The Power of One

Chapters 4-8 explore Race, Racism, and Power in South Africa as Courtenay portrays the racial hierarchy and social structure of South Africa, highlighting the illogical and irrational beliefs that propagate racism. Peekay encounters different races and ethnicities, as well as examples of acceptance and intolerance in equal measures, throughout these chapters, emphasizing the diversity and complexity of race and power in South Africa. For example, he wonders about the sign that reads “Blacks only” and in his childlike ignorance reads this erroneously as a sign of his limitations, rather than privileges, as a white person. Courtenay uses Peekay’s naïve view to interrogate how race works as a social structure. His age and inexperience limits his understanding. Peekay quickly glosses over the moral implications, accepting human nature as complicated. Notably, however, Peekay’s naivety means that he can identify the inconsistencies in the beliefs and behavior of his role models and not just antagonistic characters. Hoppie is the first of many characters who frustrate Peekay’s analysis of race relations, such as when Hoppie lauds an African American boxer but projects racist views about Black South Africans. This naivety at the beginning of the novel is key to Peekay’s journey in an historical Bildungsroman.

Relatedly, Courtenay introduces the train ride to indicate a period of transition that precedes important development in Peekay’s character. Peekay eagerly accepts a new phase of life, taking the name Peekay, feeling “new and clean” (64). He decides that “nobody ever again would know that [he] had been called ‘Pisskop’” (64). The train allows Peekay to leave behind the trauma of his past in literal and metaphorical ways. The narrator adds that “Granpa Chook was dead and so was ‘Pisskop,’ the first two South African casualties in the Second World War” (64). This section therefore marks a significant shift in the Bildungsroman as Peekay’s change of setting reflects his change of character.

Chapter 7 reiterates the significance of the train ride within the narrative. The narrator explains that “sometimes we live a lifetime in two days,” identifying the events with Hoppie and on the train as “the beginning of the end of [his] small childhood, a bridge of time that would shape [his] life to come” (122). The end of each major period of development in Peekay’s characterization is bookended by a death, his growth and transformation a symbolic rebirth. Peekay’s time with Big Hettie is another encounter with death, illustrating that the liminal period on the train is an important period of development. Big Hettie encourages Peekay to think about courage and dignity, before he is faced with a new version of death. The narrator explains that he “instinctively understood that the blithe spirit is rare among humans” (124). Courtenay employs a layered meaning of blithe in this instance, meaning both careless (with negative connotations) and carefree (with positive connotations), suggesting that this death teaches Peekay about the complexities of humanity and the rarity of feeling pure happiness or indifference. The narrator suggests that death is a release of the spirit, a type of freedom from the human condition and suffering.

In Chapter 4, Peekay meets Hoppie Groenewald, the first example of multiple archetypal mentor characters. Hoppie provides several key pieces of advice that are couched in maxims, or words to live by. This illustrates the significance of the meeting. Though the advice that Peekay is given only spans a single day, Peekay faithfully refers to these maxims throughout the novel; these maxims fit within multiple themes and motifs and overwhelmingly shape his growth and development as a character. Of these dictums, the most significant is “[f]irst with the head, then with heart” (103). Peekay analyzes this dictum carefully, making a comparison with his previous experience with the “night country.” He readily embraces Hoppie’s dictum and begins repeating it immediately, highlighting Hoppie’s narrative function as an initiator of Peekay’s social and moral development.

Hoppie also introduces Peekay to boxing as the “greatest art of self-defense” (67), establishing the novel’s motif of the art of boxing. Here, it offers Peekay a joyful alternative to his previous experiences with Adaptation, Evolution, and the Science of Survival—that is, his mental escapes to the “night country” and alternately hiding from or pandering to the Judge. This is an important development for Peekay’s character, providing the necessary empowerment to move forward with confidence. Hoppie explains, “To be a welterweight is perfect. Not too big to be slow, not too small to lack a punch” (67). This establishes boxing as a key element of the size and power motif as well, as Peekay spends the novel literally and metaphorically weighing up the power dynamics in his world. Hoppie shows Peekay his boxing gloves, calling them “the equalizers” (68). Courtenay hence also weaves boxing through the theme of Race, Racism, and Power in South Africa.

The fight between Hoppie and Jackhammer Smit is an important moment for Peekay as proof of the effectiveness of The Power of the Individual and as evidence that boxing is indeed an avenue of self-defense and empowerment for small against big. Peekay notes, “It seemed certain now that small could beat big, all it took was brains and skill and heart and a plan” (97). This illustrates Peekay’s characteristic observation and reflection and anticipates action to come in the novel.