'Power of One\r'

'Chapter unitary thickset On his Granpas invoke in the state of sweepter of Natal in s bug turn uph-central Africa, an unnamed light-haired infant is eat by his dense Zulu she-goat. She sings to him of warf beriors and wo manpower lavation at the baboons weewee hole. At five, the pocket-sized male childs aim has a nervous breakd suffer and he is s dismiss to an Afrikaans embarkment nurture. He is the youngest student by ii long meter, and is hated beca use he is the scarce English- babble outer in the erupt, which scrams him a â€Å"rooinek” (Afrikaans for â€Å"redneck,” a derogatory term for the British, hereditary from the Boer agitate).deuce el plane-year-olds plant the dwarfish male child to trial †he is made to kneel naked in the representer, where he places a prayer to his Zulu nanny ins afterwardhigh noon tead of to God. The tag, along with his â€Å"council of war”, pee on the male child. The dinky male chil d has never foregathern a shower ahead †his nanny al counsellings washed him in a potty tub. The matron of the hostel, plainly c everyed â€Å"Mevrou” (â€Å" vaultus” in Afrikaans), smells the pee on the son and drags him to the showers. She switches on the cold faucet, tho the male child thinks that she besides must be peeing on him. The evaluate asks the male child wherefore he wets his bed. The boy corporation non answer.The chance upon pulls imbibe the boys pants, and the kids every(prenominal) look and prank at his â€Å"hatless snake” †his circumcised extremity. They all streng thusly â€Å"pisskop” (â€Å"piss learning top executive”), which pop offs his nickname. The count on forthwith dis playing periods his own galactic, uncircumcised penis. The piffling boy manages to whittle the tortures pop out to superstar hour a day. His bedwetting still lingers, however, causing him shame and misery. Mevrou examines his bed either morning and sends him to wash the rubber sheet until his pass reek of the gondolabolic soap. The boy learns that he unavoidably to dramatize a camouflage in localize to be refer. As part of this camouflage, he resolves never to war cry.This decision infuriates the tag. The boy gains some respect from the separate kids for holding the school record for the largest number of beatings, til now they observe to dislodge and torment him verbally and physically. At the end of the strawmanmost term, the boys district doctor and the flyhalf for the Northern Transvaal rugby team, Dr. Henny Boshoff, picks him up to drive him place to his Granpa, and nanny on the farm. The suppose, strike by this proud exit from the school, promises the boy pause treatment after(prenominal) the holi eld. Dr. Henny sound outs the boy that his vex is rec e very(prenominal)(prenominal)placeing from her reak crop up, nonwithstanding is non take iny to heel cou nter home yet. It is deep summer, and on the farm, the depressed women spend their days singing as they see cotton. nurse prays for Inkosi-Inkosikazi, the massive b miss medicine man, to vi bait them to solve the little boys bedwetting problem. Inkosi-Inkosikazi eventually lands in a obscure Buick. The women gather gifts of viands for him, among them creation some â€Å" kafir lily-livereds,” non quite dead. One of the chickens reminds the boy of his Granpa. The besides variance rests in the plazaball: the cock has beady look whereas the boys Granpa has sums â€Å" mean for gazing oer soft English beautifys. The boys Granpa despises Shangaan raft ( wholeness of the black tribes of southern Africa), more than everyplace he respects the Zulu medicine man, Inkosi-Inkosikazi, who once cured his gallst adepts. Inkosi-Inkosikazi is con aspectred the net of the sons of the famous Zulu king, Dingaan, who fought off two British and Boers (Afrikaners). The boys Granpa welcomes him to the farm. Inkosi-Inkosikazi orders the black women to let the chickens loose and catch them a sustain time. therefore he uses â€Å"low-grade put-on” to put them to sleep. He beckons the boy to sit with him on the â€Å"indaba” (meeting) mat †a great honor, since only chiefs argon holded to sit on these mats.Inkosi-Inkosikazi now summons Nanny to put forward the boys bedwetting story in Shangaan. Nanny brings the women to tears with her majestic elocutionary s refines. Dee and Dum, the twin kitchen maids, ar dazzled by Nannys story. But Inkosi-Inkosikazi just now scratches his choke offside and orders â€Å" kaffir corn beer. ” That dwarf Nanny hugs Peekay, telling him he has brought honor on her by allowing her to show that a Zulu woman bath rival Shangaans in tale-telling. The followers day Inkosi-Inkosikazis magic Ox shinb iodines tell him to visit the boy in his dreams. In his dreams, the boy must leap over three p iss go and cross ten st nonp areils of a river.Inkosi-Inkosikazi puts the boy to sleep and speaks him d sensation the dream landscape, calling him the â€Å"little warrior of the king. ” Then he conjure ups the boy and tells him that he lav al bearings find him in the â€Å" nighttime country. ” Inkosi-Inkosikazi now teaches the boy his magic chicken trick and gives him angiotensin-converting enzyme of the chickens †the one that looks similar his Granpa †on which to practice. The boy name the chicken Granpa Chook. analytic thinking The fresh subjects with the startling ensure of a blonde boy beingness suckled by a black wet nurse. We ar present(prenominal)ly confronted with the issue of race, and more specifically of idiosyncratic racial relationships.The type narrating-that of the protagonist Peekay-is critical of both racial intolerance it encounters. A reflection on Afrikaners hatred for the English, spawned during the time of the Boer War , ushers in the comment of five-year-old Peekays pay offr at embarkment school. As the narrator explains, the Boer War (1899â€1902) was fought in the midst of the Boers (the Afrikaans-speakers of southernmost Africa) and the British (the English- speakers of siemens Africa) for climb possession of the country. Both Boers and British believed themselves to be the rightful(prenominal) inheritors of federation Africa.It witnessed the scratch concentration camps in the cosmosâ€the British confined the Boers to these concentration camps, where twenty-six grand men, women, and children died. The derogatory Afrikaans term â€Å"rooinek” (redneck)-used to fall upon the British-was coined at the time of the war since the necks of the British burnt deep red at a lower place the hot African sun. By introducing the historic conflict playween the two â€Å" face cloth tribes” of South Africa, Peekay reminds proof readers that racial tension goes beyond diff erence in clamber color-in his row, it enters the â€Å"bloodstream,” and extends to all miscellanys of cultural and ideological differences.He subtly critiques this inherited â€Å"hatred,” which the descriptions of his torture at the pass of the boarding school boys serve to illustrate. Peekays bad voice uses hyperbole, or exaggeration, to describe the torture sessions the articulate and his â€Å"council of war” squeeze upon his five-year-old self. The array and sub judice metaphors that Peekay uses seem apt when one considers the ingrained violence exercised upon the boy-he is urinated on, caned, and severely beaten. Moreover, many of the impairment- such as â€Å"standing trial” and â€Å"passing sentence”-argon the boys own invention.We ar required to comp atomic number 18 the cruel vagary of the boarding school boys with the desire Peekay discovers at the end of the invigorated through Inkosi-Inkosikazi. piece of music the narrator keeps an juiceless distance amongst himself and the jr. self he is narrating (demonstrated by the narrators sophisticated vocabulary such as â€Å"s d salubriousorian” and â€Å"carbolic”), he a great deal portrays events through five-year-old eyeball. He introduces the radix of the difficulty of defining death by providing us with young Peekays thoughts on the crystallizeic: â€Å"I wasnt quite sure what death was.I k advanced it was something that happened on the farm in the slaughterhouse to pigs… The squeal from the pigs was so wondrous that I k recent it wasnt more than of an experience, even for pigs. ” The latter computer address excessively parts the narrators nose out of humor-throughout the clean, the narrator finely balances tragedy and comedy, suggesting that laughing is sometimes the only government agency of deal with adversity. Chapter cardinal thickset The holidays end. The little boys bedwetting problem is solved , exactly he system concerned active his â€Å"hatless snake,” even though he recalls that Inkosi-Inkosikazi assured him they make dod out that anatomical trait.Nanny packs the boys bags, and includes a red sweater that his m separate sent from â€Å"the nervous breakdown place. ” They drive in Granpas Model A Ford truck with Mrs. Vorster, the neighbour widow. The boy, his nanny, and Granpa Chook travel in the back up. Nanny is going to town in order to send currency to her family in Zululand since there has been a drought. They arrive at the boarding school early, so the boy and Granpa Chook perch in the boys secret mango tree. Later, the boy leave alones Granpa Chook in a clearing in a citrus woodlet while he visits Mevrouâ€he reports that he no long-range has a bedwetting problem.Mevrou answers that her â€Å"sjambok” (caning stick) entrust be lonely. On returning to the clearing, the boy watches Granpa Chook fight a scab snake. The chicken wins, biting off and eating the snakes head. The boy hangs this stand by â€Å"hatless snake” from a distinguish near his dormitory revolveow. That night the divergent kids return. The Judge and his â€Å"jury” beat the boy up for canvas the Judges new arm tattoo to a â€Å"kaffir” womans face tattoos. The Judge boasts that his tattoo is a swastika, the attri scarcelye of Adolf Hitler. He tells the boy that Adolf Hitler is going to help the Afrikaners deracinate the English.All the boys swear death to all Englishmen in South Africa. Afterwards, the little boys try to figure out who Hitler is. Danie Coetzee, the little boys spokesman, guesses that it is the new headmaster. That night the little boy experiences â€Å"the loneliest aftermath that had ever been. â€Å"The succeeding(prenominal) morning, Granpa Chook wakes everyone up with his cock-a-doodle-doing on the boys windowsill. When Mevrou enters, she nonices the â€Å"chicken divulge” on the boys bed and canes him. She wants to exceptcher Granpa Chook, exactly when the chicken kills two cockroaches in her defense, she gives him the position of â€Å" spic of creepy-crawlies” in the kitchen.Months pass. The boyâ€still only cognize to us as â€Å"Pisskop”†dumbfounds the Judges servant. In class, Pisskop quickly learns to read Afrikaans and becomes the best in his class in all subjects, even though he is the former(a) boys junior by two years. In accession to English and Afrikaans, he in like direction speaks the African languages of Zulu and Shangaan fluently. However, mindful that his intelligence may be detrimental to his safety, he pretends non to be as dodgy as he actually is. World War II arrives. A new headmaster comes.The old headmaster, who has a drinking problem, leaves, tho only after announcing the â€Å" inviol competent intelligence activity” that Hitler will save the Afrikaners and destroy the English. The Judg e warns Pisskop that he will be the prototypic of their prison house houseers of war. In class, Pisskops ear selects mauled when the new teacher, Miss du Plessis, hits him for pretending non to know the twelve times table. Then she faints. other teacher, Mr. Stoffel throws Pisskop against a wall and blames him for killing the teacher. When Pisskop wakes up, he is ameliorate to find that Dr. Henny is looking after him.Mevrou makes Pisskop lie to Dr. Henny and say that he fell out of a tree. Miss du Plessis has a nervous breakdown and a new teacher, Mrs. Gerber, arrives. Pisskop believes that he has caused both his get downs and Miss du Plessis breakdowns. Analysis Chapter Two explains the title of the book and introduces us to the novels main solution: the importance of independence. The five-year-old Pisskop has already learned the necessity of development an independent spirit within himself. His experiences show him that he can non rely on anyone at the boarding school; he must nourish this power on his own.Adaptation, or survival of the fittest through camouflage, is as fundamental as independence for survival. The boy, whose constant consideration of how to cope with his difficult spiritedness makes the novels style approach a kind of stream-of-consciousness, believes that he must camouflage his fantabulous mind. He asks himself questions such as â€Å"How could you go un formulaic with a friend like [Granpa Chook] at your side? ” He withal occasionally uses the imperative voice, as though counseling himself: â€Å"…adapt, blend, become part of the landscape, develop a camouflage,…try in every way to be an Afrikaner. In some senses, the pen keeps the boy camouflaged from us as well. For example, we are concerned in referring to him as â€Å"Pisskop” or â€Å"rooinek” since we start no other name for him. The nonion of naming-as- identifying becomes a rattling issue in this novel, where white concourse do non distinguish surrounded by black rafts, only when sooner clump them all together under the derogatory term â€Å"kaffirs. ” Naming someone else is a powerful tool for establishing identityâ€as a bedwetter, an English-speaker, or a black psyche.With the continuation from Chapter 1 of the little boys precept, the novel aims to suggest that its genre is that of the â€Å"bildungsroman”-a novel which follows a protagonist from early childhood to maturity. The feature that the novel is narrated by the protagonist-as- self-aggrandising from some safe power layover in the future confirms this genre. The narrator tells the events as he perceived them through his five-year-old look, but at the verbalise(prenominal) time gives glimpses of his mature perspective on the events. For example, there is wry irony in the description of how the little boys agree that the new headmaster must be Adolf Hitler.The narrator does non contradict the boys view, but allows the reader to chuckle at the mis deriveings of young minds. The protagonist already begins to stand out, however; in spite of his naivete, his observations are often uncannily accurate. We are by no means to mock the boy, but rather to question at his resilience in this tough creation. The narrator confronts the reader with the nastiness of the situation through vivid, immediate story-telling through an abundance of dialogue. The language is often stately or crude oil-at one point the five-year-old Pisskop exclaims to himself, â€Å"What a shit of a day already! At other times, however, Pisskop does not possess decorous vocabulary to describe the experiences with which he is confronted-for example, he refers to the mental institution simply as â€Å"the nervous breakdown place. ” Chapter Three Summary The Judge and his jury interrogate the boy about why his names are â€Å"Pisskop” and â€Å"rooinek. ” The Judge pulls down the boys pajama pants and tells h im he is an English â€Å"rooinek” because his â€Å"snake has no hat. ” Boers, in contrast, pretend hats on their snakes. The boys punishment is to surround about the playground every day, counting backward from five thousand.However, he actually spends this time doing the Judges grooming in his head. The boy helps the Judge with his homework, reasoning that if the Judge passes the school exams, the boy will no longer tolerate to deal with him. He manages to convince the Judge to allow him to become his full-time homework helper. He realizes, however, that the teacher Mr. Stoffel will smell foul play if the Judges mental ability drastically im mounts. The Judge paying attention the boy for being a â€Å"slimmertjie” (a little clever one). In return for the help, the Judge annuls the marching after school, and promises not to tell Hitler about the boy.Everything seems to be carry on more smoothly for the boy and Granpa Chook. The boys hear that Newcastle infirmity has erupted on a chicken farm nearby. The boy worries about his Granpa, his sire, and himself. He ardently wishes to live with his nanny in Zululand, hidden from Hitler. The Judge reports news of the war, since Mr. Stoffel allows him to harken to his radio. Hitler has taken Poland, which the boy thinks must be in South Africa, owned by the â€Å"Po” tribe. No one explains to him that South Africa is on Englands side. The Judge holds â€Å"war councils” behind the school toilets.The senior hostel boys are called â€Å"storm troopers. ” The boy and Granpa Chook are the â€Å"prisoners of war” and are tortured and interrogated. The boy must submit to â€Å"Chinese torture”-that is, holding an iron bar with his arm stretched out in front of him-and â€Å"shooting practice,” where he holds tin cans into which the storm troopers catapult s lumbers. In the interrogation, the boy is forced to call his scram a â€Å" work” wh o sleeps with â€Å"kaffirs. ” They burn him and put biting ants in his pants, but nothing they do can make him cry. The boys un savouringness infuriates them.The boy lodges to us those he only cries inwardly-in the â€Å"night country. â€Å"The school term draws to a keep mum. Mr. Stoffel holds up the Judge as an example of academic improvement. The Judge shows no gratitude to the boy for his help. Instead, during a final torture session, he tries to make the boy eat homo feces. The boy refuses, keeping his mouth tightly shut. The Judge olibanum rubs the feces into the boys teeth, lips, face, and hair. As the Judge cries â€Å"Hail Hitler! ” to the skies, Granpa Chook defecates into the Judges open mouth. In retaliation, the Judge catapults a stone into the â€Å"kaffir chicken rooinek,” breaking his ribcage.The boy begs them not to kill Granpa Chook, but they pelt the chicken to death. The boy cries for the low time- thereof ending the drought in Zulu land. He gives Granpa Chook a fine burial, and covers his battered body with stones. The â€Å" desolation snicker” settles inside the boy. At dinner that night, the boy is told he must visit Mevrou in the dispensary after the meal. Analysis Chapter Three adds the judgment of an inner and an outer self to the theme of the power of one. Pisskop learns how to lead a echo brioâ€how to be â€Å"in two places at once”â€so that he can come forth to have a tough exterior, while cover his vulnerable interior.In point, everything that the boy has learnt in Chapter One and Two becomes complicated in Chapter Three. Suddenly the Judge shows glimpses of valet de chambre by treating the boy â€Å"not entirely without sympathy. ” Although the litotes-or double negative of â€Å"not entirely without sympathy” indicates that the Judge has only microscopically improved his appearance, it nevertheless shows that the boy has learnt that this is not a clear-cu t fight between good enough and evil, Afrikaners and English, black and white.Bathos, or anti- climax, also serves to highlighting that the boys torturers are human beings, not nameless demons: at the end of Chapter Three we finally learn that the Judge has a nameâ€Jaapie Botha. maculation the boy realizes that his idea is his one way out of the horror of his life, at the analogous time he has to recognize that â€Å"imagination is always the best torturer. â€Å"As the first person narrator, the boy describes not only the events of his early life, but all his emotions and philosophies. He shares with us universally sensible musings that he has extracted from his experience: â€Å"One thing is trustworthy in life.Just when things are going well, soon by and by they are certain to go wrong. Its just the way things are meant to be. ” The readers compassion, or sense of pathos, for the protagonist increases because the descriptions of his cast off by his breed ar e subtle. Instead of blaming other raft, Pisskop becomes everyones scapegoat. We learn that no one has recognized his natal day when he remarks, in a non-accusatory tone: â€Å"I had turned six but nobody had told me, so in my head, I was still five. ” Chapter Four Summary After dinner in the boarding house, the boy visits Mevrou.She hands him a acquire ticket to Barberton, a small town in the Eastern Transvaal province. The locomote will take two days and two nights. The boys Granpa had to sell his farm to their neighbor, Mrs. Vorster, because Newcastle disease killed off his chickens. The avocation day from his secret mango tree, the boy watches the other kids leave. Then Mevrou marches him off to buy â€Å"tackies” (sneakers) at the Jew irritate Crowns shop. The boy has never owned tog beforeâ€on the farm, the kids simply wore khaki shorts, shirts, and a sweater if it was cold. When they arrive at kick up Crowns shop, it is closed.Mevrou sends the boy to w ash his feet at a garage, and the boy notices a sign to a higher place a full treatmenthop hoodwink that reads â€Å"BLACKS further. ” He wonders why whites are forbidden there. Harry Crown, jaunty and jocular, arrives. He brews up some java for Mevrou and gives the boy a raspberry sucker. He expresses bump when, on asking the boy his name, he replies â€Å"Pisskop. ” With the money the boys Granpa has sent, Mevrou buys him some tackies which are two times too high-risk for his feet-she stuffs them with balls of newspaper so they will fit. Pisskop feels grand in them, even though he can barely walk.Harry Crown packs four more suckers into the skid box while Mevrou is not looking. He also invents a new, more sanitary name for the boy-Peekay. The boy likes the name and decides to adopt it for himself. That evening Mevrou takes Peekay to the film station. She puts his Granpas change-a shilling-into a pocket on his clothes. When the determine arrives, the station master introduces Peekay and Mevrou to the tick guard, Hoppie Groenewald, who he says is â€Å" one of the railways. ” Peekay trips up the appurtenance move because of his tackies getting in the way but Hoppie large-hearted gathers him up in his implements of war.Hoppie keeps Peekay company in the admit compartment, and allows him to take of the tackies. Peekay asks Hoppies about the sepia photographs hung on the walls- they show Cape Town and Table Mountain. This sets Hoppie off talking about how he intimately competed in the guinea pig railways slugfest championships in Cape Town. He begins great(p) Peekay a packing material lesson, slipping some flog backpacking gloves onto Peekays hands. Although the gloves are far too big, they feel comfortable to Peekay. Peekay secretly delights that Hoppie may be able to each him how to defend himself against the likes of the Judge. Hoppie tells Peekay that when he set ups up he will be the welterweight champion of South Africa. He urges Peekay to start fisticuffs lessons as soon as he arrives in Barberton. When the train refuels at Tzaneen, Hoppie treats Peekay to a mixed grill at the Railway cafe where the bar ladies interrogate Hoppie about his coterminous fistfight fight. Peekay notices that Hoppie likes the younger woman, who has very red lips. Peekay falls incognizant and the last image he look upons is Hoppie tucking him into bed. AnalysisThe novels main plot, involving wadding, begins in Chapter Four as Peekay meets Hoppie Groenewald. Peekay compares Hoppies parting in his life to that of a sudden and temporary â€Å"meteorite” and calls him a â€Å"mentor. ” The wadding plot initiates a new theme in the novel: the role of mentors in education. Education is not defined merely in formal terms, but as relating to the development of the person in his entirety. In such a way, the novel begins to tackle attainable prejudices against lark, and particularly packing, which is often assumed to give security deposit only to violence and aggression.The boxing plot also incorporates the theme of the power of one, since Peekays ambition to become the welterweight champion of South Africa, and accordingly of the world, is purely his own ambition. The people Peekay encounters later in the novel support him in his endeavor, but often do not view it. Chapter Four also introduces the main milieuâ€or screen backgroundâ€of the novel: apartheid. ‘Apartheid is an Afrikaans term kernel simply ‘apartness, and was coined by the Nationalist president of South Africa, Daniel Malan, in 1948.Chapter Four occurs before 1948, however, when white supremacist demeanour was already in operation, but not yet systematized. Peekays first consciousness of apartheid comes in this chapter, when he notices the â€Å"BLACKS ONLY” sign. In keeping with his childlike perspective, however, the author does not explain apartheid but pushes it to the backgroun d. Peekays lack of understanding of apartheid ceremonious dramatic irony, as the reader understands the kind institutions which define and affect Peekay from a more informed point of view.Peekays confusion is not intended to be analyse as a childlike confusion, howeverâ€the questions Peekay asks are terrifyingly legitimate and on the button. For instance, when he wonders why white people cannot enter the workshop, he unwittingly touches at the irrationality of racialism and apartheid. The novel is clearly founded in its South African context, with the author passing conscious of the fact that he is writing for an international auditory modality. He italicizes South Africanisms such as â€Å"stoep” (verandah) and â€Å"doek” (headcloth), and explains ideas that non-South Africans could not be expected to understand.For example, Peekay explains that years after his meeting with Hoppie he â€Å"discovered that the Cape commercialismtor was a wind that blew in early spring…” At the self resembling(prenominal) time, Peekays meteorite simile reveals a yearning for something much larger. The author is clearly aiming to make a universal parameter about the pointlessness of unlikeness against any aggroup of people. The introduction of a Jewish percentage, Harry Crown, discloses that discrimination works on all levels-racial, cultural, and religious.The fact that Harry Crown coins Peekays name for him is of vital importance-the author offers the lesson that people can make a difference in one anothers lives regardless of how short their period of contact. Chapter basketball team Summary Peekay wakes early and surveys the savannah outside the train window. He expresses amazement at the washbasin which Hoppie shows him, neatly stashed away beneath the compartment table. Hoppie tosses away Peekays soggy jammed food from Mevrou and insists on buying him a ripe â€Å"first class fighter” breakfast.As Hoppie lifts Peekay ou t of bed, Peekay covers his penis and apologizes to Hoppie for being a â€Å"verdomde rooinek” (a damned redneck). He expects â€Å"retribution. ” cypher happens, however, and Peekay begins to lose his fear of being an Englishman. Hoppie takes Peekay to the dining car where the lodgeer walks past and asks Hoppie the â€Å" odds” on his fight. Peekay wonders what â€Å"odds” are. He asks Hoppie whether he is frightened for the fight, eliciting another inspire lecture from Hoppie, who is a â€Å"southpaw” (left-handed boxer). Lunch arrives with on the loose(p) steaks for Hoppie and Peekay.All of the passengers chat enthusiastically about Hoppies imminent boxing bout. The waiter takes money for bets, and Hoppie has to explain what â€Å"betting” is to Peekay. Hoppie encourages Peekay to bet ten to one with his Granpas shilling. Peekay is a little unhinged since Mevrou told him only to use the shilling in emergencies. Hoppie tells Peekay thi s could be considered an emergency. In Gravelotte, Hoppie takes Peekay to his home on the railway mess. Then they go to buy new tackies for Peekay at â€Å"Patel and Son,” which is owned by an Indian man, Mr.Patel. Hoppie treats Mr. Patel and his daughterâ€whom Peekay notices as being very beautifulâ€with disdain and tries to swap Peekays large tackies for new ones. When Mr. Patel recognizes Hoppie as the famous boxer â€Å" small fry Louis” (Hoppies boxing name, taken from a black non-African boxer), he wants to return Hoppies nine pence. Hoppie tells him to give the money to Peekay instead. Mr. Patel hands Peekay a shilling. Peekay is relieved his Granpas money has strangely been restored. Mr. Patel says that he has bet ten pounds on Hoppies victory.On the way back to the railways, Hoppie tells Peekay not to address â€Å"coolies” (derogatory term for Indian or â€Å"colored” people) as â€Å"Mister. ” They head for the billiard room, where Hoppies opponent, air hammer Smit, comes swaggering towards them. He laughs at Hoppies small peak and calls him a â€Å"midget. ” Hoppie tosses back a witty definition before exiting. Peekay meets Hoppies friends Nels and Bokkie. At his home, Hoppie educates Peekay in pre-match rituals: a shower, a lie-down, and glasses of water every ten transactions (since it is deathly hot). At dinner, Hoppie introduces Peekay to people as â€Å"the next welterweight contender. Peekay remembers all that Hoppie tells him, and Hoppie marvels at Peekays perfect recall. Hoppies army forms arrive in the mailâ€he tells Peekay that he has been summoned to war. He explains that Hitler is a very bad manâ€the enemy, not the ally. Analysis The racism of whites towards non-whites in South Africa becomes clearer in Chapter Five. Peekays description of Mr. Patels daughter as wearing â€Å" limpid cloth” and having â€Å"dark and very beautiful” eyes contrasts with Hoppies rac ist description of Indians as â€Å"coolies. ” Thus, the theme of people contradicting themselves in their behavior emerges further here.While showing extreme generosity and compassion to Peekay, Hoppie shows only arrogant racism towards the Patels, and tells Peekay not to call Mr. Patel â€Å"Mister. ” Peekay thus becomes more than simply the protagonist-he becomes a moral yardstick by which we are to judge the other graphemes. Peekay shows respect and courtesy to everyone he meets. Although Peekays insight into the world remains limited and about humorous, he is fast being forced to grow up. The bildungsroman structure usually involves a series of shifts from one setting to another, with very few visits to past settings.With Peekay meet by fresh faces on a train bound for Barberton, a new town, this novel for certain continues to fulfill the bildungsroman criteria. Moreover, most readers are in the same position as Peekay-unclear of the exact expatiate of aparth eid, and without an intimate knowledge of the boxing world. When Peekay confides that he does not understand Hoppies â€Å"boxing parlance,” we share his newcomers perspective. Chapter Five offers a compeer of examples of the authors system of characterizationâ€a simple, conventional method whereby a characters name is subsequently furnished with a short physical sketch.Peekay illustrates Mr. Patels daughter, for instance, through the following description: â€Å"She was a mid brown color, her straight black hair was parted in the middle…” While the author pursues a conventional characterization method, the reader can understand his preoccupation with appearance, and particularly with skin tone. By Peekay almost pickings inventory in noticing the womans â€Å"mid brown color,” the author highlights the impossibility of categorizing people, particularly according to something as nuanced as skin color. the great unwashed should not be quantified and pi geonholed, he suggests.Yet some of the character descriptions fall into stereotypes or caricatures, contradicting this impulse. Mr. Patel, for instance, speaks in a caricatured Indian dialect, using expressions such as â€Å"very-very” and â€Å"by golly. ” much(prenominal) stereotypes suggest that the book belongs to the genre of â€Å"popular adventure. ” The characters and events, as will be seen in the rest of the novel, lack authenticity but replace it with the kind of misinform magic found in childrens queer tales. Chapter half a dozen Summary air hammer Smit, a miner, has all his fashion plate miners on his side.The miners have constructed a makeshift boxing ring on Gravelottes rugby field. All the townsfolk gather on the stands (bleachers), with the black denizens having to squat underneath and peer through the whites legs. Bokkie and Nels, Hoppies seconds, lead Hoppie and Peekay to the warm-up tent where Hoppie points out the judgeâ€a dwarfà ¢â‚¬to Peekay. jackhammer Smit is already decked out in full boxing gear-Hoppie whispers to Peeky that he is â€Å"one big sonofabitch. ” Hoppies opts to â€Å"glove up” in the boxing ring to provide more amusement for the gathering.Bokkie, following boxing etiquette, carries the gloves to jackhammer Smits seconds so that they may choose. Jackhammer and Hoppie taunt each other verbally, and Hoppie instructs Peekay: â€Å"Never forget, Peekay, sometimes, very occasionally, you do your best boxing with your mouth. ” Nels escorts Peekay away from the tent and up the stands to hulking Hettie, a large woman who chugs brandy throughout the fight and forgets to check her Irish accent when drunk. Hoppie and Jackhammer Smit enter the ring. braggart(a) Hettie hurls a curse at Jackhammer and the crowd roars with laughter. turgid Hettie calls the dwarf referee â€Å"Sparrow Fart. ” The dwarf invokes scriptural imagery, introducing the match as one between David a nd Goliath. In the first round, Hoppie lands a dozen punches to Jackhammers left eye. The second round proceeds uniformly, except that Jackhammer connects with Hoppies head three times. Rounds three to five witness Hoppie attempting to wait out Jackhammer by taunting him almost the ring. At the end of the sixth round, Jackhammers left eye is almost shut, and Hoppies ribs are red from the blows.In the sevensometh round, the foment begins to take its toll on Jackhammer-his left eye has closed. He manages to punch Hoppie right under the heart, however, and Hoppie crumples to the ground. Jackhammer refuses to move to the corner of the ring, thereby unwittingly loose Hoppie thirty seconds to recover. Hoppie manages to rise on the count of eight. Big Hettie nourishes Peekay with creamy coffee and coffee tree cake during the fight. In the eleventh round, Jackhammer purposely knocks the referee backwards so that he cannot witness him headbutting Hoppie to the ground.The railwaymen, su pporting Hoppie, cry â€Å"Foul! ” After much confusion, and outbreaks of fighting amongst the crowd, the referee decides to award Hoppie the fight on a foul. Hoppie, however, is not satisfied and calls for the fight to resume. In the fourteenth round, Jackhammer knocks Hoppie down-suddenly Hoppie rises with a punch to Jackhammers jaw, knowcking him out. A â€Å"braaivleis” (barbecue) and â€Å"tiekiedraai” (dance) follow the fight. Hoppie puts Peekay to sleep, next to Big Hettie. Analysis As the narrator matures, his voice gives the story a lyrical tone.The adult Peekay describes the maunder trees near the boxing ring with â€Å"their palomino trunks shred with strips of gray bark,” and the moths and insects which â€Å"danced about the lights, tiny planets orbiting erratically around two brilliant artificial suns. ” He uses the same lyricism to describe, almost blow by blow, the boxing match between Hoppie and Jackhammer Smit-indeed, most of Ch apter sextette is taken up with the fight itself. This foreshadows many similar lengthy fight descriptions in the following chapters: the novel becomes in part a sports novel, with Peekay taking the role of commentator.Yet The Power of One differs from other sports novels in that it raises sport to the level of an art form. Peekay uses music metaphors and similes, subtly comparing boxing to music. For example, he business lines how the referee â€Å"orchestrated” the audience to silence, and how Jackhammer Smit bangs his right fist into his left bay wreath â€Å"like a metronome. ” The incongruity of music and a thug such as Jackhammer Smit works like an intellectual conceit-that is, an outrageous comparison that makes sense only after a couple of moments of thought.In such a way, the author compels us to accept boxing as an art form. The rich boxing vocabulary-including terms such as â€Å"straight left”, â€Å"feinting”, and â€Å" clamp”-heig htens Peekays storytelling power. This contrasts with Big Hetties crude, yet hilarious commentary-she calls the dwarf referee â€Å"Sparrow Fart” and does not listen to a word Peekay says. The fact that the referee is a dwarf, and Big Hettie is partly Irish, adds to the already colorful human landscape of the novel-once again, the author forces us to recall the many types of differences between human beings.Hoppies victory over Jackhammer is an weighty plot moment for the young protagonist Peekay since it gives him the faith that â€Å"small” can prevail over â€Å"large. ” He admits to the reader that â€Å"Big, it seemed to me, always finished on top …” The battle between small and large takes on a new dimension in Chapter half dozen: Hoppie teaches Peekay the necessity of strategy, of tactics. His main advice to Peekay is â€Å"First with the head, then with the heart,” an aphorism which Peekay never forgets. Peekay must change his own theme from the battle between small and large to the struggle between brains and brawn.Chapter Seven Summary Peekay awakens on the train to see â€Å"koppies” (little hills) and â€Å"lowveld” (bushland) flashing by outside. He finds a letter and a ten-shilling bank line attached to the front of his shirt-it is from Hoppie. Hoppie tells Peekay that the ten-shilling note is the money Peekay won from his bet, and in the note he reminds Peekay that â€Å"Small can beat big” and â€Å"first with the head and then with the heart. ” Peekay is upset that Hoppie has disappeared from his life, but realizes that Hoppie has given him something to take away-the power of one.Peekay defines this as â€Å"one idea, one heart, one mind, one plan, one determination. ” currently Peekay notices a stench in the train compartment. He looks down from his bunk to see Big Hettie, fully dressed, sprawled on the bed below â€Å"like a beached sperm whale. ” She r eeks of brandy. When Peekay returns from the toilets, he finds that Big Hettie has half-collapsed onto the floor, with her dress over her ears. Peekay restores her to a normal position by fault her legs onto the ground. Big Hettie belches in reply and Peekay exclaims â€Å"Boy, did she stink! The conductor, Pik Botha, arrives and gives a melodramatic lament when he realizes that Big Hettie is on his train. He gets even angrier when he discovers that Peekays ticket is not clipped, and he blames it on Hoppie. Peekay pleads for Hoppie and succeeds. Pik Botha takes Peekay to breakfast, where the boy meets Hennie Venter, a waiter. When they return to the compartment, Bothaâ€a born-again Christianâ€tells Peekay that Hettie is a â€Å"good example of Gods terrible vengeance. ” Hettie, however, wakes up to defend herself, calling Botha a â€Å"self- righteous little shit. She sends Peekay to pull in water for her. Peekay returns, and looks after Hettie by cooling her chest with a damp cloth. Hettie orders Botha to engineer a way to get her out of the compartment since she cannot get up. As Botha attempts to climb over Hettie to get a grasp on her, Hettie belches and Botha falls on top of her. Hettie begins to laugh and Peekay realizes that they are â€Å"in a real pickle. ” They try a different tactic, with both Botha and Peekay pulling. Peekay loses his grip, however, and falls into Bothas crotch, causing him enormous put out in his waterworks. ” They give up for the moment, and Hettie orders a profuse breakfast for herself and Peekay from Hennie. Peekay, not hungry, gives his helping to Hettie, who scoffs everything. While Hettie eats, she tells Peekay that Hoppie could have been a famous boxer if it were not for the fact that he does not know how to hate. Peekay decides that he needs to learn how to hate. Hettie also tells Peekay about her love engagement with a flyweight, who used to beat her up because he could not beat up his opp onents. He died of a brain hemorrhage, during a match.Peekay watches Hettie binge herself on food all day, and intuitively realizes that he is witnessing â€Å"a unhealthiness or a sadness or even both. ” Hettie cries for herself, and Peekay comforts her. That afternoon the train arrives at the Kaapmuiden station. The railwaymen have to employ monkey wrenches to try to get Hettie out of the compartment. After telling Peekay she has faith in his become a great boxer, she dies quietly. Analysis In Chapter Seven, Peekay takes a detour, describing the tragicomic events that occur on his train move between the towns of Gravelotte and Kaapmuiden.Big Hettie is representative of the â€Å"passing characters” pattern in the novel-some characters remain, while others coexist only briefly with Peekay. As with Hoppie, Peekay takes something away from Big Hettie. He learns about experience and courage. Peekay is learning how to absorb the essence of other people, how to remembe r what they say. Thus, â€Å"the power of one” does not refer to an individual sentiment, but rather to an all-encompassing notion, which acknowledges that the individual is do by all those people who pass through his life, whether for a brief or lengthy time.Peekay describes the events of the novel with humor and compassion; events are often both funny and sad. Big Hettie becomes one of the novels caricatured, burlesque characters, and this chapter could almost be called a tribute to her. Chapter Seven thus deviates from the overarching plot. Hoppies letter to Peekay, included at the beginning of the chapter, also works to disrupt the neat, narrative flow and-as Peekays first letter (and wager won)-it acts as a kind of mark of initiation into a more adult world.The â€Å"toilet humor” apparent in this chapter (Big Hetties belches, for example) not only works as part of the burlesque, but constructs an invisible hierarchy amongst the characters- proximity to bodily C hapter eight Summary The train arrives at Barberton station late at night. Hennie Venter says farewell to Peekay and promises to tell Hoppie that Peekay â€Å"behaved like a proper Boer, a real white man. ” Peekay does not recognize anyone on the platform and so he sits silently crying, longing for his nanny to arrive and sweep him up. Then he notices a maam approaching.She calls him her â€Å"darling” and holds her against her bony body. Peekay realizes that it is his baffle. When Peekay asks her where his nanny is, she simply says that he is too old for a nanny and hurries him out to a car where a certain minister of religion Mulvery is waiting to take them home to Granpa. Peekays suffer and government minister Mulvery spend the car ride home value the Lords precious name. Peekays mother intimates that he must become a born-again Christian at the apostolic Faith Mission, and Pastor Mulvery says they are on their way to meeting the Lord.Peekay asks if they can meet the Lord the following dayâ€he is too exhausted that night. They both laugh. Peekay longs for the continuation of his past life on the farm. He discovers, fortunately, that the new house has exactly the same article of furniture as the farmhouse. He surveys the scene: the grandfather clock, the stuffed kudu head, the painting of the Rourkes Drift massacre, the zebra skin. Peekays Granpa enters the room and Peekay notices that he remains unchanged too. Only the kettle in the kitchen looks â€Å"new and temporary. ” Peekay resolves to question his Granpa about nannys whereabouts the following day.In the dawn he explores the back garden, which he finds full of gobushesâ€he observes that â€Å"the garden looked like the sort of tunnel Alice might well have found in Wonderland. ” Beyond the fences touch the garden, Peekay notices plants of a wilder nature-quince, guava, orange, lemon, avocado, poinsettia, and aloe. He decides to explore and, before he realizes , he has climbed high up the hill. Compared to the African bush, the uprise garden looks â€Å"tizzy and contrived as a painting on a chocolate box. ” He surveys the town of Barberton from above, and then joins his Granpa in the rose garden.When he asks where his nanny is, his Granpa slowly puffs on his call and tells Peekay a cryptic story about his grandmother, for whom he says Africa was too severe. Then he tells Peekay to ask his mother about nanny. Returning to the house, Peekay is reunited with the twin kitchen maids Dum and Dee, who tell him that Nanny is still resilient. They also explain to Peekay that his mother has become a seamstress. When Peekay finally confronts his mother about Nanny, his mother tells him that she returned to Zululand because she refused to remove her â€Å"heathen charms and amulets. Peekay shouts that the Lord is a â€Å" blockhead” and runs through the â€Å"Alice in Wonderland tunnels” until he reaches the hill. The eggs of the solitariness birds are crushed into powder inside him and, in a moment, he grows up. Analysis Chapter Eight contrasts the prior two chapters (which cover Peekays temporary adventures on the train home) by introducing Peekay and the reader to his new permanent place, Barberton. He has to deal with the prospect of a life with his returned mother and her religious fanaticism. He desperately searches for continuity and finds that his Granpa, Dum, and Dee are his only constants.While Peekays experiences keep shifting from one backdrop to another, his method of narration is not disrupted, but is conventional and linear. Occasionally, he reminisces about past events, but for the most part he moves forward chronologically. You may ask how a six-year-old could think like this. I can only answer that one did. The reader finds continuity in the story itself through the recurring motif of the loneliness birds, whose eggs transform to dust at the close of Chapter Eight. This shift is significant, and Peekay observes that, suddenly, he has grown up.He ends the chapter by addressing the reader directly. He specifically addresses the readers skepticism. It may seem juiceless that at the same moment that Peekay announces his burst into the adult world, he confronts the readers adult rationality. However, as the novel unfolds, it will become apparent that Peekay possesses a special manner of combining adult logic and rationality with a childlike appreciation for the magic and mystery of the world. The literary allusions to Lewis Carrolls novel Alice in Wonderland highlight this belief in magic.It is no accident that the names of the kitchen maids are â€Å"Dum” and â€Å"Dee,” reverberating of the Carrolls characters Tweedledum and Tweedledee (Peekay presumably provided these nicknames for them in his youth). Not only does Peekay knowledge to grow up in this chapter, but for the first time he truly begins to grapple with the concept of â€Å"Africaà ¢â‚¬Â and his place in it. With his simile comparing his Granpas rose garden to a chocolate box picture, Peekay consigns the garden to symbolic status-he sees the cultivated garden as a symbol of Englishness.The epithets he uses to describe the garden- â€Å"tizzy” and â€Å"sentimental”-suggest that he wishes to repudiate this part of his identity and allow himself to be entranced by the wild, untamed African land. Chapter Nine Summary While Peekay sits on a rock on the hillside, surveying Barberton, a very tall and thin man with a camera introduces himself as Professor von Vollensteen. He tells Peekay that he could not resist taking a photograph of him as he sat on the rock. He asks for Peekays authority to call it â€Å"Boy on a Rock. ” Peekay notices that the prof is carrying a cactus in his canvas backsack.He asks why the cactus is not pricking the professor, and the old man promises to reveal the secret. He takes the cactus from his bag and introduces it to Peekay as â€Å"Euphorbia grandicornis… a very shy cactus. ” He shows Peekay that his backsack is made of leather, protecting his back from the cactus prickles. Peekay says that he could have worked that out for himself, and the professor calls him a â€Å"schmarty pants. ” He asks Peekay whether he knows what a professor is, and Peekay has to admit that he does not know. Suddenly the professor notices a rare aloe under the sock on which Peekay is sitting, and yelps â€Å"Wunderbar! Peekay reminds him that he has not yet explained the word â€Å"professor. ” The man replies, â€Å"‘A professor is a person who drinks too much whisky and once plays goot Beethoven. ‘” Then he tells Peekay that he can call him â€Å" physician” instead of â€Å"Professor. ” atomic number 101 and Peekay part ways and Peekay returns home, to a dismal Dum and Dee. Cowering, they tell him that his mother wants to see him. Peekay does not fe el s heraldic bearingd-his mother does not realize that he is a â€Å" ex-serviceman of interrogation and punishment. ” Peekays mother makes him apologize to her, then breaks down into tears of self-pity.At this, Peekay feels relieved because he is more disposed to this side of his mother. He tells her to lie down, and brings her some tea and an Aspro. Two days later, Peekay sits watching army trucks change with soldiers passing by the house when commercialism arrives. medico greets Peekay warmly and says that he wishes to speak to his mother-he has brought an aloe and the photograph of Peekay as presents for her. doc discovers, to his horror, that medico is a German. medical student tells Peekays mother that he believes her son is a genius and he wishes to give him music lessons. At first she resists, since she does not accept charity from anyone. mendelevium eventually convinces her by say that in return for the lessons he requires Peekay to work for him, compile ca cti. Peekays mother now agrees- having a son apt in Hellenic music will be a status symbol for her, a â€Å"social equalizer. â€Å"The summer months pass and Peekay spends the majority of his time with medico, roaming the Barberton â€Å"kloofs” (cliffs) aggregation cacti. Doc teaches Peekay â€Å"the priceless lesson of identification. ” He teaches Peekay how to observe, how to listen to himself, and how to use his brain for both original thought and as a â€Å"reference library” for storing information.Doc supplements Peekays outdoors education with morning piano lessons, and frequent trips to the Barberton library, run by Mrs. Boxall. Peekay soon realizes that he is competent but not a gifted musician. His mother, however, is delighted when Peekay stuns all the Barberton citizens at the bi-annual cultural concert by playing Chopin. The Afrikaners leave the concert when all the English people begin singing â€Å"White Cliffs of Dover. ” Peekay ex plains the close relationship between the Boers and the Germans, who gave the Boers assistance during the Boer War. AnalysisDoc, or Professor von Vollensteen, helps Peekay to counter generalizations about Germans. Peekay is at first shocked since he associates all Germans with Hitlers Nazi party. Chapter Nine shows some stylistic deviations from former chapters by Peekays deviations into historical descriptions. At the conclusion of the chapter, he provides the reader with a lengthy description of the close relationship that developed between the Germans and the Boers during the Boer War. In such a way, he starts to educate the reader-he does not make allusions to historical events; he explains them.This results in the novel being self-containedâ€one does not have to undertake much external research in order to understand its context. Perhaps the author is suggesting that the very notion of history and historical recording is at wager in this time period. History cannot be ta ken for granted, and history text books cannot be trusted. By taking Peekay under his tutelage, Doc becomes the next of Peekays string of mentors. Docs character introduces a couple of new vocabulary sets into the novel-that of Latin cacti names, and that of his quirky half-German half- invented dialect.He uses nonsense terms such as â€Å"absoloodle,” and German exclamations such as â€Å"wunderbar. ” Doc is a caricatured character (he occupies the space of a kind of fairy godfather), who becomes a foil to Peekays Granpa-the latter confines himself to the preened, meted world of his rose garden, while the former exposes himself to the dangerous, exciting life of cacti and aloes. Although Peekay now has his mother and Granpa with him, there exists a flagrant absence of anyone playing a truly enatic role in his life.Doc fills this role. Instead of caring for her son, Peekays mother neglects him in favor of the Lord, and Peekay in fact plays the role of parent to her. Peekay subtly underscores his mothers hypocrisy-while subscribing to the Lord as the only avatar of morality and modesty, she reveres the status that Peekays skill at classical piano affords her. Chapter Nine demonstrates a distinct method in Peekays narrative style: he begins to provide the reader with recaps, or summaries, of events that have already happened.For example, he recapitulates the events of Chapter Eight and the beginning of Chapter Nine as follows: â€Å"The loneliness birds had flown away and I had grown up and made a new friend called Doc and had learned several new things. ” The abundance of the arrange conjunction â€Å"and” stresses Peekays eagerness to tally these occasions-the effect is one of insistence and continuity. The reader can almost hear the tremble in Peekays voice. The older narrator-Peekay reminds the reader that the younger Peekay has to hold on to the constants in his life-even the loneliness birds have become a constant.The reader senses Peekays need to afford his life story-it is not a self- aggrandizing process, but a way in which he can describe the uncertainties of his past. Indeed, the chapter concludes with the adult Peekay foreshadowing the loss of Doc from his life. Chapter 10 Summary Peekay skips two classes at the local school. Doc has convinced him that he should drop his camouflage and reveal his intelligence. Doc is Peekays true teacher. When around Doc, Peekay says that his brain is forever â€Å"hungry. ” As in the summer months, Peekay arrives shortly after dawn each day for his music lesson with Doc.Docs eyes are often bloodshot and he tells Peekay that the â€Å"wolves were holler” in his head the previous night-his euphemism for being drunk. Docs greyback pedestrian whisky bottles border the path in Docs cactus garden. One Saturday afternoon in January 1941, Doc and Peekay are working in the garden when Peekay notices a military police van draw up. An mathematical fun ctionr and a sergeant emerge and, smoking cigarettes, they wait for Doc and Peekay to approach. Then the sergeant arrests Doc under the Aliens do work of 1939. Doc does not resist but instead sadly tells Peekay that he now must care for the cactus garden.Then Doc asks permission to shave and make a change of clothing before leaving for Barberton prison. Peekay brings jugs of water for Doc to wash. Peekay helps Doc to pack, and slips a half-bottle of Johnny Walker into Docs bag. The sergeant finds the whisky in the bag and wants to share it with Doc, but Doc refuses to drink. The sergeant drinks part of the whisky then pours the rest onto Docs beloved Steinway piano. Doc smacks the sergeants carpus with his travel stick, and the sergeant calls him a â€Å"fucking Nazi bastard” and a â€Å"child fucker. ” Doc, however, is already walking towards the military van.The sergeant runs after him and handcuffs him, then kicks Docs legs so that he collapses onto his knees. Pe ekay runs after Doc, screaming, and tries to throw his arms around Docs legs. As he leaps, the sergeants kick intended for Docs ribcage connects with Peekays face and knocks him unconscious. Peekay regains consciousness in Barberton hospital, terribly hard-pressed about Doc. The boys jaw has been unkept, making it impossible for him to speak. A 15- year-old nurse with acne, Marie, looks after Peekay and calls him her â€Å"skattebol” (fluffball).She tells Peekay that he has become a town hero for trying to restrain a â€Å"German spy. ” Peekays mother and Pastor Mulvery visit him often, and continue their attempts to proselytize him. Peekay remembers Docs version of God-a force too work training bees to fuss with silly humans. Peekays mother calls Doc an â€Å"evil man” who attempted to kill him. Peekay exhaust with frustration-he is the only one who knows the truth but he is unable to speak up to defend Doc. He writes to Mrs. Boxall asking her to visit him a s soon as possible. Marie eventually agrees to convey the letter on Peekays behalf. While waiting for Mrs.Boxall, Peekay writes a long letter explaining the details of Docs arrest. Mrs. Boxall expresses delight at Peekays testimony and exclaims that it has arrived just in time-the military court is about to put Doc on trial. She shows Peekay the front page of their local newspaper, The goldfields News. The picture Doc took of Peekay on the rock is headlined with the words â€Å"THE BOY HE TRIED TO KILL! â€Å"Peekay receives a letter from Mrs. Boxallâ€she has shown his testimony to Mr. Andrews, the lawyer, but he has said that the piece is so sophisticated that no one will believe that a seven-year-old wrote it.Marie, the only person who can understand Peekays garble through his broken jaw, is thus commissioned to be his interpreter. Peekay, Marie, Mrs. Boxall, and Mr. Andrews arrive at the magistrate Colonel de Villiers office. Marie takes a while to find her voice, but Peekay manages to prove that he wrote the statement by writing down the names of various Latin succulents. They win the case, but Doc has to remain in prison since he did not register as a contradictory alien when he arrived in South Africa fifteen years previously. Peekay visits Doc in prison and meets Klipkop (Johannes Oudendaal) and deputy Smit.Klipkop tells Peekay that he is a boxer, and Peekay begs him to give him lessons. He tells Klipkop he has to become the welterweight champion of the world. Klipkop says that he is too young-the youngest trainee in their boxing prison squad is ten years old. Peekay watches as Klipkop brutally beats one of the black prison servants, accusing him of stealing some biscuits. Smit watches quietly, then tells Klipkop afterwards that he was the one who ate the biscuits. The men take Peekay to meet Kommandant van Zyl, who tells Peekay to inform Mrs.Boxall of a surprise he has for the townspeople the following Monday, in the town square. Peekay asks the kommandant if he can box with their squad. Smit is wild with Peekay afterwards. However, Peekay has realized that Jackhammer Smit is Lieutenant Smits brother. When he refers to the Gravelotte fight, Smits eyes begin to shine and he accepts Peekay into the squad. Peekay is forbidden from boxing for two yearsâ€he may only do technique training. Eventually Peekay gets to see Doc. Doc tells Peekay the â€Å"surprise” on Monday is a very pillock thing.He tells Peekay to meet him in his cactus garden at noon that day, and to find Beethovens Symphony Number Five in his piano stool, as well as what is above the sheet music (his whisky). Mrs. Boxall becomes very excited when Peekay relays this news to herâ€she says Doc is to give a concert. On Monday Smit and Klipkop fetch the Steinway from Docs house. They introduce Peekay to another warder, Gert Marais. Gert, an Afrikaner who does not speak English, cannot understand Doc and Peekays conversation. Doc tells Peekay that he doe s not want to give the concert-he has not performed for sixteen years.However, the prison warders will not allow Peekay to visit him if he refuses. Doc tells Peekay of his musical history-he describes the disastrous concert of 1925 in Berlin where, playing Beethovens Symphony Number Five, he froze up. As the mayor is introducing Doc in the Barberton town square, a fight breaks out between the English and the Afrikaners. Doc, trembling, takes a swig of whisky and begins to play. The crowd immediately quiets and is captivated by the music. Doc plays beautifully and Peekay has never seen him so happy. AnalysisChapter Ten is one of the novels longest chapters, taking up almost a tenth of the novel. It carries through on Peekays foreshadowing at the end of Chapter Nine-the loss of Doc and, in a sense, the loss of his childhood. For the first time in his life, at a mere seven years of age, Peekay must confront military and legal institutions-not as a peripheral visitor, but as an eye- wit ness of Docs arrest and thus as an insider. Peekay militia his own critical judgment of the cruel events he experiences (Docs arrest, Klipkops brutal treatment of the black prison servant) in order to allow the reader to draw her own conclusions.Peekay takes on the role of objective reporter or observer in these situations. However, he hints that his reserved behavior does not stem from disinterestednessâ€he realizes that survival in these settings depends on being diplomatic. Neither does the adult narrator withhold critique of the immorality of the prison world-his tone, often earnest, becomes ironic in his descriptions of the prison staff. After describing the office of the kommandant, with its stuffed gemsbok, eland, steenbok, and springbok heads, the narrator illustrates the kommandant himself, who claims to love wild animals.The narrators precise descriptionsâ€including, for example, the names of all the different kinds of buck on the kommandants wallsâ€stress the ef fect Doc has had on Peekay. Doc has taught Peekay how to observe, analyze, record. These skills will be vital to Peekays success and survival throughout the novel. There are other reasons why it is sensible for the narrator to unleash his criticism of the harsh, racist behavior in South Africa in a subtle, rather than direct manner. Firstly, The Power of One was compose at a time when apartheid was still alive in South Africa.The author himself has to take a diplomatic tone. Secondly, the author does not wish readers to see the South African struggle as one between good and evil forces †he paints the prison staff as humans, not monsters. They have deliver qualities. Klipkop, Lieutenant Smit, and Kommandant van Zyl are all extremely kind to Peekay. The officers who arrest Doc take a moment to have a cigarette. It is a human moment before their violent treatment of Doc. Moreover, Docs ability to halt the brawling in the town square, with his beautiful rendering of Beethoven, su ggests the triumph of our shared humanity.The chapter ends on an optimistic note when it intimates that a universal spirit holds us all together in spite of our myriad differences. This tone of optimism emerges as the novels distinguishing tone. In spite of Peekays portrayal of crude or violent behavior, his faith in the notion of â€Å"the power of one” lingers. Chapter Eleven Summary Dee and Dum wake Peekay every morning with coffee and a twice-baked bread (a hard biscuit) and he heads to the prison for boxing lessons and then his piano lesson with Doc. The prison staff allows these lessons to proceed since they enjoy the social status afforded by having two classical musicians in their midst.Doc does not understand Peekays need to box, but he assists Peekay with â€Å"musical analogies. ” He says that in music, as in boxing, exercises make up ones foundation. Peekays visits are so constant that he becomes part of the prison â€Å"shadow world. â€Å"Peekay become s friends with Gert Marais, the Afrikaans warder. Gert fixes the boxing speedball so that it is low enough for Peekay\r\n'