The Power of One Eassy

In the novel The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay. A small boy grows up seeing the horrors of apartheid South Africa. 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.

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.

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. When Peekay first realized what racism was when he was getting his photo taken, after his win at the boxing tournament. When Lieutenant Smit invited Geel Piet into the photo and all the other Bore adults stepped out because Geel Piet was black. ‘The photograph captured the exact moment when I understood with conviction that racism is a primary force of evil designed to destroy good men.’ This is important to the text as a whole because it showed Peekay, realizing that racism is wrong. This is why Peekay did so much to help the black people of South Africa, Peekay was able to see past the fact that they had black skin and saw them as equals. Even though Peekay was bullied by Bores at boarding school, many of his friends were Bores. While most English did not even need to speak to a Bore but had already decided that he hated them. Hymey you’ve got to learn that there are good bores and bad bores just like everyone else. You can’t just lump them all together. There are still many forms of oppression around the world, one of these is the African American people that live in The United States of America. These people are still treated differently to the white citizens of the USA, which shows that there is still oppression in a country where freedom is promised.

Lastly, Peekay changed when he found the power of one. The power of one gave Peekay the power to look past the country’s stereotypes about black people and find the drive within himself to make a change. After Peekay’s fight against Mandoma in Sophiatown, Peekay sat down in the changing room, and ‘The pain gives his young mind clarity and he ‘sees’ the future of South Africa, and particularly of the black South Africans.’ Peekay then used his ‘power of one’ to make a change. This was when he started the Saturday school for the black boxers which then developed to a school for all the black servants, and the black people in the township. When the Police came to the school and ordered for the school for black people to be closed. Peekay still had the drive to keep trying to give the black students an education, where many people would have stopped helping the Black people. This shows Peekay’s power of one. ‘I learned that in each of us there burns a flame of independence that must never be allowed to go out. That as long as it exists within us we cannot be destroyed.’ Peekay’s power of one was always burning and never went out, There were other characters in the novel with the power of one, for example, Lieutenant Smit had the power of one when he invited Geel Piet into the photograph after the boxing tournament. Although when lieutenant Smit was promoted to Captain he burnt all the copies of the photos that were taken. This was when he lost the power of one.


In conclusion, The Power of One written by Bryce Courtenay shows that hope is an important part of life and can change lives like when Peekay was given a dream. Hope was also very important for the black people of South Africa, because they were constantly oppressed. This oppression was the racism against them, they were constantly beaten and treated in an unfair way. For this reason, they had no hope, but when Peekay started to do small things for the black people like bringing tobacco into the prison and starting a school for the black boxers they started to have hope. Peekay was using his power of one to make this change. When Peekay spread this hope and kindness it made other people spread this too.