The similarities between Peekay and Bryce Courtenay

It is quite interesting how many direct similarities exist between Peekay and Courtenay.  Below are just a few I gathered by reading a interview on Courtenay:

• Both were born illegitimately, or so it seems
• mother was/became a dressmaker
• both were the smallest kid, a English kid in a African school
• both learned to box, to over come the big African people
• both were educated in Afrikaans
• Both were coached by a teacher who taught them so that they became good enough for a scholarship
• Both won a scholar ship, to a posh private school
• both used winning everything as their camouflage
• their mothers suffered a nervous breakdown
• father was completely absent
• relationship with mother was strained
• always small
• Apartheid was just gaining a grip on the country
• both worked in the copper mines as a grizzly man

8. Representation - adults, children, and beliefs.

Everyone in the book The Power of One is represented in a certain way.  In regard to adults, there are three main groups.  First there is the group of adults Peekay respects, e.g. his teachers and mentors.  The second group of adults consist of the adults Peekay despises and fears.  The third group consist of the born-again Christians, who confuse Peekay.

Hoppie Groenewald was the start to a long line of mentors for Peekay.  Hoppie treated Peekay like he was his own son, buying him food, and spending his spare time with him.  It was Hoppie who first gave Peekay the idea that small could beat big, that he could beat the Judge and the rest of the world.  To prove this thought, the welterweight boxer Hoppie beat the Heavy-weight boxer JackHammer Smit.  This was the turning point of Peekay's life.  Here, he stopped being the small vulnerable, dependant character, and started out to become the independent hero featured at the close of the book. 

Doc was also in the first category.  He taught Peekay a lot, both about cacti and life.  Doc became the father-figure for Peekay in the years Peekay took to grow up.  Doc was portrayed as a calm, wise figure, who was always right, both in his views and his actions.  He was extremely kind to Peekay, taking him under his wing, even when he was in prison.  Peekay loved Doc a lot, and was greatly saddened when he died. 

Geel Piet was a yellow skinned man, despised by both the white people and the black people.  He had the blood of every African tribe, as well as white blood.  Geel Piet was the man who taught Peekay the basics of boxing.  He was always bullied by warders in the prison, and, much to Peekay's despair, ended up being tortured to death.  Peekay worked with Geel Piet to give the black people tobacco and sugar, and let them smuggle letters out of prison to their families.

Lieutenant Borman was a man despised by Peekay.  He prided himself on the way he hurt and treated the 'dirty Kaffir' black people.  Lieutenant Borman kills Peekay's faithful friend Geel Piet.  This makes Peekay, and even his boxing master, Captain Smit, extremely sad.  Later on in the book, the reader is glad to find out that Captain Smit beat up Lieutenant Borman, and Borman ended up dying in hospital from a dreaded disease.

The representation of children changes throughout the book.  In the first part of the book, the children at the boarding school believe every word their parents say about the 'sinful Rooineks', and about Hitler coming to save them from the oppressive English.  The children use this information to legalise the bullying of Peekay and his 'English chicken', Grandpa Chook.  Later, when Peekay is revealed as a smart student, and a excellent fighter, he becomes popular, both among the African, and the English children.

Peekay's attitudes, values and beliefs are transferred to the reader, strengthening or challenging his/her own beliefs.  At the beginning of the book, Peekay loves his nanny so much, he even prays to her instead of God, when he needs help.  Later on, when he learns about God, he is confused.  He doesn't understand that God is a spirit and not a man.  When he finally realises that there is a spirit called God, he asks Doc about HIM.  Doc states that God is certainly there, but he is too busy making the world to round to worry about pathetic little sins.  Peekay decides that he 'liked Doc's God better than Mother's'.  The way Peekay treats black and white people alike shows that he values equity, and despises racism.  This is another value which strengthens the readers viewpoint.  By making the reader become attracted to Peekay, Courtenay forces the reader to either refute Peekay's beliefs, or agree with him. 

7. Peekay - character and conventions

Peekay is a extremely attractive character.  Everyone who reads the book becomes attached to him, even if they don't agree with all his beliefs.  Peekay tells his story as he knew it at the time it happened.  For example, although he 'knew' what happened when he apparently wrote the book, Peekay tells of his experience with 'death' (when the judge sentences him to death), by describing the urine falling on his head as blood flowing over him.  This is both amusing and sad, and helps attach Peekay to the reader right from the beginning of the book.

Peekay doesn't speak very much in the first half of the book.  He is quite shy and dependant on other people because of his horrific experiences at boarding school.  A example of this is how he came by his name.  Peekay was called 'Pisskop' by everyone at his school, including the teachers.  It was the only name he knew of.  A Jewish merchant gave him the name Peekay, as it was a nicer name, and less offensive.  Instead of speaking, Peekay gives his thoughts to the reader.  This is a important part of the book, as it tells the reader what Peekay is thinking, and keeps the book entertaining, and less like a biography (which is often boring).  These thoughts are also the main way Courtenay uses to give his opinion on events in the book.

A large part of Peekay which everyone loves is his actions.  Peekay is a boy who always does things for others.  Despite the high opinion everyone has of him, Peekay remains modest.  He helps the black people in the prison, without any payment, and is embarrassed when the people call him a angel.  When Peekay talks about his life at school, he states that he 'gets the reputation of being smart, which is quite untrue'.  Peekay fights to become independent, a power of one, to defeat the big cruel world.

6. The Narrator and the Tone

Bryce Courtenay is a Australian author who grew up in South Africa.  In a way, his life is very similar to that of Peekay's.  Besides values and beliefs, Courtenay and Peekay have at least 15 similarities.  Courtenay was a illegitimate child.  He had a mother, who couldn't look after him, and, as a result, put him in a orphanage.  At the orphanage, Courtenay learned to box so he could protect himself against bullies.  Like Peekay, Courtenay was not racist.  Both tried to set up a school for black adults, which is also the reason Courtenay was thrown out of the country.

Throughout the book, Peekay gives his thoughts and opinions on every scene, as if he is telling the story.  This stream of consciousness makes the book seem more real, as if the story really happened, and gives Bryce Courtenay the opportunity to give his opinions.  This way of writing also keeps the book entertaining and captures the audience.  Through this, the reader is brought close to Peekay, as well as providing a laugh when Peekay expresses some of his thoughts (like when he 'finds out he is evil' at the beginning of the book).  This stream of consciousness starts right at the beginning of the book, when Peekay starts 'telling' his story.  The first words of the book are 'This is how it happened', which informs the reader that the book is not very formal, and invites him/her to read on.

The author also uses tone to give his thoughts and opinions about certain topics found in the book.  One such topic was Christianity.  The tone the author set for Christianity was on of dislike.  The first time Peekay is 'exposed' to Christianity is when he goes home to his mother.  His nanny is gone, because she wouldn't be reformed to Christianity.  This makes Peekay sad, and the reader begins to dislike Christianity.  Every time Christianity is portrayed, it appears a pathetic religion that has no base and you just have to believe.  Peekay's mother is always repeating the words "Praise the Lord", and "Hallelujah".  This is pathetic, and not a true representation of Christianity.  Peekay views Christianity as a nuisance.  Everything he wants to do is not God's 'will', and is 'on his list of 'don'ts''.  This is very obvious in the scene where Peekay is talking to his friend Hymie Levy on the phone.  The 'born-again Christian' girl at the phone desk cuts Hymie off because he is blaspheming.  When she stops listening in, even Peekay blasphemes, showing his thoughts on the subject.  The tone set for Christianity is very convincing, despite the fact that it is extremely wrong. 

The tone for racism is very different then Christianity.  Peekay treats everyone alike, despite their race, and the fact that he, himself, was subject to racism.  Thus, racism is viewed negatively.  The first instance of racism in the book is when Peekay is bullied because he was a English 'Rooinek' and not a 'Boer'.  This already makes the reader hate racism.  Another scene with racism is in the prison, when the warder punches the 'dirty Kaffir' black person for something he didn't even do.  Peekay obviously isn't racist.  At his primary school, Peekay is considered a 'Boer' by the African kids.  He is able to intercede between the 'Boers' and the English.  At the college, the boys from the Boer school think Peekay is one of them.  Peekay treats the black people like people in the Barberton prison, and again when he becomes their great chief, 'the tadpole angel'.

Courtenay uses his life experiences to create a stream of consciousness coming from Peekay, and his values and beliefs to help create the tone.  Both the tone Courtenay sets and the stream of consciousness Peekay gives the author make convincing opinions, presented as facts, about certain topics.  

5. Symbols and Literary references

As is found in every book, The Power of One also has its symbols throughout the book.  Five major ones were the waterfalls, the loneliness bird, the swastika, the tadpole angel, and the Black Mamba snake. 

To cure Peekay of his habit of urinating in his bed, Peekay's nurse called the great witchdoctor.  The witchdoctor told Peekay to close his eyes, and Peekay was placed in a world of the imagination.  In this world, there were three waterfalls.  Peekay had to cross the stream above the waterfalls by jumping across 10 black stones.  The waterfalls symbolised strength and hope.  Whenever Peekay needed strength, he would close his eyes and visit the world of imagination.  Peekay always entered this world when he had to appear before the judge and jury, at the boarding school.  Later, Peekay used these waterfalls to give him strength to go into the ring again to finish off an opponent.

The loneliness bird, another symbol represented in the film was a 'stone bird' which lived inside Peekay, squatting on its nest in his heart, weighing heavily on his mind.  This 'bird' first came to him while he was at boarding school, being bullied by his fellow peers.  One of Peekay's goals was to rid himself of the feeling of loneliness, or the 'loneliness bird'.  Peekay succeeded in this goal when he was at the Prince of Wales boarding school, with his faithful friend Hymie Levy.

A third symbol in the book was the swastika.  This was a symbol of power.  The 'judge', from boarding school, had a swastika as a tattoo.  With it, he boasted, all the hated 'Rooineks' would be marched into the sea, and the war would be won.  Later on, at the very end of the book, Peekay has a street fight with his enemy, the 'judge'.  He recognises the judge because of the swastika tattoo.  By this time, the 'judge' was a powerful man who everyone, bar Peekay, was frightened of.  This symbol was a recurring symbol which kept coming back with extra power behind it.

Peekay was a important person to the black people in the prison.  Everyday, Peekay brought the prisoners some tobacco and anything else they wanted.  Because of this, the black people, otherwise referred to as 'the people', dubbed Peekay the 'Tadpole angel'.  They called him the 'Tadpole angel' because he was the small musician.  The big musician, Peekay's friend Doc, had the name 'frog', so, naturally, Peekay was called 'Tadpole'.  The black people thought that Peekay was the great chief they had been waiting for.  Peekay was the symbol of hope among the black people.  He was supposed to break the black people from their oppression.

The Black Mamba is one of the most deadly snakes in Africa.  Peekay first comes into contact with the Black Mamba, when he asks the 'spirit' of Doc for a sign.  The Black Mamba slithers over Peekay, and, subsequently becomes a symbol of danger.  Peekay is warned in a dream of the accident he was going to have while working as a grizzly.  It also appeared for Peekay when his is about to have his dangerous showdown with his childhood enemy, the Judge.

All these symbols have a large role in Peekay's life, the way he treated different types of people, and the actions he took.  For example, Peekay latched onto Hymie Levy in boarding school, to defeat the loneliness bird.  He treats the black people like they were his equal, even agreeing to box one of them at the black township.  The waterfalls gave Peekay strength, and helped him become a great boxer.  These symbols also give extra meaning, and thinking material, to the book.

4. South African Racial Ideology 1930-1050

Racism is a problem in every country, especially when a new race has just invaded a country.  The Power of One has two different examples of racism in it. 

            The first occasion racism is portrayed is right near the start of the book, when Peekay is at the boarding school.  At the boarding school, Peekay is one of the few English 'Rooinek' boys.  Because he is English, he is called before the 'judge and jury', made up of older boys at the school.  The judge forces Peekay, who they call 'Pisskop', to do dreadful things.  Among other things, Peekay is urinated on and is forced to eat human poo.  This racism surprised me.  Usually, it is the British who go in there and be racist against the natives.  Here it is the opposite.  The African white people were racist against the English who had invaded their country. 

            The second scene which capitalised on racism is in prison.  Peekay goes to see Doc after he is sentenced to prison for the duration of the war.  In the warder's lodge, Peekay witnesses one of the black people being hit by one of the warder's over something he didn't even do.  Peekay's thoughts about this aren't mentioned, but the reader assumes he doesn't care.  The black people in prison were constantly frightened by the warders who would often hit them.  The term used when referring to the black people was 'Kaffir', which is a derogatory term.  Later on in the book, Peekay tries to create a school to educate black adults.  The local 'white' police become involved, and the school is dismantled at once, on the basis of the black people seeking to over throw the government!!

            We should all take note from the racial discriminations from the past and work on them to unite the world into one race - the race God created, the human race.

3. The Anglo-Boer war

The Power of One often refers to the Anglo-Boer war, which killed 1000's of women and children in concentration camps.  This was one part of the book that wasn't explained during the book.  The book aroused my curiosity, so I googled it. 

            Apparently, this war was a civil war between the English Immigrants and the Dutch/African speaking immigrants.  The war consisted of three phases.  First, the Boers (African white people/Dutch immigrants) besieged some British Garrisons.  The Boers then won a tactical victory when they stopped the British from freeing the besieged garrisons.  In the second phase, the British again mounted a offensive, this time with larger numbers of troops, and succeeded in breaking the siege.  The British then advanced to take over the republic city, Pretoria.  In the third and final phase, the Boers fought against the British guerrilla style, raiding targets such as British troop columns, telegraph sites, railways and storage depots.  The British responded by destroying Boer farms and placing civilians inside concentration camps.  Tens of thousands of women and children died in these camps.  The war ended two years later, in the year 1902, when the Boers surrendered.

            This information shocked me.  I had always thought of the Nazi's as extremely bad people who invented the concentration camps to annihilate a entire race of people.  Now, I learn that the British were the first people to use concentration camps to kill people possibly related to my ancestors!

            In The Power of One, Peekay, who comes from English descent, is bullied.  Near the beginning, especially, his tormentor's blame him for killing their relatives in this war.  It is because of this bullying that Peekay decides to take on the world, beat the odds, and become the welterweight champion of the world.

2. The Context, Popularity, and Audience of the Book

Bryce Courtenay used his life story to help him write the popular book The Power of One.  At least fifteen strong similarities exist between Courtenay and Peekay.  The most important one, which is what leads on to the rest, is the country and time they both grew up.  At the beginning of the book (the year 1939), Peekay is five years old, living at a boarding school.  At the same time, Courtenay was 6, living in a orphanage.  Both had to learn to deal with racism and bullying while living with the African children. 

            Courtenay uses his personal knowledge of the language and context of Africa during and after the war.  He also uses his knowledge on other experiences Peekay has, such as boxing, rich private schools, and the way a grizzly works in the copper mines.  All through this book, Courtenay uses his own experiences to add a personal touch to the book.  Peekay tells the reader his feelings, probably the same feelings Courtenay had when he went through those experiences.  This connects the reader with Peekay, making the reader feel the same way as Peekay about certain themes in the book.

            This makes the book very appealing.  The Power of One is one of the most popular books in Australians.  The book was written to inform the larger community, especially Australians, about the racism in South Africa.  I didn't have any idea about this sort of racism before reading this book.  This captivating story about a 5 year old boy who fights racism to become the welterweight champion of the world is a book everyone, and especially Australians should read.

1. My Views and Expectations after only reading the first 150 pgs

So far, I have only read seven chapters of the famous book The Power of One, written by Bryce Courtenay.  Even in these first 150 pages, the reader of the book becomes attached to the little boy.  Peekay was a little boy whose 'life started' when he turned 5 and was placed in a boarding home.  He was a loner, a boy who was bullied endlessly by a 12 year old.  His thoughts are given when he talks to his only friend, a old half-plucked chicken.  Peekay, or Pisskop, as he was called by his peers, treats this chicken as someone superior to himself.  Throughout these 7 chapters, the reader feels for the boy.  Peekay forces the reader to feel sympathy, both because of what he has been through, and because of how little he knows.

When I first looked at this book, I was far from enthusiastic about reading it (we are reading it at school).  However, right from the first page, I was trapped in the amazing story of a boy who went through so much and thought so little of himself.  Later, Peekay meets his friend 'Hoppie', a welter-weight boxer.  Hoppie taught Peekay that small can beat big, just as long as you have a plan.  Peekay decided that he was going to box, and be the next welterweight champion of the world.

Chapter 7 ends when Big Hettie, the lady who was accompanying Peekay on the train trip, dies.  Big Hettie dies from eating too much.  This leaves Peekay alone in the world again.  In chapter 8 and following chapters, I think that Peekay will arrive home and start living a more normal life, going to school, and having boxing lesson's somewhere.  I think that someone else will come into his life to be his special friend, possibly his boxing teacher or another boxer he works with.  Eventually, Peekay, with lots of wins, and possibly a loss behind him, will become the greatest welterweight champion of all to draw the book to a close.

I encourage all people to obtain this book and read it for themselves, even if it looks like a big, fat, boring book!