essay

Intro
In the novel The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay. A small boy grows up seeing the horrors of apartheid South Africa in this great bildungsroman.
In the novel, Peekay changed a lot. Three main ways he changed are when he was given a dream, this dream was very important to him, and no matter what he was always focused on fulfilling it. Peekay also changed when he found the power of one which is the power within himself to change the world around him. This is important to the text as a whole because it shows the journey Peekay has been on and the challenges he faced, and how he stood up to face them. This shows the reader it is possible to find “the power of one” to fight oppression and injustice, and that little can beat big.

P1
Firstly, Peekay changed because he found hope. At the start of the novel, he was a small boy who had been abused and bullied and had no hope, but he found hope. Peekay met Hoppie, a railway conductor and boxer when he was put on a three day long train journey headed to Barberton. Hoppie took Peekay under his wing and showed him love and friendship.’ first with your head and then with your heart, that’s how a man stays ahead from the start.’ Hoppie said this to Peekay, when Peekay needed hope and this has driven Peekay for the rest of his life. Bryce Cortney used symbolism when writing about train journeys, this shows the reader that train journeys are important, train journeys are used as transitions connecting new parts of Peekay’s life. Peekay’s life changed when he was given a dream. This dream meant that Peekay had hope. When Peeakay started to bring letters and tobacco into the prison he was giving people with no hope a glimmer of hope even when they were trapped inside Barberton prison. ‘Was he not the spirit of the great chief …Did he not bring tobacco and sugar and salt into the prison.’ This is what the prisoners said about Peekay. Peekay also helped people when he started the school for the black boxers. This shows that because Hoppie gave Peekay hope Peekay knew that hope is important and because Peekay was helped he helped people too. This shows the significance of kindness and hope because you spread kindness, other people will too. Such as when the civil rights movement started in America and people started to see how the black people were really treated and they started to help this inspired more people to help them too.

P2
An important idea in the novel is oppression. Oppression is when a certain person or race of people are treated in an unjust or unfair way. The main form of oppression in the text is the racism against the black people of South Africa.