories of heroism from Kenya’s past.
• For example, in chapter 2 the stories of the women “who ruled the land of the Agikuyu” and the last great woman leader “who ruled over a large section in Muranga”.

5.7 Tone and mood

• The tone changes throughout the novel. For example, at the start of the Independence Day celebrations the tone is one of excitement and anticipation:

In our village and despite the drizzling rain, men and women and children, it seemed, had emptied themselves into the streets where they sang and danced in the mud. (Chapter 14)

• This contrasts with the depressed, sad tone two days later, when Warui sits with Wambui in her hut:

“Such drizzling can go on for many days,” she said with a dull voice. They both relapsed into silence, making a picture of bereaved children for whom life has suddenly lost warmth, colour and excitement. (Warui, Wambui)

Mood is the feeling a reader has when reading the novel, such as happiness, sadness, anger or indifference. How did A Grain of Wheat make you feel?

CHAPTERS

• Chapter 1
• Chapter 2
• Chapter 3
• Chapter 4
• Chapter 5
• Chapter 6
• Chapter 7
• Chapter 8
• Chapter 9
• Chapter 10
• Chapter 11
• Chapter 12
• Chapter 13
• Chapter 14

Introduction

This section of the study guide contains:
A summary of what happens and who is involved – the main events and characters in the chapter
The main themes and symbols, and some examples of language use in the chapter
Activities with exam-type questions for you to test yourself, and answers to these activities.
A Grain of Wheat is structured according to the five days that lead up to the Kenyan Independence Day celebrations on 12 December 1963.
The chapters can be grouped according to the day on which the ‘present time’ events they describe took place:

• Chapters 1 to 3 – Day 1, Sunday 8 December
• Chapters 4 to 8 – Day 2, Monday 9 December
• Chapters 9 to 12 – Day 3, Tuesday 10 December
• Chapter 13 – Day 4, Wednesday 11 December
• Chapter 14 – Day 5, Thursday 12 December
• Chapters 15 to 18: Four of these are named after the main characters and continue their stories – Karanja; Mugo; and Warui, Wambui. The final chapter, Harambee, continues the story of Mumbi and Gikonyo.

Chapter 1

• Day 1: Sunday 8 December 1963

1. What happens and who is involved?

• Mugo wakes from a dream. He goes to work on his shamba (small farm). He thinks about his unhappy childhood which he spent with a cruel aunt after his parents’ death.
• On the way to his shamba, he meets Warui, a village elder, and Githua, who is famous for his stories about the people of Thabai.
• He passes the house of an old woman whose son, Gitogo (who could not hear or speak), was shot by the British. Her loneliness makes Mugo think about his own lonely life.
• In the evening Mugo is visited by Warui, Wambui and Gikonyo, representatives of the Mau Mau movement.

2. Themes
Suffering and sacrifice

• A description of the village of Thabai refers to the suffering of the villagers during British rule:

Some huts had crumbled; a few had been pulled down. Yet the village maintained an unbroken orderliness; from a distance it appeared a huge mass of grass from which smoke rose to the sky as from a burnt sacrifice. (Chapter 1)

A simile is used here to compare the village to a “burnt sacrifice”.

• The loss of innocent lives during the State of Emergency is suggested by the description of how Gitogo was shot. He was killed by mistake because the soldier thought he was a Mau Mau terrorist.
  • Mugo suffered from the way his cruel aunt treated him: “She had a way of getting at him, a question maybe, about his clothes, his face, or hands that made all his pride tumble down.” (Chapter 1)

3. Symbols
Water

• In his dream, Mugo is afraid that a dirty drop of water will fall from the roof of his hut into his eye.

The drop fattened and grew dirtier as it absorbed grains of soot. Then it started drawing towards him. He tried to shut his eyes. They would not close. He tried to move his head: it was firmly chained to the bed frame. The drop grew larger and larger as it drew closer and closer to his eyes. He wanted to cover his eyes with his palms; but his hands, his feet, everything refused to obey his will. (Chapter 1)

In this extract the dirty water represents Mugo’s guilt. He feels that the growing drop of water is going to harm him. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o says his head is chained to the bed frame. This suggests that Mugo feels like a prisoner. He feels powerless, “everything refused to obey his will”.

Activity 1
Test yourself by answering the questions below.

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

   Thabai; Wajir; Uhuru; shamba; Mau Mau; Kikuyu; Gakaraku; Rika

   The name of Mugo’s village is (a) … A strip of land where food is grown is called a (b) … The (c) … was an armed struggle against British rule. They fought for independence, which was called (d) … in Kenya. (4)

2. State TWO points about Mugo’s childhood. (2)
3. State the names of the people who visit Mugo in Chapter 1. Give the reason for their visit. (4)
4. What is the relationship between Kihika and Gikonyo? (1) Choose the correct answer and write the letter (A, B, C or D) next to the question number.
   A Kihika and Gikonyo are brothers and they are comrades in the struggle for freedom.
   B Kihika and Gikonyo are rivals for Mumbi’s affections and they are both freedom fighters.
   C Kihika is Gikonyo’s brother-in-law and they are comrades in the struggle for freedom.
   D Kihika and Gikonyo are married to two sisters and they are both freedom fighters.
5. Match the names in COLUMN 1 to the descriptions in COLUMN 2. Write down only the question number (1.5(a) – (c)) and the letter (A – D) of your answer. (3) [14]

 Chapter 2

• Past time

1. What happens and who is involved?
In this chapter, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o writes about events from Kenya’s historical past. For example:

• The arrival of the British in the land of the Agikuyu (the Kikuyu people). When the British came they spoke of their Queen Victoria. For the Agikuyu, this “echoed something in the heart, deep down in their history”. (Chapter 2) They thought about the time when the land of the Agikuyu was ruled by women, and about a female leader who, years later, “ruled over a large section in Muranga”. (Chapter 2)
• The Kenyans became suspicious of the British, as they saw how much of their land was being taken from them. The Kenyans began to see that the British were their enemies. “They looked beyond the laughing face of the whiteman and suddenly saw a long line of other red strangers who carried, not the Bible, but the sword.” (Chapter 2)
• People began to resist the British. Two heroes from the past are mentioned. A warrior, Waiyaki, took up arms against the British but was killed. Harry Thuku, a leader from the 1920s, was arrested.
• The chapter also describes the more recent history of Kihika’s role in the struggle. A political meeting at which he gave a speech is described. Mugo, Mumbi and Gikonyo were there. Kihika spoke of the need to fight for independence from the British. He spoke of violence as if it were nothing unusual: “Kihika had spoken of blood as easily as if he was talking of drawing water in a river.” (Chapter 2) The talk of violence revolted Mugo, who does not like violence. Mugo also felt jealous of Kihika.
• The story is told of how Kihika and his men attacked Mahee, a police garrison, and freed the prisoners. Kihika became known as “the terror of the whiteman”. (Chapter 2) The British offered a large amount of money as a reward to anyone who brought them Kihika, dead or alive. A year later, he was captured, at the edge of the Kinenie Forest. He was hanged in Rung’ei Market.

2. Themes
Suffering and sacrifice

• Kihika, like Waiyaki, sacrificed his life for the Movement. Kihika often spoke of sacrifice in his speeches:

“A day comes when brother shall give up brother, a mother her son, when you and I have heard the call of a nation in turmoil.” (Chapter 2)

Kihika lived the words of sacrifice he had spoken to the multitude. (Chapter 2)

Heroism
This chapter emphasises the heroic work of people who fought for Kenya’s freedom. We are told that Kihika was “a son of the land … marked out as one of the heroes of deliverance”. (Chapter 2)

3. Symbols
Grain of wheat

• “Waiyaki’s blood contained within it a seed, a grain, which gave birth to a movement whose main strength thereafter sprang from a bond with the soil.” (Chapter 2)
• It is said that Waiyaki was buried alive (like a seed in the ground).
• The grain of wheat is such an important symbol that Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o uses it as the title of the book.

Railway

• For the Kenyans the railway was like an “iron snake”. It is a symbol of the arrival of the British and of the effect they had on Kenya.

Activity 2
Read the extract, then answer the questions below.
[Mugo thinks about Kihika’s speech.]

1. Mugo thinks that Kihika “had spoken of blood as easily as if he was talking of drawing water in a river” (lines 6–7).
   How does Kihika feel about violence? State TWO points. (2)
2. Is the following statement TRUE or FALSE? Write “true” or “false” and quote ONE word from the extract to prove your answer.
   Mugo hates violence. (2)
3. Quote TWO separate words from this extract to show Mugo’s negative feelings towards Kihika. (2)
4. Mugo’s and Kihika’s characters differ. Write down ONE difference.(2)
5. The Swahili proverb at the end of the passage is: “That which bites you is in your clothes.”
   How is this saying proved to be true by the way Kihika is killed? (2)
6. Mugo and Kihika have different views on violence in the revolution. Whose view do you support? Discuss your view. (2) [12]

Chapter 3

• Day 1: Sunday 8 December 1963

1. What happens and who is involved?

• The story returns to the visit by the freedom fighters to Mugo. General R and Lieutenant Koina arrive after Gikonyo, Warui and Wambui. The three villagers ask Mugo to make a speech at the Independence celebrations in honour of Kihika’s memory and sacrifice. General R. wants Mugo to help find out who betrayed Kihika to the British. Gikonyo tells Mugo that after independence they want him to stand for election as a local Chief in their area.
• Mugo seems isolated, he cannot talk to his visitors easily. He thinks: “None of this is real … I’ll soon wake up from the dream … My hut will be empty and I’ll find myself alone as I have always been …” (Chapter 3)
• Mugo does not give the visitors an answer to their request that he give a speech. He just says: “I do not understand”.
• General R. believes that Mugo sheltered Kihika on the night Kihika shot DO (District Officer) Robson. He thinks that is the reason why Mugo was later arrested and sent to detention. He suspects Karanja betrayed Kihika.
• Gikonyo seems very unhappy. He feels he needs to talk to Mugo, and returns to his hut but then he changes his mind and goes home. At home he refuses to eat the food Mumbi has prepared. He will not talk to Mumbi about what troubles him. She wants to talk about the child, but he refuses.

2. Themes
Guilt and betrayal
Mugo is afraid to speak during the visit of General R and Lieutenant Koina: “Mugo’s throat was choked; if he spoke, he would cry.” (Chapter 3) This may be because of the guilt he feels.

Lack of communication
Gikonyo does not talk to Mumbi about her child.

Activity 3
Read the extract, then answer the questions below.
[Gikonyo, Warui, Wambui, General R and Lieutenant Koina are visiting
Mugo. Gikonyo speaks.]

1. Refer to line 7 (“We cannot let Kihika’s name die”).
   Briefly describe who Kihika was. State TWO points. (2)
2. In the above extract, Mugo receives visitors.
   (a) According to the visitors, what is the reason for this visit? (1)
   (b) What is Mugo’s answer to his visitors at this point in the novel? (1)
   (c) Why does Mugo react in this way? State TWO points. (2) [6]

Chapter 4

• Day 2: Monday 9 December 1963

1. What happens and who is involved?

• Karanja is working in the library at the Githima Forestry and Agricultural Research Station. Mwaura tells Karanja that their boss, John Thompson, wants to see him. John Thompson asks him to take a message to his wife, Margery. He writes a letter for Karanja to give her.
• Karanja goes to the Thompson’s house and Margery offers him coffee. The way in which Margery talks to Karanja shows her stereotypical views about African people, and reveals her prejudice. She asks him personal questions about having a wife, which makes Karanja feel embarrassed. He thinks of Mumbi, whom he loved, but who refused him.
• Karanja wishes others had seen him having coffee with Margery. He feels it gives him a higher status among the African workers.
• Karanja has heard rumours that the Thompsons are going to leave Kenya after Independence, but he does not have the courage to ask Margery about this.
• At the research station Thompson thinks about the coming Independence. He is sad about the end of British rule in Kenya and the dreams he had for it when he was young. He is not hopeful that the Kenyans will manage to run the research station once the British have left.
• Thompson looks out of the window and sees Dr Lynd’s dog run towards a group of men. Dr Lynd is a scientist who studies plant diseases (a plant pathologist) at the research station. The men run away, afraid the dog will attack them, but one man, Karanja, is trapped against a wall. Karanja picks up a stone, ready to throw it at the dog. Before the dog can jump at him, Dr Lynd shouts and restrains the dog.
• Dr Lynd is rude to Karanja for throwing stones at her dog. When Karanja says that he did not throw stones, Dr Lynd replies: “The way you people lie …” Thompson arrives and says, “I’ll deal with this.” He does not criticise Dr Lynd, although he has heard other complaints about her dog. Neither does he criticise Karanja. He leads Dr Lynd away, and only then tells her it was not the “boy’s” fault.

Note:

• The language that Margery and Dr Lynd use to talk about Africans reveals their racism and prejudice. They make
  generalisations about African people from their experience of only a few. They use the phrase “you people” and refer to grown men as “boys”.

Flashbacks

• Thompson remembers one night when he thought he had run over a dog in his car. “He drove away sadly; it was as if he had murdered a man.” (Chapter 4)
• Dr Lynd remembers an incident during the State of Emergency when two men rushed into her house, tied her up, and her houseboy hacked her dog to pieces. This is one reason why Dr Lynd tells Thompson that she hates black people.
• During the State of Emergency Thompson was sent to work in detention camps, to rehabilitate Mau Mau followers, so they would lead “a normal life as British subjects”. At Rira detention camp the prisoners went on a hunger strike. Thompson ordered the prisoners to be beaten and 11 prisoners died. After an inquiry, he was sent to Githima. He felt humiliated and disgraced.
• John Thompson and the librarian, Mrs Dickinson, use Karanja as their personal messenger. Karanja resents this because it lowers his status in the eyes of other workers. However, he puts up with it because he wants to keep his good reputation amongst the white people.

What Karanja resented most was not the missions or their triviality, but the way they affected his standing among the other African workers. But on the whole Karanja would rather endure humiliation than lose the good name he had built up for himself among white people. He lived on the name and power it brought him. (Chapter 4)

2. Themes
Betrayal

• Dr Lynd felt betrayed by her houseboy, who let her attackers into her house. Her dog knew and trusted her houseboy, so the dog did not attack the men. Her houseboy betrayed this trust when he killed her dog.
• Thompson feels “a vague sense of betrayal” by the British government when he thinks of Kenyan Independence.

Activity 4
Read the extract, then answer the questions below.
[Karanja’s visit to the Thompson’s house]

1. Explain why Karanja goes to Margery’s house. (1)
2. a) What are the rumours that Karanja has heard? (1)
   b) Why is he worried about the rumours? (1)
3. Describe how Margery Thompson’s treatment of Karanja shows her feelings of superiority or racism/prejudice. Use a short quotation from the extract in your answer. (2)
4. Giving THREE points, briefly describe what happens during the incident with Dr Lynd’s dog at the research station. (3) [8]

Chapter 5

• Day 2: Monday evening 9 December 1963

1. What happens and who is involved?

• John and Margery Thompson are at home together, but they hardly talk to each other. They do not have a happy marriage.
• John Thompson has resigned from his job. They will return to Britain. It is painful for him to realise that he is not needed any more. He feels angry about having to leave behind everything he has worked for.
• Thompson reads the notes that he made when he was young and enthusiastic about the British Empire. He had hoped to develop them into a book, with the title Prospero in Africa. The extracts from these notes reveal Thompson’s racist attitudes towards Africans, which were a product of his colonial mind-set. In particular, the notes tell us about Thompson’s attitude to the Mau Mau. He sees it as an evil movement that threatens to destroy the values on which British civilisation is based.

Flashbacks

• John Thompson thinks back to his younger days when he was happy with his wife and he had faith in the British Empire, which he wanted to help develop.
• Margery remembers the affair she had with Dr Van Dyke. It seems that she had the affair because she was bored and wanted excitement.

2. Themes
Lack of communication

• Margery and John Thompson both seem to want to talk to each other, but cannot. Margery feels impatient with her husband. “They were on the brink of change, she reflected, and still he would not talk.” She does not know exactly what she wants Thompson to say, “but let a man and wife at least share their anxieties about everything: their past, …”

Betrayal

• Margery betrayed her husband when she had the affair with Dr Van Dyke.

Activity 5
Read the extract, then answer the questions below.
[John Thompson thinks about leaving Kenya]

1. To what does Uhuru refer? (1)
2. What are Thompson’s reasons for leaving Kenya? Explain in your OWN words. Give TWO reasons. (2)
3. What did Margery do to betray her husband? (1)  [4]

Chapter 6

• Day 2: Monday 9 December 1963

1. What happens and who is involved?

• After Gikonyo returned from the detention camps he became successful in business, both as a carpenter and as a trader. Now, with five other men, he wants to buy a farm. They have asked a Member of Parliament (MP) to help them get a loan.
• Gikonyo goes to the capital city, Nairobi, to see the MP. The description of Gikonyo as an honest and hardworking businessman contrasts with the character of the MP. There is the suggestion that the new leaders of the post-independence government may let the people down. This foreshadows what is to come. For example:
  • There was a crowd of people waiting outside the MP’s office, “But people were used to his broken appointments and broken promises. Sometimes they would keep coming, day after day, without seeing their representative.”
  • Gikonyo asks the MP: “Do you think it possible to get the loan, or should we go and find other means of getting the money?” The MP’s reaction suggests that he might want to stop Gikonyo trying to get the money elsewhere: “Gikonyo thought he detected alarm on the other’s face.”
  • The MP has been invited to Thabai for the Uhuru celebrations, but he will not join the villagers whom he represents in parliament. He says that “on that day all the Members of Parliament have been invited to various functions here in the capital”.
• Gikonyo says that those who will “taste the first fruits of independence” will not be those who fought in the Movement, but those “who ran to the shelter of schools and universities and administration. And even some who were outright traitors and collaborators.
• Mugo is confused about why he has been asked to give the speech at the Independence Day celebrations. To avoid seeing anyone in Thabai, he walks to Rung’ei.
• On Monday evening Gikonyo visits Mugo at his house. Mugo thinks he has come to ask what his decision is about giving the Independence Day speech. They talk about life in the detention camps.
• The real reason why Gikonyo visits Mugo is to talk about his “troubles of the heart”. He tells Mugo that Mumbi had changed when he came back from detention.
• Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o gives us an idea about what people think of Mugo:

Two days later, people were to talk about Mugo … with varying degrees of exaggeration how he organized the hunger-strike in Rira … his solitary habits and eccentric behaviour at meetings marked him as a chosen man.

Flashback

• Mugo thinks about the only speech he made, when the Movement “convened the meeting to introduce returning detainees to the public”. He spoke of how detainees had suffered, and that it was the thought of seeing their homes and families again that kept them going.
  His speech inspired many. Yet Mugo felt disgusted with his speech. It was a lie: he had no one to return home to. “I did not want to come back; I did not long to join my mother, or wife or child because I did not have any.”
  After this meeting Mugo “took refuge in reticence”. He became more and more silent and cut off from the community.

Did you know? –  When people joined the Mau Mau, they had to swear an Oath of Unity. The British wanted people to confess to taking the oath, to break the sense of unity in the Movement. They also wanted to get names of people involved in administering the oath, as they wanted to stop people recruiting new members to the Movement.

2. Themes
Heroism

• Gikonyo thinks Mugo is a hero because of his behaviour in the detention camps. Although he was beaten many times, he never confessed. Gikonyo says, “You were brave not to confess. We admired your courage, and hid our heads in shame.”
• Gikonyo also admires Mugo because of the speech he made. Gikonyo says: “As you spoke, I felt you were reading my heart …”

Confession

• In the detention camps Mugo was beaten many times. But, Gikonyo says, he never confessed to being a member of the Mau Mau. This is ironic, because Mugo was never a member of the Movement. As he says: “There was nothing to confess.”
• Gikonyo confessed to having taken the oath because he wanted to return home and be with his family. Yet he felt that this made him a coward.

Suffering and sacrifice

• Gikonyo thinks the people in power now are not the ones who suffered during the struggle. They only “knew suffering as a word”.

Activity 6
Read the extract, then answer the questions below.
[Gikonyo visits Mugo.]

* It is ironic that Gikonyo  thinks Mugo is a hero, bacause Mugo is actually the opposite. He can be called an anti-hero.

1. Refer to lines 1–2 (“No. It is … with the M.P.”).
   a) What does Mugo think the reason is for Gikonyo’s visit? (1)
   b) What is the the real reason for Gikonyo’s visit? (1)
   c) Refer to line 6. Explain why Gikonyo repeats the word “troubles”. (1)
2. What does the outcome of Gikonyo’s visit to Nairobi show the reader about the new government? State TWO points. (2)
3. Refer to the words “fear” (line 9) and “suspicious” (line 13).
   Explain why Mugo is afraid and suspicious at this point. (2)
4. Is the following statement TRUE or FALSE? Give a reason for your answer. The hunger-strike at Rira was not important to the authorities. (2)
5. Mugo refers to the government’s request to “bury the past”. Do you think it is possible for a person to “bury the past”? Discuss your view. (2)  [11]

Chapter 7

• Past time

1. What happens and who is involved?
In this chapter there are many flashbacks as Gikonyo, who is still talking with Mugo on Monday evening, remembers the past.

• The chapter begins with a description of the village of Thabai in the past and the arrival of the railway. The railway station and Kinenie forest became meeting places.
• Gikonyo’s story is told from the time he came to Thabai as a child to his return to the village after his detention. He was friends with Karanja and Kihika when they were young, before the State of Emergency.
• Kihika’s attraction to Christianity and political beliefs are explained.
• Gikonyo and Karanja were rivals for Mumbi. Gikonyo won Mumbi’s love, even though he lost the race with Karanja to the train. Gikonyo and Mumbi were married.
• Karanja has a “strange experience” at the station when he has some kind of dizzy spell. A selfish, cruel side to his character is revealed.
  The earth was going round again. I must run, he thought, it cannot be helped, why should I fear to trample on the children, the lame and the weak when others are doing it?
• A State of Emergency was declared as the British tried to control the freedom fighters.
• Kihika fled to the forest to avoid being arrested and to join a group of freedom fighters there. Wambuku, Kihika’s girlfriend, had tried to make him stay. Njeri, who also loves Kihika, joined him in the forest to fight.
• Gikonyo was sent to the detention camps. After four years, he could no longer bear to be away from home and his beloved Mumbi. He confessed to taking the Mau Mau oath. He was released two years later.
• After six years in the camps Gikonyo returned to Thabai. He found that Mumbi had had Karanja’s child and that Karanja was the local Chief.

2. Themes
Community and the collective

• There was a strong community spirit in Thabai before the State of Emergency.
• The economy was strong as both Africans and Indians traded there, and the railway or “iron snake had first crawled along this plain … Thabai was the envy of many ridges not so graced with a railway line.”

Suffering and sacrifice

• Kihika uses the example of Christ’s sacrifice to explain to people that sacrifice is necessary in the fight for independence. He tells Karanja:

“In Kenya we want deaths which will change things, that is to say, we want true sacrifice. But first we have to be ready to carry the  cross. I die for you, you die for me, we become a sacrifice for one another. So I can say that you Karanja, are Christ. I am Christ. Everybody who takes the Oath of Unity to change things in Kenya is a Christ.”

• The descriptions of life in the detention camps, and the changes Gikonyo sees in Thabai when he returns, show how Kenyans suffered during the State of Emergency. Gikonyo’s feelings of despair at finding his village so changed when he returns home can be compared to the despair felt by all the Kenyans.
• Gikonyo suffered even more when he returned home to find Mumbi with another man’s child. He experienced “a heavy dullness. Life had no colour.” After his return he takes no joy in life and begins to think that “Thabai was just another detention camp”.

Confession

• Gikonyo confessed to taking the Mau Mau oath. He lost heart when Jomo Kenyatta lost his court case and Gatu, another detainee, was killed. Gikonyo’s suffering and his need to see Mumbi caused him to confess that he had taken the oath:

His desire to see Mumbi was there. His mind was clear and he knew without guilt, what he was going to do … He walked … to the office where screening, interrogations and confessions were made …

However, Gikonyo did not name anybody involved in oath administration, so he was not released for another two years after his confession.
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o wants us to see Gikonyo as an ordinary man who can sometimes be weak. Gikonyo confessed because he could no longer bear to be away from home.

Betrayal

• Gikonyo felt betrayed when he found out that Mumbi had had Karanja’s child.
• Karanja betrayed the Movement and worked for the British. He became a local Chief in the British administration and a home guard. After reporting to Karanja on his return to Thabai, Gikonyo is confused by this betrayal:

… he only knew that the man with whom he had taken an oath to fight the whiteman was talking to him about the power of the white people, the man with whom he used to play the guitar, who often came to the workshop for gossip, was now shouting at him.

Lack of communication

• There is a “valley of silence” between Gikonyo and Mumbi. It is only at the end of the novel that this is bridged and Gikonyo hears Mumbi’s side of the story.

3. Symbols
Railway

• The train is described as an iron snake that coughed and vomited smoke “as it rattled along”. Again, the metaphor of a snake is used to describe the train.
  At first people were suspicious of the railway. But in time they made use of it for their own needs:

the railway platform became the meeting place for the young. They talked in groups at home, they went for walks in the country, some even went to church; but in their minds was always the train on Sunday … they just went there to meet one another, to talk, to gossip, to laugh.

The forest, which was another social venue for the youth, is contrasted with the train station:

From the station they normally went to dance in Kinenie Forest … often the dances ended in fights … At the platform things were different. Nobody thought of starting a fight.

The running race

• One day, Wambuku, Kihika, Njeri, Mumbi, Gikonyo and Karanja were late going to the station to see the train. For Karanja and Gikonyo the run to the train became a symbolic race between them for Mumbi. They both wanted to win to impress her. Karanja overtook Mumbi and Gikonyo. Mumbi stopped running, Gikonyo waited for her, and they stayed in the forest.

Land

• Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o often uses descriptions of the land as a way to show the effect of the colonialists on the lives of the Kenyans. Before the State of Emergency the Kenyans had control of their land and it was a sacred link to their history and ancestors.
• When Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o describes the youth of Gikonyo and Mumbi he writes about the land in a positive way. When Gikonyo was young and falling in love with Mumbi he often thought of her in close association with the land. “He saw Mumbi moving in the country paths among the pea-flowers and green beans and maize plants.”
• When Gikonyo returned from the detention camps years later, he noticed the poor condition of the land:

The bumpy battered land sloped on either side; sickly crops just recovering from a recent drought, one more scourge which had afflicted the country in this period leaving the anxious faces of mothers dry and cracked.

• The suffering of the land mirrors the suffering of the people. The destroyed land symbolises how the British have destroyed the Kenyan people.

Forest

• When Mumbi and Gikonyo first made love they were in the forest, which symbolises a place of refuge.
• The forest later became a refuge for Kihika and other freedom fighters. As Mumbi explained: “He had to choose between prison and forest. He chose the forest.”
• Before the State of Emergency the forest was a place of romance, song and dance, although it was also a place of fights, as often “the dances ended in fights”.

Activity 7
Read the extract, then answer the questions below.
[After a flashback about how the youth socialised in the forest and at the station.]

1. a) State one reason why Gikonyo and his young friends went to the train station so often in the past. (1)
   (b) Refer to the last line in the extract. Why do you think Gikonyo says that day was the happiest in his life? (1)
2. In the novel, what does the forest symbolise for the freedom fighters? (1)
3. Why does Gikonyo confess in the detention camp? Give TWO reasons. (2)  [5]

Chapter 8

• Day 2: Monday evening 9 December 1963

1. What happens and who is involved?

• Gikonyo continues to tell Mugo about what happened during the first few days after he returned to Thabai. He tells him how he felt about Karanja’s betrayal, and Mumbi and the child.
• He explains that he decided to “never talk about the child”, to ignore Mumbi, and to concentrate on his work.
• Mugo walks to a teashop where he meets Githua and General R. Mugo decides that he will speak at the Independence Day celebrations. “He would speak at the Uhuru celebrations. He would lead the people and bury his past in their gratitude. Nobody need ever know about Kihika.”

Flashback

• Mugo thinks back to a day during the State of Emergency when he believed he heard God speak to him, as God spoke to Moses. For him it felt like the climax of his life. A week later, “Kihika came into his life”.
• The villager Githua at the teashop proudly tells everyone about his past, and how he lost his leg fighting in the struggle.
• Mugo dreams that he is in Rira detention camp. The men call out, “Mugo save us.” Mugo cannot refuse: “Here I am, Lord. I am coming.” Again, we are reminded of Mugo comparing himself with Moses in the Bible, who led his people to freedom.

2. Themes
Guilt

• After Gikonyo has left, Mugo feels the burden of his guilt. His thoughts are disjointed: “His mind lightly hopped from one episode to another.”

Confession

• Gikonyo feels better after confessing his feelings to Mugo. “The weight had been lifted.” However, he feels uncomfortable about exposing his feelings. Perhaps he thinks that Mugo is judging him for not forgiving Mumbi and accepting the child, or that he has shown Mugo that he is not a strong man and husband.
• On his way home, Gikonyo feels ashamed about having been “the first to confess the oath in Yala Camp”.
• After Gikonyo has left, Mugo wonders if he should have confessed that he betrayed Kihika, to find peace of mind. He thinks:

“Suppose I had told him … suppose I had suddenly told him … Everything would have been over … all over … the knowledge … the burden … fears … and hopes.”

Note:

• It seems that Mugo wants to be the hero that other people think he is.
• Yes, but also, in the vision he has in his dream, he thinks that he has been called by God to lead the people

3. Symbols
The railway

• The railway is used to show the inequality in British colonial society. For example, Mugo remembers when he was a boy, seeing “a group of white people smoking, talking and laughing, while black people carried bags of maize and pyrethrum from standing lorries into the railways trucks”. In later years, when Mugo thought of a white man, “he always pictured a man smoking a cigarette and a standing train that vomited out smoke”.

Activity 8
Test yourself by answering the questions below.
1. Do you agree with the way Gikonyo behaved towards Mumbi when he returned from the detention camp? Give a reason for your answer. (2)
2. Why does Mugo decide to speak at the Independence Day celebrations? (1) [3]

Chapter 9

• Day 3: Tuesday 10 December 1963

1. What happens and who is involved?

• Mugo’s thoughts about his time in the camps, and the fact that he survived when so many others died at the Rira camp, lead him to believe that he must “lead the people of Thabai in the Uhuru celebrations. Thereafter, as a Chief, he would lead his people across the desert to the new Jerusalem.”
• Mugo goes to Gikonyo’s house to tell him about his decision to speak at the Independence Day celebrations. Gikonyo is not there, but he meets Mumbi.
• Mumbi wants to talk to Mugo about Gikonyo, whom she wants “above everything else”. Mugo says that Gikonyo has already told him about the child and Karanja.
• During their conversation, Mumbi tells Mugo about events that happened in Thabai during the State of Emergency.
  

  The destruction of the old Thabai village During the State of Emergency the villagers were forced from their homes, which were burnt. They were made to dig trenches. The British used the trenches as a way to stop the villagers leaving and entering the village easily. The old Thabai village was destroyed because a group of “Forest Fighters”, led by Kihika, attacked the Mahee Police Post. The British retaliated and closed all African trading centres, such as Rung’ei Market, “ ‘in the interests of peace and security’ ”.

• General R and Lieutenant Koina arrive at Gikonyo’s house. Gikonyo thinks that Karanja betrayed Kihika. At the Independence Day celebrations, he wants Mugo, at the end of his speech to say “that the man who betrayed Kihika should come forward – and stand condemned before the people”.
• This upsets Mugo, who says that he cannot lead them, and rushes out.

Flashback

• The chapter begins by describing what happened after Mugo’s arrest – his experience in the detention camps. Although Thompson treated Mugo cruelly, Mugo never gave in and because of this the other prisoners saw him as a hero and it “gave them courage”.
• Wambuku, the pregnant woman whom Mugo tried to save from being beaten by a home guard in the trench, later died. Njeri died in a battle after Kihika’s death. Both girls had loved Kihika.
• Mumbi’s and her mothers’ huts were burnt. Mumbi and Wangari, her mother-in-law, built their new huts. Karanja secretly helped Mumbi, even though he belonged to the home guard.
• There were rumours that Karanja had betrayed Kihika. Mumbi refused his offer of bread when they were starving. But Karanja came again to offer food. He said that he did not betray Kihika. Mumbi believed him and took the food, but she felt ashamed.
• The local Chief was murdered. Karanja became the new Chief. He was terrifying:

He led other homeguards into the forest to hunt down the Freedom fighters. It was also during his rule that even the few remaining fit men were taken from the village to detention camps.

• One day, Karanja sent for Mumbi. He told her that Gikonyo was to be released. Mumbi felt “full of submissive gratitude”, and allowed him to make love to her. He laughed at her afterwards as he had triumphed over both her and Gikonyo. Mumbi threw a shoe at him and ran away.

2. Themes
Confession

• Mumbi confesses to Mugo her private thoughts about her betrayal of Gikonyo.

Betrayal

• General R thinks that Karanja betrayed Kihika.
• Karanja betrays his people by working against the freedom fighters in the home guard and as a Chief.

Community and the collective

• We read about how Karanja abused his power as a Chief.
• Thompson had also abused his power at Rira, and lost his job because of it.
• Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o wants us to think of Karanja and Thompson as typical of those who do not work for the good of the community.

Suffering and sacrifice

• Mumbi’s account of life during the Emergency gives the reader a clear picture of the suffering of the villagers. Because of the trench around the village the British had total control over their lives:

Women were allowed out two hours before sunset to go and look for food. Nobody else was allowed out: even school-children had to remain in the village. Within days, the two hours of freedom were reduced to one. And as the time neared, even one hour of freedom was taken away. We were prisoners in the village, and the soldiers had built their camps all around to prevent any escape.

Activity 9
Read the extract below and answer the questions about it.
[Flashback to Mugo’s experience at Rira detention camp]

1. What did Thompson want from Mugo? (1)
2. Give TWO reasons why Mugo was considered a hero. (2)
3. How did Karanja help Mumbi during the State of Emergency? (2)  [5]

Chapter 10

• Day 3: Tuesday 10 December 1963

1. What happens and who is involved?

• Mwaura had been spying on Karanja for General R, and his reports confirmed General R’s suspicions that Karanja had betrayed Kihika. General R wants to expose Karanja at the Independence Day celebrations as the person who betrayed Kihika.
• Karanja is worried that Thompson is going to leave Kenya, as this may mean he will lose his job. He thinks of Thompson’s power and thinks about how he, Karanja, had “experienced that power, which also ruled over the souls of men, when he, as a Chief, could make circumcised men cower before him, women scream by a lift of his finger”. This clearly shows Karanja’s vicious, cruel nature.
• We learn that Karanja had confessed his oath to the Mau Mau and registered as a home guard when Thompson was the District Officer, soon after Kihika had shot Robson.
• Mwaura tells Karanja that he should go to the celebrations to hear Mugo speak.
• Thompson tells Karanja that he is leaving Kenya. Karanja is very afraid of what will happen to him when the British leave.

Flashback

• Karanja remembers an incident when he was Chief. He arrested a man for not paying poll-tax. The man had been unemployed since being released from detention. Karanja had the man beaten and locked up. There was an inquiry. Karanja was made to pay a fine, and apologise. Later he was demoted from being a Chief. However, the District Officer gave him a letter of recommendation and he got the job at Githima.

2. Themes
Betrayal

• General R, who “never forgot a friend or enemy”, believes that Karanja betrayed Kihika. He is wrong, but Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o sees Karanja’s support of the British as a betrayal of the Kenyan people.
• Karanja feels betrayed by Thompson. He remembers the “dog incident” of the day before. (See Chapter 4)

Karanja recalled his terror as the dog approached him. He shuddered. Thompson had saved him from shame. Thompson. And he was going. He strolled back to his room, heavy with a sense of imminent betrayal.

• He has served the British and they will leave him behind when they go.

3. Symbols
Dogs

• Dogs are used by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o as a symbol of white power, used to terrify and subdue the Kenyans. For example, Karanja remembers his fear of Dr Lynd’s dog.
• When Karanja learns that Thompson is leaving, he walks away like “a dog that has been unexpectedly snubbed by the master it trusts”.
• Mwaura mocks Karanja, saying that he once knew a white man in Nairobi who left Kenya, who “at least shot dead all his pets – cats and dogs. Couldn’t bear to leave them alive without a kindly helper.”

By comparing Karanja to a dog, Ngugi wa Thiong’o is mocking Karanja and his service to the white men.

Activity 10
Read the extract, then answer the questions below.
[Karanja thinks about a past event.]

1. Explain why Karanja is so upset at the news of Thompson’s return to England. (2)
2. In line 6, Karanja experiences a “sense of imminent betrayal”. In fact, he betrayed his own people.
   Give TWO reasons why he decides to betray his people by joining the homeguard. (2)
3. Karanja arrests a man for not paying tax.
   1. Choose the correct answer to complete the following sentence. Write only the answer (A–D):
      The arrest shows Karanja’s …
      A abuse of power.
      B short temper.
      C cowardly nature.
      D leadership. (1)
   2. What is the final outcome of this incident for Karanja? (1)
4. What is Thompson’s post in the colonial government in the time just before Independence? (1)
5. In this extract Karanja recalls being punished for something he was praised for earlier. What does this tell you about the colonial government in Kenya? (1)  [8]

Chapter 11

• Day 3: Tuesday evening 10 December 1963

1. What happens and who is involved?

• The Thompsons go to their farewell party. Many British people are worried that after Independence the Russians and the Chinese will take over Kenya. The Thompsons are not the only people planning to leave.
• Dr Lynd reminds Thompson about her dog being killed; and says that she is afraid as she recently saw the person who killed her dog. This frightens her, but she still does not want to leave Kenya and her property.
• The Thompsons are not happy and do not communicate well with each other at the party.
• John Thompson drops a glass, which falls the floor and breaks.
• On the way home, Thompson says: “We are not yet beaten … Africa cannot, cannot do without Europe.” Nevertheless, he is still planning to leave Kenya.
• Now that the Thompsons are leaving, the members of the British community speak fondly of them, although many of the women had disliked Margery.

They searched their hearts and suddenly discovered that they had always admired John, that Margery had been their special friend, and what wouldn’t they do to help them settle down in their next home!

The tone here is sarcastic, as Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o wants to show the reader how insincere and hypocritical these British people were.

2. Symbols
The broken glass

• The glass that Thomson drops at the party may be seen to represent Kenya, which has been broken by the British. The Kenyan waiter “rushed in with a dustpan and brush and collected the broken pieces”. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o suggests that all Kenyans will have to work hard to clear up the mess that the British have made in the country.
• The glass could also represent how Thompson’s dreams have been broken. His dreams that the British Empire would endure have now been shattered. As Kenya frees itself from Britain, the empire is breaking into pieces like the glass.

Activity 11
1. Read the extract, then answer the question below.
[the Thomsons at their farewell party]

1. a) What does Rira refer to? (1)
   b) What was the scandal at Rira? (3)
   c) Who regarded Thompson as a martyr? Explain why they thought he was a martyr. (2)
2. Read the extract, then answer the questions below.
   

   By eleven o’clock people were getting drunk. A few couples were dancing. The African waiters stood aside, like posts, dressed in white Kanzus, a red band round the waist, and a red fez on the head. Men clustered around Margery, caressing her figure with their eyes. One by one they were pulled onto the floor by their wives, until only one fat man with a long unkempt beard and busy eyebrows was left talking to her. She kept on stealing S.O.S. glances at her husband who did not see because he was now engaged in a group that was discussing politics, Independence Day, and the fate of the whiteman under a black government. (Chapter 11)

   1. Refer to line 2. Identify the figure of speech used in this line. (1)
   2. Explain the figure of speech. (1)
   3. Is this statement TRUE or FALSE? Give a reason for your answer. Margery and her husband got on well with each other at the party. (2)
3. What did the British believe would be the “fate of the whiteman under a black government”? (1) [11]

Chapter 12

• Day 3: Tuesday evening 10 December 1963

1. What happens and who is involved?

• Gikonyo arrives home in a bad mood. He is rude to Mumbi. They argue and he pushes her child away and hits Mumbi.
• Gikonyo’s mother, Wangari, expresses her anger at Gikonyo’s behaviour and he leaves their home.
• Gikonyo visits Warui to tell him that Mugo will not lead the speeches at the Independence Day celebrations. They go to visit Mugo together.
• Mugo has bad memories that make him feel very disturbed.
• Gikonyo and Warui arrive at Mugo’s hut. Mugo says that he will not speak at the celebrations. They think that he is being modest (humble). They ask him to think again.
• Warui goes to Wambui’s place, and they tell others about Mugo’s refusal. Soon the whole village believes that “The man who had suffered so much had further revealed his greatness in modesty. By refusing to lead, Mugo had become a legendary hero.”
• Gikonyo is angry, with everyone – the MP, Mugo and Mumbi. When he gets home, his mother tells him that Mumbi has left him. She has gone to her parents.

Gikonyo was in such a bad mood because he was upset about the farm and took his anger and frustration out on Mumbi.

Flashbacks

• The previous afternoon, after returning from Nairobi, Gikonyo had visited the farm he wanted to buy, with the other men. They found a signpost that said the old owner (Burton) had left Kenya, and the new owner was their MP.
• Mugo remembers being scared by a horse when he was young. He had felt the same fear yesterday when he left Mumbi and General R.
• Mugo also remembers working in the trenches. A woman was being whipped by a home guard. Mugo held the whip to stop him. Mugo was whipped. He was arrested. He also remembers Warui telling him about an old lady who thinks her son, Gitogo, has come back from the dead.

2. Themes
Heroism

• It is ironic that when Mugo says he cannot speak at the celebrations – “I cannot, I cannot face so many eyes” – it is misinterpreted by others as modesty. In their eyes, he is still a hero.

Lack of communication

• The trouble between Mumbi and Gikonyo, which began with Gikonyo refusing to talk about the child, reaches a crisis. Mumbi leaves him and their marriage seems broken.

Guilt, suffering and sacrifice

• Mugo’s memories have made him afraid, but are also related to the guilt he feels. We see Mugo’s “irrational terror” as he runs through the streets of Thabai. He remembers trying to save the woman in the trench from being beaten in spite of his terror, and the torture that followed. But when Warui tells him about the old woman who thinks her dead son, Gitogo, has visited her, Mugo is overwhelmed by his feeling of guilt. He feels that what he did to Kihika made the people’s suffering worse. Once back at his home he is so troubled that he imagines he sees “thick blood dripping from the mud walls of his hut”.

Activity 12
1. What happened about the farm that made Gikonyo so upset? (1)
2. Why was Mugo arrested and sent to the detention camps? (1)
3. When Mugo tells Gikonyo and Warui that he “cannot face so many eyes”, to whom is he referring? What is he really afraid of? (2)
4. At the end of Chapter 12, Wangari says to Gikonyo: “Read your own heart, and know yourself.”

a) Who is Wangari? (1)
b) What has happened to make her say this? State TWO points. (2)
c) What does she mean? (1)  [8]

Chapter 13

• Day 4: Wednesday 11 December 1963

1. What happens and who is involved?

• Mugo is seen walking in the rain to the market, without seeking shelter. People consider him “a hero, no ordinary man”.
• Wambui decides that the women must try to persuade Mugo to speak, as the men have failed. A group of women meet at the market place and decide to send Mumbi to Mugo.
• Mumbi is worried about telling her parents why she left Gikonyo. She is also worried about General R’s warning that Karanja will be killed for what he thinks is Karanja’s part in Kihika’s death. She thinks that “enough blood had already been shed”.
• Mumbi tells Mugo that she has quarrelled with Gikonyo and returned to her parents. She then tells him that the women of Thabai and Rung’ei area want him at the Independence Day celebrations. Mugo says that he cannot go.
• Mumbi persists and Mugo begins to talk to her. He tells her about the horror of the camps. When Mumbi says that he must speak to the people about “Everything”, Mugo tells her that he killed Kihika. He seems desperate and terrified, and even attacks Mumbi.

Flashbacks

• The story of Tom Robson, “Tom, the Terror”, is told. He was the District Officer in Rung’ei. He caught and cruelly killed suspected freedom fighters. “He was a man-eater, walking in the night and day. He was death.” He was shot, and killed, by Kihika.
• At the time Tom Robson was shot, Mugo had a shamba near Rung’ei Railway Station. He had just finished building his new hut, after the old Thabai had been destroyed. “The hut was his first big achievement. After moving into it, he resumed his daily life: he looked after the crops, his eyes fixed to the future.”
• Kihika was being hunted by the police, and came to Mugo’s hut. He told Mugo that he wanted him “to organize an underground movement in the new village”. He asked Mugo to meet him the following week, in Kinenie Forest.
• Mugo was afraid that he would be caught and sent to prison for sheltering Kihika. He only wanted to be left alone. He felt angry that Kihika had tried to involve him in the Movement. Mugo did not know what to do. Mugo also felt jealous of Kihika, who had a family. “Kihika had everything; Mugo had nothing.” He did not want to be involved with the Movement; he did not like its violence.

What shall I do, he asked himself. If I don’t serve Kihika he’ll kill me. They killed Rev. Jackson and Teacher Muniu. If I work for him, the government will catch me … And they’ll hang me … I am not ready for death.

• Later, he saw a poster offering a reward for news that would help the British capture Kihika. He was tempted and thought about what he could do with the money.
• Mugo went to see the new District Officer, John Thompson. The hatred that Mugo felt towards Kihika came back. He was relieved to tell Thompson “the story that had tormented him for a week”. He told him where he had arranged to meet Kihika.
• Suspecting Mugo was just another person giving them false information, Thompson spat in his face. “Mugo was back in his nightmare.” It seems Mugo fainted and fell on to the floor. “He did not want the money. He did not want to know what he had done.”

It is ironic that Mugo was arrested later, simply for trying to help someone.
Perhaps the book is saying that when people are fighting for freedom, no one can isolate themselves from what is happening.

2. Themes
Community and the collective

• At the beginning of the chapter Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o speaks to the reader directly by saying, “You remember the Wednesday, just before Independence?” This makes us feel as if we are part of a conversation with others. It invites the reader to be one of the people in the market on that wet day.
• This links with Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s belief that the community is very important. However, Mugo only wants to be left alone. He does not want to be involved. He wonders:

“Why should Kihika drag me into a struggle and problems I have not created? … I am not his brother. I am not his sister. I have not done harm to anybody. I only looked after my little shamba and crops.”

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o shows that this attitude is unhealthy and must be punished, just as Mugo is punished at the end of the novel.

• In Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s opinion, the power of women in the community is very important. Mumbi and other women in the novel are often shown to be strong. For example, in this chapter we read the story of Wambui persuading the men at a shoe factory to join the 1950 workers’ strike.
  Mumbi tells her mother that she will not return to Gikonyo: “I may be a woman, but even a cowardly bitch fights back when cornered against a wall.” The community’s women ask her to go to Mugo. She tells him that the “women of Thabai and Rung’ei area sent me to you. They want you at the meeting tomorrow.” We see that women succeed where the men have failed, as Mugo responds to Mumbi – although, ironically, he does not give the speech she expected to hear at the celebrations.
  At the end of the novel we see how Mumbi persuades Gikonyo to face up to his life, just as his mother told him to “Read your own heart, and know yourself.”

Suffering and sacrifice

• In the flashback, when Mugo remembers the visit from Kihika, Kihika tells Mugo why he is fighting, and the importance of sacrifice.

“But a few shall die that the many shall live. That’s what crucifixion means today. Else we deserve to be slaves, cursed to carry water and hew wood for the whiteman for ever and ever.”

Mugo, in contrast, is not prepared to sacrifice his life as he thinks that he has a duty to keep himself “alive, healthy, strong”.

3. Symbols
Water

• It rains on this Wednesday. Many people believe that the rain just before Independence Day is a sign and a “blessing for our hard-won freedom”.

Activity 13
Read the following extract, then answer the questions below.
[Wambui tells Mumbi to persuade Mugo to speak at the celebrations.]

1. Refer to lines 1–2 (“Wambui put it … Kihika born again”).
   a) To whom does the word “him” refer? (1)
   b) Explain why Wambui says that “Independence Day without him would be stale”. State TWO points. (2)
2. What does this extract suggest about Wambui’s character? (3)
3. Explain why the community considers Mugo to be their hero. State TWO points. (2)
4. Indicate whether the following statement is TRUE or FALSE. Write “no”or “false” or “yes” or “true” and give a reason for your answer.
   Kihika was betrayed by Karanja. (2)
5. Who killed D.O. Tom Robson? (1)
6. Give two reasons why, in your opinion, Mugo betrayed Kihika. (2) [13]

Chapter 14

• Day 5: Thursday 12 December 1963 – Independence Day

1. What happens and who is involved?

• The villagers gather to celebrate the night before Independence Day.
• A group go to Mugo’s hut to sing to him. They knock on the door and hope that he will join them, but he does not respond. The night ends with a storm that destroys huts and crops.
• On Independence Day many celebrations take place. In the morning a race around the field is organised. Karanja arrives and decides to join the race, hoping that “this time he would win the race and Mumbi together”.
  • Mumbi is shocked to see Karanja in the race as she has sent him a note to warn him to stay away because he is going to be publicly accused of being the one who betrayed Kihika. When Mumbi wrote the note she thought Karanja had betrayed Kihika, but now she knows that it was Mugo.
  • In the morning Mumbi had told Wambui that Mugo did not want to take part in the ceremony, and asked: “Can’t we leave him alone?” Mumbi “did not want anybody to die or come to harm because of her brother”. Mumbi does not want vengeance for Kihika, she is prepared to forgive. She does not want Mugo to suffer any more. Yet she is annoyed with herself for caring about Karanja, as he has ruined her life.
• While they run the race, Gikonyo, Karanja, General R and Lieutenant Koina think about their past.
• Gikonyo falls, and causes Karanja to fall too. General R wins the race.
• Mumbi rushes to Gikonyo and holds his head in her hands. She then remembers that they are not together any more and, embarrassed, goes home.
• Gikonyo does not get up and is taken to hospital. He has broken his arm.
• In the afternoon the ceremonies and speeches take place. General R is called to speak instead of Mugo. General R asks for the person who betrayed Kihika to come forward; he thinks that it will be Karanja, but it is Mugo who comes forward. Mugo makes his public confession:

“You asked for the man who led Kihika to this tree, here. That man stands before you, now. Kihika came to me by night. He put his life into my hands, and I sold it to the whiteman. And this thing has eaten into my life all these years.”

Flashbacks

• Mumbi thinks back to the previous evening, when Mugo attacked her. When she had asked him what was wrong he had taken his hands off her and knelt before her. He had told her that he had betrayed her brother, Kihika.
• Karanja remembers that he had confessed the oath so he would not be taken to the camps and could stay in Thabai, near Mumbi. He could not force himself on her. Yet he had taken advantage of her. Afterwards, he thought Mumbi despised him, as she had thrown a shoe at him.
• Karanja was in a state of despair because the Thompsons had gone, and with them, the security that “white power” had given him. He had told Mwaura that he would not attend the Independence Day ceremonies. But Mumbi’s letter had changed his mind. He wanted to see her again. He still “trusted his physical power over Mumbi”. He did not take her warning seriously. Hearing that she had left Gikonyo also gave him hope.
• General R remembers his childhood and violent father.
• Lieutenant Koina remembers how he had worked for Dr Lynd. He had liked her dog. Yet the woman and her dog lived in luxury whilst Kenyan people lived in poverty. It was he who had let the men into her house and killed her dog. When he saw her again at Githima he had been surprised that she was still in Kenya. He wondered if his life really would improve with Uhuru.

It is ironic that Mugo, who is seen as a hero of the Movement, is the person who betrayed Kihika.
Yes, but it was brave of Mugo to finally confess, in front of so many people.

2. Themes
Community and the collective

• At the beginning of the chapter, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o refers to “our village” and uses “we” to show that everyone is connected and working together. Mugo, who does not respond when the villagers come to his hut, is alone and isolated from the community.

For more than an hour Mugo’s hut was taken prisoner. His name was on everybody’s lips. We wove new legends around his name and imagined deeds. We hoped that Mugo would come out and join us, but he did not open the door to our knocks.

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o believes that everyone must show responsibility and commitment to the community.
Organising the race at the celebrations is a way of involving more people in the event and is another way in which Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o tells us that it is important for the community to do things together.

3. Symbols
Water

• The night before the celebrations there is a great storm.

The wind and the rain were so strong that some trees were uprooted whole, while others broke at the trunk, or lost their branches.

This suggests the dramatic and violent effects of colonialism on Kenya. Afterwards, however, hope is suggested by the rain stopping and the earth beginning to renew itself. This can be compared to the Kenyans, who will now begin to build a new country of their own.

The morning itself was so dull we feared the day would not break into life. But the rain stopped. The air was soft and fresh, and an intimate warmth oozed from the pregnant earth to our hearts.

• The chapter ends with signs of a storm coming to show that it will cleanse the land and bring a new time for Kenya.

The running race

• The race is a symbolic opportunity for Gikonyo, Karanja, General R and Lieutenant Koina to resolve the past and face the future. The race also serves to unite the people, as the celebrations do not begin as well as they should:

contrary to what might be expected on an Uhuru day, a gloom hung over the morning session, that is over the sports and dances.
But suddenly towards the end of the morning session, something happened that seemed to break the gloom. A three-mile race … was announced.

4. Figurative language
Oxymoron: An oxymoron is the use of two words or phrases together that are opposite in meaning. In Karanja’s flashback as he is running the race, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o uses one: “White power had given Karanja a fearful security …” If you have security you should not be afraid. Here it means that the security the British gave Karanja was not lasting, it was dangerous to trust it. When Thompson left Karanja felt betrayed.

Activity 14
Read the following extract, then answer the questions below.
[Karanja, Gikonyo and others participate in a race.]

1. Refer to lines 19 – 20 (“Circumstances had changed …”). What does Mumbi mean? (1)
2. Refer to lines 13 – 22 (“The sight of … this to anybody”).
   Identify and discuss a theme of the novel revealed in these lines. (4)
3. Refer to lines 18 – 19 (“The irony of … of the situation”).
   Explain what is meant by “the irony” in General R.’s words. (3)
4. Discuss Mumbi’s character. (3)
5. In your opinion, is it important to find out who betrayed Kihika, even though Independence has been gained? Justify your answer. (2)  [13]

CHARACTERS

• Karanja
• Mugo
• Warui, Wambui
• Harambee

Karanja

• This chapter continues the story of Karanja, after the Independence Day celebrations

1. What happens and who is involved?
General R speaks against “traitors and collaborators with the colonial enemy”. In this chapter, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o takes us into the thoughts of Karanja, who was just such a man.

• Karanja prepares to leave Thabai as he realises that without the whiteman’s power to protect him he will not be able to stay.
• On his way to the bus stop, in Thabai, Karanja meets Mumbi. He thanks her for the note, and says that he looked for her at the celebrations (meeting). Mumbi tells him that she never wants to see him again.
• Karanja says that Mwaura told him that they had wanted to kill him, thinking he was the traitor. He tells Mumbi that Mugo confessed at the meeting. She had not heard about it. Karanja asks to see his child, but Mumbi asks him to leave her alone.
• Karanja had felt protected by the whiteman’s power. “He was scared of black power.” At the celebrations he had been too afraid to say that he had nothing to do with Kihika’s capture. Now that “Mumbi had finally rejected him”, he wonders why he has been saved.
• Karanja is on the road to Githima, at the railway crossing. It almost seems as if he wants to commit suicide as he steps towards the train as it passes. The train goes on and he is left alone in the dark.

Flashbacks

• Karanja thinks about his past and his relationship with his mother, Wairimu, who was disappointed in her son. She had disapproved of him being a home guard and a Chief. She had warned him: “Don’t go against the people. A man who ignores the voice of his own people comes to no good end.”
• Karanja confessed the oath after he had seen Kihika hanged. He felt disgust, not sorrow for a lost friend. To save himself he joined the homeguard. In his first job he identified members of the Mau Mau for the British. He wore a hood over his head so that he could not be recognised.

2. Themes
Heroism

• Karanja and Mumbi think that Mugo is courageous for confessing that he betrayed Kihika. Karanja says: “He is a man of courage.”

Suffering and sacrifice

• Karanja is the opposite of Kihika, as he was not prepared to make any sacrifices. He does not have Kihika’s heroic courage. He is too selfish to join the Mau Mau cause, as he only thinks of himself and what benefits and power he can gain.

Betrayal

• Karanja is a traitor, like Mugo. He betrays his friend Gikonyo by having sex with his wife, he betrays his people by working for the British and shooting terrorists and, by leaving Thabai, he even betrays his mother.
  Notice how like Mugo Karanja has become at this point in the story. His whole life is now meaningless and, like Mugo, he is troubled and confused. “Thompson has gone, I have lost Mumbi. His mind hopped from image to image, following no coherent order. Incidents in his life would pop up and then disappear.”

Community and the collective

• Instead of Karanja facing up to how he betrayed the community by confessing his Mau Mau oath and becoming a home guard, he tries to run away like a coward.
  It seems that Karanja is left alone, abandoned by the British, and the people of Thabai:
  He was conscious … of many angry eyes watching him in the dark … When the train disappeared, the silence around him deepened; the night seemed to have grown darker.

Guilt

• Notice too how Karanja has become very troubled, like Mugo, because of his guilt. He had not felt guilty when he was abusing his power as a home guard and Chief.

3. Symbols
Railway

• The train that passes Karanja may be seen as a symbol of the British leaving Kenya, as it was their technology.

4. Figurative language

• The description of the train as it passes Karanja is very vivid: “The train was now so near he could hear the wheels screeching on the rails. He felt the screeching in his flesh …” The sound of the train is described in a metaphor as if it was tearing into Karanja’s body. The repetition of the word “screeching” is an example of onomatopoeia, bringing the sound of the train to life.
• It is ironic that Karanja, who had betrayed so many of his people, was not denounced as a traitor at the Uhuru celebrations. In an ironic twist, he was saved by Mugo, who had betrayed only one person, Kihika.

Activity 15
Read the following extract, then answer the questions below.
[Karanja and Mumbi meet by accident.]

1. Refer to line 1 (“ ‘How is Gikonyo?’”)
   Briefly outline the events that led to Gikonyo being in hospital. State TWO points. (2)
2. Choose the correct answer to complete the following sentence.
   The words “without thinking much about the question” in line 1 mean that Karanja is …
   A really worried about Mumbi.
   B not really worried about Gikonyo.
   C really worried about Gikonyo’s family.
   D not really worried about Mumbi. (1)
3. Refer to line 6 (“… thank you for the note”).
   a) Explain why Mumbi sends Karanja a note. State TWO points. (2)
   b) What does Karanja think the note means? State TWO points. (2)
4. Refer to lines 13 – 14 (“They wanted to kill me?”).
   a) To whom does “They” refer? (1)
   (b) Why do these people not kill Karanja? (1)
5. What role does Mwaura play in the few days before the freedom celebrations? (1)
6. Refer to line 25 (“ ‘Can’t I … may I not see the child … last time?’ “)
   How does this line make you feel towards Karanja? Discuss your view. (2)
7. Refer to line 31 (“she was swallowed by the mist and the village huts”). These words have both a FIGURATIVE and a SYMBOLIC meaning.
   a) Explain the figurative way in which Mumbi is “swallowed”. (1)
   b) Explain the symbolic way in which she is “swallowed”. (1)
8. Consider the novel as a whole.
   Do you think Mumbi is cold and unfeeling towards Karanja? Discuss your view. (2)
9. Consider the novel as a whole.
   Do you admire Karanja? Discuss your view. (2)  [18]

Mugo

• Day 4, Wednesday 11 and Day 5, Thursday 12
• Independence Day 1963

1. What happens and who is involved?

• Independence Day: Mumbi and Wangari visit Gikonyo in the hospital and tell him about Mugo’s confession.
• Gikonyo still praises Mugo. He says: “Tell me another person who would have exposed his soul for all the eyes to peck at.”
• Mumbi is worried about Mugo and twice goes to his hut, but cannot find him.
• Mugo feels that he has now lost Mumbi’s trust and she must think him vile. After his confession Mugo thinks he will run away to Nairobi. He passes the hut of the old woman whose son, Gitogo, had been shot by British soldiers. He feels he wants to see her. The woman believes he is her dead son who has returned. She is happy, but it seems that the shock kills her. Mugo imagines she is his cruel aunt. Instead of escaping to Nairobi, Mugo goes back to his hut.
  • Mugo sits on his bed, with water dripping from his wet hair. General R and Lt Koina come to his hut. They have come to take him to a trial because, as General R says: “Your deeds alone will condemn you … No one will ever escape from his own actions.” General R does not sound angry or bitter.

Flashbacks

• Mugo thinks about what happened just before the Independence Day celebrations. He remembers how Mumbi “trusted him, and confided in him”. Her trust had made him tell the truth and he had confessed. He had thought that she would tell the others.
• At the celebrations Mugo thought about letting Karanja take the blame. But if he did, he would never be able to look Mumbi in the face. After Mugo had finished speaking there was silence. The people did not attack him, but let him leave.

2. Themes
Guilt

• After his confession the burden of guilt was lifted from Mugo. “Mugo felt light. A load of many years was lifted from his shoulders.”

Suffering and sacrifice

• Mugo’s death is associated with Kihika’s. Kihika sacrificed his life for Kenya and when Mugo sacrifices his life he atones (pays) for Kihika’s death. This helps to heal the wounds of Kenya’s colonial past. In the end he recognises what he has done and that, like Judas, who betrayed Christ, he could not have committed a greater crime. In this way he also becomes heroic as he accepts his fate. He tells General R and Lieutenant Koina that he is “ready”.

Community and the collective

• The chapter shows us how dangerous it is to live isolated from the community. Mugo visits the old lonely woman who cannot see reality when she mistakes him for her son. Mugo also cannot see reality as he imagines that the old woman is his cruel aunt. With this incident the author is saying that living alone will lead to unhealthy ideas about the world.

3. Symbols
Water

• The rain drenches Mugo so that when he returns to his hut, just as at the beginning of the book, a drop of water enters his eye. Yet this time he is not afraid, and the water “ran down his face like a tear”. Water, now, is cleansing.

Grain of wheat

• With Mugo’s death the people are aware that revenge is irrelevant and meaningless, as the important thing is that silence must be broken. Now that everyone knows the truth they can go into the future, and the village and Kenya can prosper once more.
• This means that, like Kihika, Mugo is like the grain of wheat which must die (dry out) so that there can be new life. The grain of wheat has borne fruit for Kenya in the form of a healthier community in the newly independent country.

Activity 16
Read the extract below, then answer the questions below.
[Mugo goes to speak at the Independence Day celebrations]

1. What is the “crime” that Mugo is going to confess to? (1)
2. Explain what has made him decide to confess. (1)
3. Refer to line 12, “A load of many years was lifted from his shoulders.” Explain the figurative meaning of this sentence. (1)
4. Discuss the importance of the theme of confession in this extract. (2)
5. Mugo isolates himself from the community. Discuss why he does so. (2)
6. Mugo is a traitor, but no one in the village suspects him. If you were in Mugo’s situation, would you have confessed to your crime? Discuss your view. (2)  [9]

Warui, Wambui

• Two days after Independence Day 1963

1. What happens and who is involved?

• Warui, a village elder, and Wambui, an old woman who was active during the struggle, sit after the celebrations and talk about the death of the old woman (the mother of Gitogo, the young deaf man whom the British shot during the Emergency).
• They feel downhearted and depressed because of the constant drizzle of rain, and also because they are still trying to come to terms with the fact that Mugo was a traitor. They feel that “something went wrong”.
• Mumbi visits them. She wonders if she could have saved Mugo. She tells them that he had confessed to her the night before the meeting, and how his face had changed. Finally, she says that perhaps they must not worry too much about the meeting and Mugo. She says: “We have got to live.” Warui and Wambui agree that life must continue.
• Wambui feels that Independence has been “a terrible anti-climax”. “Perhaps we should not have tried him, she muttered.”

2. Themes
Betrayal

• Warui and Wambui are both like “bereaved children for whom life has suddenly lost warmth, colour, and excitement”. They feel that Mugo’s behaviour has betrayed the Uhuru celebrations.

Community and the collective

• Warui and Wambui believe that the old woman died because she was cut off from the community. When Mumbi comes she is the first to recognise that they must all continue to work together. Warui adds that “we have the village to build”, and Wambui says: “And the market tomorrow, and the fields to dig and cultivate for the next season”.

Suffering and sacrifice

• Warui says that he has not seen Wambui “since the day of the big sacrifice”. He is referring to the sacrifice of rams on Independence Day, but the words may also refer to the other big sacrifice of the day – that of Mugo, who offers his life so that the village may have the truth.

3. Symbols
Water

• The rain on Independence Day is not heavy, but just a drizzle. It symbolises the state of shock the villagers are in after hearing Mugo’s confession. After the big build-up to the celebrations, there is no violent storm, but a steady rain, an anti-climax.

It is as if they had expected Mugo to be their hero and lead them into the future, but their expectations were shattered. They do not know what to do. Wambui “was lost in a solid consciousness of a terrible anti-climax to her activities in the fight for freedom”.

Activity 17
Read the following extract, then answer the questions that follow.
[Warui and Wambui are discussing Mugo.]

1. Briefly discuss each of the following characters. State TWO things about each character.
   (a) Warui (2)
   (b) Wambui (2)
2. The Day of Independence is supposed to be a celebration. Briefly discuss the shocking events that take place during this celebration. State TWO points. (2)
3. Refer to line 13 (“The old woman”).
   Choose the correct answer to complete the following sentence: The old woman is the mother of …
   A Karanja.
   B Gikonyo.
   C Gitogo.
   D Mumbi. (1)  [7]

 Harambee

1. What happens and who is involved?

• Gikonyo is in hospital recovering from breaking his arm during the race at the Independence Day celebrations. “Lying in hospital, he was again possessed by a desire to carve the stool”, just as he had dreamed of making a stool for Mumbi while he was in detention.
• On the seventh day of his stay in hospital, when Mumbi comes to see Gikonyo, she tells him that she may not come again.
• Gikonyo says that he needs to talk, but Mumbi says that they need time for this. Finally she agrees to come the next day, and she leaves “with determined steps, sad, but almost sure”.
• Gikonyo has hope now that they can reconcile (make up), and he thinks once again about the stool he wants to carve. He decides that he will “change the woman’s figure. I shall carve a woman big – big with child.”

Flashback

• As Gikonyo lies in bed thinking about his life in the detention camps, he is “pricked with guilt. Courage had failed him, he had confessed the oath in spite of vows to the contrary.” He thinks that he is no better than Karanja and Mugo, and Mugo’s confession makes him want to talk to Mumbi and find out what she thinks.

2. Themes
Community and the collective; Lack of communication

• This last section of the book is called Harambee, which means “unity” or “working together”. In this way Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o emphasises the importance of the community.
• The relationship of Gikonyo and Mumbi shows us how necessary it is that people communicate and work together. The fact that Gikonyo wants to speak about Mumbi’s child is a sign that he is breaking his silence and is prepared to communicate with Mumbi about their troubles. When he asks her to speak about the child Mumbi sits down again. She agrees that they need to talk, “to open our hearts to one another, examine them, and then together plan the future we want”. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o believes that this is the attitude that all Kenyans should adopt.
• In an ironic twist, it is Karanja’s son, whose conception was the reason for the break between Gikonyo and Mumbi, who becomes the bridge that will lead him back to her.

3. Symbols
The stool

• “He would carve the stool from a Muiri stem, a hard wood that grew around Kerinyaga, and Nyandarwa hills.” The wood Gikonyo wants to use for his carving makes us think once more of the lush land of Kenya as it was before the State of Emergency and it suggests that Kenya will continue.
• In addition, the “woman big with child” shows that Gikonyo has the ability to put aside the troubles in his past, forgive Mumbi and look to the future with hope.

We see at the end of the novel how independent and strong Mumbi is despite her past difficultie. In this way, she symbolises the new, independent Kenya.

A grain of wheat

• There is a reference to grain in the Bible (I Corinthians 15:36). It says that the grain must die for new life to happen. This is the idea that sacrifices may lead to transformation and new life.
• At the end of the novel we see this particularly in the relationship between Gikonyo and Mumbi. Gikonyo’s anger and jealousy must die for their marriage to come to life again.

Activity 18
Test yourself by answering the questions below.
1. Explain the meaning of Harambee and why this is the name of this last chapter of the novel. (3)
2. Read the extract below, then answer the question: [Gikonyo watches Mumbi leave the hospital]

Identify two words in the extract that show you that Mumbi is a strong woman. (2)
3. Give TWO reasons to support this statement: The novel ends in a positive way. (2)   [7]

So many Kenyans suffered in their fight to be free from colonialism.
Yes, and their suffering still continued after they won freedom from the British. Some of their local leaders abused their power and were corrupt too.
So the people’s fight for justice and freedom continued even after colonialism ended.

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’.