Grade 12 Short Stories Study Guide — Changes (First Additional Language)
Complete notes for all 8 short stories in Changes: An Anthology of Short Stories (B. Walter) — background, summary, themes, setting, plot structure, characterisation, style and figures of speech for every story on the Grade 12 FAL syllabus.
1 Forbidden Love ›
👤 About the Author
- Can Themba was born on 21 June 1924 in Marabastad, Pretoria, into a family of four.
- He won a scholarship to study at Fort Hare College, where he received an English degree in 1947.
- He later obtained a teacher’s diploma and taught in Johannesburg’s western township areas.
- In 1960 he started working for Golden City Post.
- He went into voluntary exile in Swaziland in 1963 and in 1966 his writing was banned in South Africa.
- He died in 1968, in Swaziland.
📘 Summary
- The story is about two people who loved each other deeply and had to hide their feelings.
- Michael is black and Dora is coloured.
- The two lovers are eventually exposed when Dora’s little brother, Bobby, is told at his school that his sister is in a relationship with a native.
- A fight follows and Meneer Carelse (school teacher), who is in love with Dora, finds out.
- He tries to convince the Principal that her family must be told, and much against the Principal’s wishes, he goes to tell the whole community about what they considered a ‘scandal’.
- The irony in the story lies in the fact that Davie (Dora’s brother) has had a relationship with Salome (Mike’s sister) from which a child was conceived.
🏷️ Title
Forbidden Love refers to a romantic relationship between two individuals which is not approved because of, among others, religious, cultural, political differences. In this instance it refers to a romantic relationship between Dora and Michael, which is highly discouraged by the ‘coloured people’ of Noordgesig.
📍 Setting
The setting is during the height of apartheid, in the Western townships of Johannesburg, Sophiatown; the Noordgesig area. The story is told from an omniscient narrator’s point of view of his personal experience with apartheid laws.
🧩 Structure and Plot Development
🎭 Characterisation
- She is loving and caring.
- She is overprotective of her younger sister, Louisa.
- She loves Michael very deeply.
- She takes care of Michael when he was beaten by the young coloured lads (gang).
- She is ashamed of how her community treats their black counterparts.
- She does not give up on her relationship with Michael.
- He is considerate: He chooses his words carefully when talking to Dora about her family.
- He is very concerned about the identity of his sister, Salome’s child.
- He is humble and his love for Dora is evident in how he treats her and her family.
- He is a racist: He hates black people with a passion.
- She is Dora’s younger sister. She is a bit darker in complexion than the others.
- She does not want to be associated with black people.
- He is bitter: he is driven by bitterness (an outside influence in the story).
- Meneer Carelse tells others that Dora is in a mixed race relationship.
- He is a hypocrite.
- He shares a child with Salome.
- He lives in fear that he will be exposed by Salome that he is the father of her child.
- He still considers it appropriate to beat Michael up due to him having a relationship with Dora (his sister).
- She is brave and strong.
- She is Michael’s sister.
- She exposes her relationship with Davie to his family despite their race issues.
🎨 Themes
The theme of fear is woven throughout the story. Dora’s family lives their life in fear, as they feel that they do not want to have any involvement with black people. Their peers’ actions and beliefs make them think that black South Africans are beneath them or are less human than they are.
Hypocrisy is when one claims to have certain high standards or beliefs than is the case, or doing the opposite of what you say or believe. In the case of this story, Davie had a relationship with Salome (a black woman) and a child was born. Ironically, Davie still considers it appropriate to beat Mike up due to him having a relationship with Dora. This may leave some readers to suggest that Davie, like many other racist people at the time, is a hypocrite.
Apartheid (‘apartness’ in the language of Afrikaans) was a system of legislation that upheld segregationist policies against non-white citizens of South Africa. Racism is influenced by the idea that one race is superior to another. Like in the story, the people of Noordgesig (coloureds) referred to black people as ‘natives’, which is very derogatory. The author also uses the fact that black people are not allowed to attend the cinema for the film that is being shown as yet another example of apartheid.
👁️ Narrator’s Point of View
- The story is narrated in the third person, by an unnamed narrator.
- The narrator tells a story using a bird’s eye/omniscient view.
- This means that the narrator knows everything about the actions, attitude, secrets and even thoughts of all characters.
- The narrator helps us to understand how fear and shame are relentlessly part of a community that seeks to prove that black people are beneath them in all areas of their being.
✒️ Style
- An easy flowing literary style has been used throughout the story.
- This is maybe due to the fact that the narrator wants to demonstrate apartheid norms as lived by different racial groups in the townships.
- This narrative explores deeply into the practices of the apartheid system and its cruel tendencies.
🖋️ Diction and Figurative Language
The writer uses idiomatic expressions in order to emphasise meaning:
Simile
Metaphor / Allusion
Personification
Irony
It is ironic that Davie, who has a baby with a black girl, beats up a black boy for having a relationship with his sister.
🎭 Tone and Mood
Tone:
- Secretive — there are secrets not told by Salome about the identity of her child’s father.
- Tension — the community lives in a tense or rather fearful environment whereby black people are treated as inferior to coloureds, and this separated them most of the time. The fact that Dora and Mike have to hide in the bushes for them to be together, and being fearful of what the people in the community will say, is gross.
Mood: Shame, Hopelessness, Fearful, Optimistic.
2 Rejection ›
👤 Background Information
- Piece: Short story titled Rejection.
- Author: Mariama Bâ (April 1929 – August 1981).
- Senegalese author and feminist who later became a teacher. Her two French-language novels were both translated into more than a dozen languages. Born in Dakar, she was raised a Muslim.
- Her frustration with the fate of African women is expressed in her first novel, Une si longue lettre (1979), translated into English as So Long a Letter.
- Mariama Bâ used her novels to reveal the unjust treatment of women justified by a patriarchal society, polygamous practices, and certain Muslim traditions.
📘 Summary
The narrator is an Islamic wife who takes care of her household including supporting her children’s education. She is a caring person who accommodates friends of her daughter, Daba, when they come to study in her home. Her husband, Modou, also shows interest in the beautiful young girl, Binetou, by taking her home at times after studying.
Daba is Binetou’s confidant. When she starts transforming, wearing very expensive clothes, she freely shares all the information about having a ‘sugar daddy’/’blesser’. However, when things get serious (Binetou’s old man wants to marry her), the narrator and her daughter advise her not to do so because she will have to drop out of school.
Binetou’s mother puts her under pressure to accept the hand of marriage. She wants to live a better life and have a proper house which will be provided by the wealthy man. Binetou is not excited about the marriage, but she submits to her mother’s plea and agrees.
The three men, Tamsir (Modou’s brother), Mawdo Bâ and a local Islamic Spiritual Leader, break the news that the narrator’s husband has taken a second wife. The narrator is shocked; she has not been hinted about such arrangement. She decides to be in control of the situation by staying calm. Daba is furious and feels betrayed and humiliated by her father and friend.
After 40 days the three men visit the narrator for a spiritual intercession on the part of the late Modou. Tamsir announces his intention of marrying the narrator after she comes out of mourning. The narrator, for the first time, does not keep quiet but stands her ground and rejects him in front of the other men.
She finally ventures out her anger and gets her revenge on the three men who once came to humiliate her by breaking news of Modou’s marriage to a young girl. The narrator’s rejection of Tamsir is the turning point of her life — no one will ever bully her or tell her what to do.
🏷️ Title, Style and Setting
🧩 Structure and Plot Development
🎭 Characterisation
A round character. She experiences both inner conflict and outer conflict. She is emotionally strong and content with her life at the beginning of the story. After her husband’s rejection/betrayal of taking a second wife who is very young, she puts on a brave face though she is disappointed. She deals with her rejection by refusing to be married again or submitting to the cultural practice of being inherited by a husband’s brother. She is determined never to be bullied again; she boldly displays her independence from her in-laws.
A secretive and cunning man. He is an autocratic patriarch who rejects his wife for a young girl who is his daughter’s classmate. He is abusive, uses his money to lure Binetou/the poor girl into marrying him.
She is young, beautiful, shy, naive and poor. She is Daba’s close friend/classmate. She is untrustworthy. She betrays her friend Daba when she does not disclose the name of her ‘sugar daddy’ who happens to be Daba’s father.
She is a manipulative and desperate poor woman. She is a gold-digger who uses her daughter to improve her lifestyle.
A supportive brother to Modou. He is a courageous man. He is an opportunist who tells the narrator that she is his good luck charm. He follows his heart and shares his intention to marry the narrator.
She is a supportive and caring young girl. She is protective of her mother.
🎨 Themes
In this short story the narrator, an Islamic wife, submits to her cultural values. At the beginning she enjoys being the only wife, but crisis erupts when a second wife joins in the marriage without any consultation. She hates the fact that she must pretend to be happy and support the young co-wife. Her feelings are not considered by her in-laws, especially Tamsir, who announces his intention to marry her on the 40th day which is crucial in mourning her late husband.
The narrator’s relationship with her husband, Modou, is shaken when he takes a second wife without consulting her. The family expects her to accept the new living arrangement of being left alone at times. The narrator’s daughter, Daba, and Binetou’s relationship ends when Binetou becomes her father’s second wife/her step-mom. The narrator’s relationship with her in-laws is shaken when she openly refuses Tamsir’s intention to marry her after Modou’s passing.
The narrator feels betrayed by her life partner, Modou, who takes a second wife without consulting her. She is expected to accept without questioning her husband. The narrator’s daughter, Daba, feels betrayed by her close friend Binetou, who is taken by her father as his second wife. Both the narrator and Daba feel betrayed by Binetou whom they welcomed in their home to do schoolwork.
Men like Modou and Tamsir dominate their marriages. They take decisions without consulting their partners. Women in their lives are treated as objects that do not have feelings. Modou shows no respect to girls as he exploits the young Binetou by making her his second wife. Binetou’s mother abuses her daughter when she begs her to marry Modou. She sees Binetou’s marriage as a life changer and social status upgrade.
🎭 Tone and Mood
The narrator uses this tone when the story begins; the choice of first words in the story “MY OWN CRISIS CAME…” creates a melancholy atmosphere.
The narrator feels betrayed by her husband when she is rejected for a younger wife. Daba is furious at her father Modou who took her close friend/classmate to be his second wife.
Binetou changes from being a shy girl after getting an old man who bought her expensive clothes. The tone becomes exciting when she thinks she is in control of the situation.
Mood: sad, angry, emotional (initially) and then happy, optimistic (at the end).
🖋️ Diction and Figurative Language
The writer uses idiomatic expressions in order to emphasize meaning, e.g. “haughty lips”, “too perfect to be honest”.
Simile
Hyperbole
Metaphor
Rhetorical Question
3 Eveline ›
👤 About the Author
- James Joyce was born in Dublin (Ireland) in 1882. He studied French, German, Italian and English languages and literature. He graduated in 1902.
- He was interested in a broader European culture and this led him to consider himself a European. He hated Ireland, considering Dublin the centre of all paralysis, and his attitude was in contrast to that of W.B. Yeats. Joyce did not have any Irishness in him and he believed that the only way to increase Ireland’s awareness was by making a realistic portrait from a European viewpoint.
- His masterpiece is ‘Dubliners’, a collection of short stories completed in 1905 and published in 1914. The story ‘Eveline’ comes from ‘The Dubliners’. He also wrote some novels like ‘Ulysses’ and ‘Finnegans Wake’.
- Joyce died in Switzerland in 1941.
📘 Summary
Eveline, the main character, is a young woman who lives in Dublin with her father. Her mother is dead. She is dreaming of a better life beyond the shores of Ireland such that she plans to elope with Frank, a sailor who is her secret lover, and start a new life in Argentina. With her mother gone, Eveline is responsible for the day-to-day running of the household: her father is drunk and only reluctantly tips up his share of the weekly housekeeping money, and her brother Harry is busy working and is away a lot on business (another brother, Ernest, has died). Eveline herself keeps down a job working in a shop. On Saturday nights, when she asks her father for some money, he abuses her verbally, especially since he is always drunk. When he eventually hands over his housekeeping money, Eveline has to go to the shops and buy the food for the Sunday dinner at the last minute.
Eveline is tired of this life, and so she and Frank book onto a ship leaving for Buenos Aires, Argentina. But as she is just about to board the ship, Eveline suffers a failure of resolve, and cannot go through with it. Without saying a word, Eveline turns around and goes home, leaving Frank to board the ship alone.
🏷️ Title
Eveline, the title, is the name of the main character. The story is about Eveline, her life, her relationship with her father, siblings and Frank. The story focuses on her suffering in the hands of her father and the decisions she has to make about her life.
📍 Setting
The story takes place in Dublin, Ireland, where the main character, Eveline, grows up. It is during the early twentieth century.
🧩 Structure and Plot Development
🎭 Characterisation
- She is a nineteen-year-old girl.
- She is emotionally abused by her father after the death of her mother.
- Her father and siblings do not show her love.
- She meets Frank, whom she loves and believes running away with him will bring about change in her situation.
- She works at Miss Gavan’s store and also suffers emotional abuse from her.
- She feels that the change of scenery will make the abuse come to an end.
- She is indecisive at the end and she does not fulfil her desire to escape when she cannot board the ship and lets Frank leave by himself.
- He is always drunk.
- He takes all of Eveline’s wages/salary on weekends and abuses her.
- It is implied in the story that he sexually abuses Eveline.
- He is not a caring father.
- He treats his girl child differently from how he treats his boys.
- He is kind and open-hearted.
- He is a loving boyfriend.
- He took Eveline to the theatre.
- He has worked on a few ships.
- He is well-travelled.
- He can sing.
- He tries to take Eveline away from her father’s abuse.
- He leaves alone when Eveline changes her mind.
- She suffers abuse in the hands of her husband.
- She teaches her children honesty and Catholicism.
- She is dead.
- She owns a shop.
- She is an employer for Eveline.
- She mistreats Eveline in front of people/customers.
- He is Eveline’s brother.
- He works in a church decorating business.
- Eveline’s brother, who died.
- He appears in a picture, hanging on the wall in the Hills house.
- He has moved to Melbourne.
🎨 Themes
Death is both figuratively and literally discussed in this short story. People who are no longer part of Eveline’s life are described as though ‘they are no more’. But this is not the case in the majority of people who are alive but are no longer in contact with her. She describes life before her mother’s death better than what it is at present. She also describes those who left Dublin and never asserts her emotional response to these happenings. From this, meaning can be inferred, which is that those people die when they leave Dublin. She fears that if she leaves Dublin, she will be considered dead. She fears that if she elopes and gets married, her marriage will be like death — she will lose her identity and she will be no more. Eveline’s husband will become her master and identity, and she will ‘drown’ in unknown seas.
One of the reasons for Eveline’s failure to escape is her Catholic religion. Her Catholicism beliefs enforce in her that she should be able to make sacrifices, promises, and to live in guilt. She then sacrifices her own freedom and happiness in order to keep her promise, which binds her with her (late) mother.
Eveline’s thoughts about what it means to be a ‘Dubliner’ make her think of liberating herself by leaving Dublin. She feels that if she leaves, she will have to start a new life and lose her identity. She is ready to sacrifice her life, which is a reality, but does not want to sacrifice her memories.
Eveline is a typical twentieth-century Dublin woman who faces the majority of the problems that were usual then. In that society, women had inferior value to men. This led to the oppression of women by men. Women were controlled by men and had no power. Women had to be grateful that there were powerful men in their lives. Eveline needs a male in her life who can support her emotionally and physically, and she finds Frank. Unfortunately, her doubts prevent her from breaking the chains, and she is not able to challenge the system.
Eveline tries to escape from the life she has led, being suppressed and abused by her father. She believes that if she goes away, the society in Argentina will be different, and people will not judge her for her past actions (sex-related). The escape idea attracts her, but when the time comes to act, she cannot do it. Through this theme, the author conveys the message that escape does not always yield positive results and may even worsen the situation.
👁️ Narrator’s Point of View
- The story is narrated from the third-person omniscient point of view.
- The narrator allows the reader to know both the internal development of the story in the mind of the protagonist and the external development in the real world.
- The action is told with a rhythmical remembrance of the past so as to let the reader decide if the protagonist is doing right or wrong.
✒️ Style
- The short story ‘Eveline’ was the advent between adolescence and maturity. Written in 1914, which preceded the women’s suffrage (right to vote) in Ireland by four years.
- The protagonist and title character, Eveline, is largely affected by the feminist issues of the time period.
- These feminist ideas are illustrated through Eveline’s relationships with her family and boyfriend, as well as societal expectations, and her duties and obligations.
- The short story is the tale of such an unfortunate individual. Anxious, timid, scared, perhaps even terrified — all these describe Eveline.
- She is a frightened, indecisive young woman poised between her past and her future.
- The story is clearly associated with details, with metonymy and synecdoche.
🖋️ Diction and Figurative Language
Metonymy and Synecdoche
Simile
Metaphor
Personification
🎭 Tone and Mood
This tone is used by the narrator to show the state of events surrounding Eveline’s life.
This tone is used when Eveline’s father and the boss address her and make their demands.
Mood: sad, emotional (initially); optimistic (when a decision to elope is made); remorse/guilt (at the end).
4 A Bag of Sweets ›
👤 About the Author
- Agnes Sam (South African) is a great-grand-daughter of indentured labourers from India who were shipped to South Africa in the nineteenth century.
- She was born in 1942 in an Indian family in Port Elizabeth, grew up there and had a Catholic education.
- She left the country in 1960 when the apartheid government introduced the Separate Education Bill.
- She attended university in Lesotho and Zimbabwe and taught in Zambia.
- She was exiled in 1973 from South Africa and lived in England, where she studied literature.
- Most of the short stories in Sam’s debut collection are set in Port Elizabeth.
- She returned to South Africa in 1993.
🏷️ Title
- Muslims regard giving gifts as one of the good manners that maintains and strengthens relations between the giver and the recipient.
- This is why Khadidja hopes for reconciliation and continues to come to the shop after her sister gives her a bag of sweets.
- Furthermore, it explains why the brothers endlessly look for an explanation for the bag of sweets Khadidja gives her sister, despite the fact that she does not want to relent (change her mind) and forgive her sister.
- A bag of sweets is supposed to be a treat and bring joy to the receiver, but in this short story it is used as a form of insult to the one who receives it.
- Khadidja is disrespected and treated like a child.
- It is ironic that Kaltoum never speaks to her sister and tells her brothers she wishes that she would come calling at the shop, yet when Khadidja one day does come, Kaltoum waits for her until after closing time.
📘 Summary
- A young Muslim woman called Kaltoum assists in the family shop on Fridays when her brothers attend prayers at the Mosque (place of worship).
- One day she is surprised to see her estranged (separated or in a distant relationship) sister, Khadidja, entering the shop.
- Khadidja left the family three years before to marry a Christian man.
- She has been calling at the family home daily after the passing of their parents, hoping for a reconciliation.
- The family refuses her entry and ignores her time and time again.
- She then decides to change track and meet the eldest sister (Kaltoum) at the shop on Fridays.
- Kaltoum continues to ignore the advances of her sister even though she knows that, as the eldest sister, she had the ability to change the mind of the family members.
- On a whim (on the spot or without thinking) she gives her sister a bag of sweets but continues to ignore her until finally Khadidja does not come back on Friday.
📍 Setting
The short story is set in the family shop of the Muslim family and in their house.
🎭 Characterisation
She is a young woman who heads the family after the death of her parents and due to her status as the eldest child. She is a round character (complex personality). She is cold-hearted and holds grudges — not only because she was hurt that her sister did not share her secret with her, but also for the betrayal of her family. She is stubborn because she struggles to forgive her sister for leaving the family and she believes her leaving was a betrayal causing the death of their parents.
She is principled (honest, ethical) because she marries a Christian man even though she knows it will cause a rift between her and her family. She, however, stays true to her Muslim religion and she is motivated by love. She is unwavering (resolute, firm) in her pursuit (goal, dream, objective) of an improved relationship between her and her family members. She is kind and always smiling. She is forthcoming because she expresses her emotions clearly and openly declares that she misses their family traditions and especially her eldest sister. She is loving because she expresses her love for her Christian husband and baby.
The eldest brother. He follows the example set by Kaltoum and does not speak to Khadidja.
🎨 Themes (Messages)
Intolerance is noted throughout this short story. The family is unable to forgive Khadidja for leaving them to marry into a Christian family. It is ironic, however, that Kaltoum mentions her own Christian friends, yet she shows no tolerance and acceptance of her sister’s choice in life.
The family blames Khadidja for the death of their parents and, despite being practising Muslims, they cannot find it in their hearts to forgive her. On the other hand, it appears as if Khadidja has forgiven her family for shunning (cutting, rejecting) her all these years.
Kaltoum is adept at keeping up pretences. She feels herself softening towards her sister when she realises that Khadidja resembles their mother the closest, but she pretends that she feels nothing for her.
Khadidja hopes that by showing up regularly and being herself, her family will relent (change their mind) and welcome her back into their inner circle. In reality it is Kaltoum’s stubborn refusal to accept her sister into their midst that prevents the reconciliation.
🧩 Plot Structure
5 Class Act ›
👤 About the Author
Namhla Tshisana was born in Mdantsane (East London) in 1984. She worked as a news reporter at the Sowetan in Johannesburg for five years before joining the masters programme in Creative Writing.
🏷️ Title: Class Act
Someone whose performance is extra-ordinary or excellent (an excellent performance); it can also refer to someone who is generally well-mannered.
Taking the narrator’s life and experience into consideration, she does not lose her temper or even talk back when ridiculed, but instead acts cool throughout the short story. This title is also linked to the movie Sister Act because of the long tunic the narrator wears at school. She is likened to one of the nuns, Sister Mary Clarence, portrayed by Whoopi Goldberg in the movie.
📍 Setting
Story set in a homeland called Ciskei, which is now part of Eastern Cape. It shifts between school and the narrator’s home. The first part is at the narrator’s home and the second part at school.
🧩 Plot Structure
🎭 Characterisation
- 12-year-old who cannot fit in at high school because of the length of her tunic.
- She struggles with bullying from her fellow schoolmates.
- She does not have a voice at home and they decide what is good for her.
- The narrator’s sister, who is friendly and understands her sister’s problems and tries to solve them.
- She adds to the narrator’s problem by fixing her tunic.
- A new English teacher who cannot control his class. Learners do as they wish in his class.
- Pushes the narrator around the house and accuses the narrator of being angry when she is not.
- Very pompous (proud) and looks down upon the narrator.
- A bully who does not care about the narrator’s feelings. He calls the narrator names and could say anything to spite her.
🎨 Themes (Message)
The narrator is continuously teased by her school mates. She hates school because of bullying, as it kills her spirit. Renato starts bullying her by making her stand in front of the class. She is then called names and other girls laugh at her.
She faces a difficult time because of her appearance. She does not feel accepted by other learners at school. She accepts the identity given to her and does not challenge it. She is only 12 years old and too young to challenge some of her older classmates.
⚔️ Conflict
There are two forms of conflict: internal and external.
The narrator has to go to school when school is not favourable to her. She has to spend time in the place she hates. She is confused as she has to find her way around that unconducive situation and environment.
Incompatibility (clash) that makes it difficult for her to co-exist. The narrator has a problem of being teased by other learners. There are two learners who make life difficult for her — a girl who looks down upon her and a boy who teases her constantly about everything.
💔 Helplessness
The narrator is bullied at school and she is too young to fight back. She is bullied by a boy who failed one grade three times. The narrator cannot report her problems to her mother, who is always busy, so she ends up helpless.
6 The Wind and a Boy ›
👤 About the Author
- Bessie Amelia Emery Head was born on 6 July 1937 in Pietermaritzburg and died on 17 April 1986 in Botswana. She is a South African writer who, though born in South Africa, is usually considered Botswana’s most influential writer. She wrote novels, short fiction and autobiographical works.
- Bessie Head described her childhood as haphazard and self-reliant. After completing her Junior Certificate, she studied for a two-year Teacher Training Certificate. In 1956 she started teaching at Clairwood in Durban. After 18 months of teaching, she resigned and moved to Cape Town, where she started a career as a journalist.
- In March 1964 she accepted a teaching post in Serowe (Botswana) and left South Africa for good.
📘 Summary
- The story is about Sejosenye (a grandmother) who is raising her daughter’s son in a rural village.
- She is raising her grandchild (Friedman) because the mother (her daughter) wanted to continue working and could not take the child with her.
- The ward in which they live is called Ga-Sefete-Molemo.
- Sejosenye takes Friedman everywhere with her; there is a close bond between the grandmother and her grandson.
- Sejosenye is very proud of her grandson. He is the apple of her eye.
🏷️ Title
The title of the story refers to Friedman, the main character. He is a boy who has a magical wind blowing for him. There is something special about him. Not only is he lovable but he is envied by other parents who see him as a bright little boy who is different from other children.
📍 Setting
The story takes place in a rural village. The events occur at the Ga-Sefete-Molemo ward in the village.
🧩 Structure and Plot Development
🎭 Characterisation
- A lovable young boy who is brilliant, talented, and naughty like other boys.
- He loves to listen to the stories his grandmother tells and gets captivated by Robinson Crusoe’s heroic actions.
- He decides that one day he is going to be like Robinson Crusoe.
- He is very loyal to his grandmother and wants to help her all the time.
- She is a loving grandmother who loves her grandchild unconditionally.
- She does not conform to society’s expectations. She ploughs the fields whilst other women sit and wait for their husbands to do it for them.
- She is a confident woman who holds her head high even when society thinks she has committed scandalous acts.
- She is physically strong and independent.
- He is a friendly ‘foreign’ doctor who works at the hospital where ‘baby’ Friedman was born.
- Sejosenye decides to name her grandson after him because of the friendly nature with which he treated Sejosenye when she visited the hospital.
🎨 Themes
In the story there is a clear distinction of gender roles between boys and girls or males and females. The boys do as they please, no one gives them guidance on how to behave as they grow up. They go wherever they want, leaving home in the morning only to come back after sunset. Girls stay at home and do household duties that include fetching water; they do not need any education. Sejosenye becomes the envy of other women because she can plough the land, which is a duty that is mainly associated with men.
Friedman is loyal to his grandmother; he listens to her stories and teachings and emulates the heroes from the stories that he has listened to. He goes hunting so that they can have meat. He becomes more loyal to his grandmother and wants to help her in any way. Sejosenye is loyal to Friedman. She is there for him throughout his life. She takes him everywhere she goes; she is very proud of her grandson.
Towards the end of the story there is evidence of change and modernity. Although the village is still rural and predominantly agrarian, there is an emergence of a new class of people who are modern and are buying cars. The driver of the truck that killed Friedman did not have a driver’s licence — he rushed to get a truck so that he could fit into the privileged class.
👁️ Narrator’s Point of View
The story is narrated by a third-person omniscient narrator who has a bird’s eye view of all the events that take place in the story. The narrator gives an unbiased turn of events from the beginning of Friedman’s life and through his growing-up stages, until his untimely death.
✒️ Style
The story is told as a narrative that is done by a third-person omniscient narrator. The reader easily gets all the details pertaining to what is happening to the characters because the narrator is not part of the story but has a bird’s eye view of the events as they unfold.
🖋️ Diction and Figurative Language
Simile
Metaphor
Personification
Irony
The bicycle that was meant to help Friedman cuts his life short. The civil servants who come to the village to bring development bring carnage and fear to the village instead of hope and joy.
🎭 Tone and Mood
Tone: Cheerful, appreciative. Sympathetic, disappointed, and dull (after Friedman and Sejosenye’s deaths).
Mood: happy, optimistic; sad, angry, emotional.
7 The Girl Who Can ›
📘 Summary
- Little Adjoa is an ambitious girl, like any other girl her age, who has dreams and aspirations of her own and truly believes that anything is possible.
- Maami, her mother, wants the best for her child. She wants her to soar high on success and earn a respectful position in their society.
- Nana, Adjoa’s grandmother, has lived all her life according to society’s perspective.
- Nana believes that Adjoa can never be a woman as she has very thin legs that will bar her from carrying a baby.
- Nana only changes her view about Adjoa’s legs when she becomes an athlete and is successful because of her legs.
- The grandmother is proud of Adjoa.
🏷️ Title
Adjoa is the little girl who struggles to speak about her feelings. She is ridiculed by her grandmother because of her tiny legs.
📍 Setting (How the Story Is Told)
The story takes place in Ghana, Africa, in a village called Hasodzi. The main character walks five kilometres to reach the school in the nearby small town. The walks are not a problem for her as she is used to long walks around the village.
🧩 Plot Development
🎭 Characterisation
The main character and our narrator. She is 7 years old. She has the fear of talking because of her grandmother’s behaviour towards her.
She is Adjoa’s grandmother, makes fun of Adjoa’s statements and ridicules her to anyone that visits their home. Changes her mind when Adjoa becomes successful in athletics.
She is Adjoa’s mother. She wants Adjoa to attend school and be better than her, and defends her against Nana.
He is Adjoa’s neighbour. He lends charcoal to Nana to press iron Adjoa’s school uniform.
🎨 Themes
The girl, Adjoa, is not able to voice out her feelings because she fears that people would laugh at her. She allows her grandmother to ridicule her about her legs and she does not say anything.
Nana, Adjoa’s grandmother, makes fun of her granddaughter’s thin and long legs. She believes that the girl’s legs should have flesh in them, in preparation for the child-bearing stage.
⚔️ Conflict
Nana and Maami (mother and daughter) argue about the choice of husband Maami has. Nana blames Maami’s choice of husband for the type of child she has. The child, Adjoa, has skinny legs, and that causes conflict between the two women. Maami does not see anything wrong with Adjoa’s legs while Nana thinks they are not acceptable.
🏆 Pride / Appreciation
Maami becomes Adjoa’s number one fan when she becomes famous and successful in athletics. She prepares the school uniform for her, accompanies her to school and to athletics events.
🎭 Tone, Mood and Style
The tone used by Adjoa to show the state of her mind at the beginning of the story.
Used by Nana when she makes comments about her legs.
Nana’s tone when she realises that Adjoa is becoming successful because of her long and thin legs.
Mood: Sad, emotional (initially); optimistic (when a decision to elope is made); remorse/guilt (at the end).
Style: The story is told in a conversation-like narrative. The author uses direct quotations from characters to allow the reader to understand each character’s tone, attitude and insight.
🖋️ Examples of Figures of Speech
Simile
Metaphor
8 Triumph in the Face of Adversity ›
📘 Overview
The story is set at the narrator’s (Thulisile) mother’s graveside, and the main body of the story is everything she remembers while she stands there. She has memories of her mother’s empty life and how she (Thuli) struggled to make something of her own life. The story ends back at the gravesite, indicating that the whole body of the story is a flashback.
🏷️ Title
The narrator faces a lot of difficulties throughout her life (adversities = difficult/unpleasant/miserable situations), but that doesn’t stop her from creating a better life for herself and her siblings.
📍 Setting
The story is set in Johannesburg and later moves to Phambili Squatter Camp.
🧩 Structure and Plot Development
🎭 Important Characters
Main character and narrator. She experiences hardship and poverty in the squatter camp. She makes attempts to earn money to feed her family.
The narrator’s mother and Jabulani’s wife. She is given rules to follow by her mother-in-law. She suffers beatings from her husband. She stays loyal to her husband. She moves in with her children when her husband dies. She is very ill and dies.
The narrator’s grandmother. She does not approve of her son’s marriage to Thembekile. She makes rules for Thembekile to follow and treats her like a slave in the household.
The narrator’s father. He marries Thembekile despite his mother’s disapproval. He loses his job and turns to alcohol. He beats his wife. He emotionally and physically abuses his children. He steals money from the narrator.
🎨 Themes
- Prejudice / Intolerance
- Mother-in-law conflict
- Poverty
- Unemployment
- Gender-based violence
- Alcoholism
- Child abuse
- Child labour
- Loyalty
- Fear
- Ambition
👁️ Point of View
The story is narrated from a 1st person point of view. She tells of her mother’s suffering as well as her own. Her suffering and experiences are told from a first-hand experience view.
🎭 Tone and Mood
Tone (the quality in the voice that expresses the speaker’s feelings or thoughts): Depressed (narrator); Mean (Ma Dlamini); Defensive (Thembekile, when defending her husband).
Mood (how you feel at a particular time while reading the story): sad, emotional; optimistic.