Introduction to the

1
Introduction to the

• Power of One

2
Bryce Courtenay

• Much of The Power of One is based on Bryce
  Courtenay's own life.
• Courtenay was born in 1933 in South Africa.
• At five years of age, he was sent to a boarding
  school, which was a mixture between a reform
  school and an orphans' home. Here he learned how
  to box in order to survive.
• He then moved to Barberton in the North Eastern
  part of South Africa and met a German music
  teacher called Doc.
• Courtenay attended a prestigious private high
  school, and then studied journalism at an English
  university.
• He was banned from returning to South Africa
  since he had initiated a weekend school for black
  people at his high school.

3
Historical Background

• Anglo - Boer War
• Between 1899 and 1902
• An army of 500,000 British fought against a clan
  of 87,000 Boers
• The main protagonists of the war -Great Britain
  and two Boer republics - were mainly white
• English wanted all of South Africa to come under
  English rule
• Hostility and segregation between English
  (Rooinek) and Boers (Afrikaans) continued until
  the end of official apartheid 1994

4
Historical Background

• First Concentration Camps
• Started by English
• Both blacks and Boers were imprisoned
• 37 black concentration camps are recorded in
  Transvaal (the former South African Republic) and
  29 in the Orange River Colony (the former Orange
  Free State).
• These camps held an estimated total of 11,500
  people at the height of their existence.

5
Apartheid

• Translated from Afrikaans, apartheid means
  apartness. The term is used to describe the
  legalized racist policy of the National Party
  (NP) between 1948 and (officially) 1994. Its
  roots can be found in South Africa's earlier
  policies of segregation. The only relationship
  that black people were allowed to have with white
  people was one in which they served them.

6
Divisions of Apartheid

• The Nationalists argued that the people did not
  constitute a single nation but made up four race
  groups, namely white, black, coloured, and
  Indian. These races were further divided into 13
  nations.
• White people comprised English and Afrikaans
  language groups.
• The black population was divided into 10 ethnic
  groups.
• This made the white race the largest one in the
  country.

7
Pass Laws

• The movement of black people was severely
  limited. Black people could only stay in white
  South Africa if they possessed documents proving
  they had permission to do so. The laws
  restricting the movement of people were known as
  Pass Laws.
• The Urban Areas Act of 1945 outlined requirements
  for African people to qualify to live legally
  in urban areas in white South Africa. In order to
  do so they had to have Section 10 rights. These
  rights were based on whether
• The person had been born there and resided there
  continuously since birth
• The person had worked continuously for ten years
  in any prescribed area for any employer or lived
  continuously in any such area for a period not
  less than 10 years
• The person was the wife, unmarried daughter, or
  son under 18 years of age of an African falling
  into classes (a) or (b), and ordinarily resided
  with him, and initially entered the area
  lawfully or
• The person had been granted a permit to remain by
  a labor bureau.

8
The Bantu Self-Government Act

• The Bantu Self-Government Act further divided the
  whites from the African tribes and changed the
  political and geographic shape of South Africa.
  The Bantu Act declared that blacks must live with
  other members of their ethnic group in
  specifically established areas or reserves.
  This law created a South Africa with a white
  center and a cluster of black states along its
  borders. This law paved the way for the
  government to forcibly remove blacks from their
  long-time homes and forced them to resettle in
  assigned areas. The introduction to the Act
  read
• "The bantu people of the Union of South Africa do
  not constitute a homogenous people but form
  separate national units on the basis of language
  and culture."
• Instead the government broke down the assigning
  of people to specific areas based on their
  tribal/culture heritage and language.

9
Vocabulary Chapters 1-2

• Mewling - (v.) to cry weakly, whimper page 3
• Stentorian - (adj.) extremely loud powerful or
  booming voice a stentorian voice page 4
• Keening - (n.) a loud, wailing lament for the
  dead page 10

10
Vocabulary Chapters 1-2

• Obsequiousness - (n.) full of or exhibiting
  servile compliance fawning, submissiveness
  page 11
• Cicatrization (n.) - To heal or become healed by
  the formation of scar tissue, as in branding or
  tattoos page 23

11
Opening Chapters

• Why do the Judge and jury hate Pisskop?
• Where does this hatred come from?
• How does Pisskop deal with this cruelty?
• What is the lesson or theme that the author most
  likely wants readers to learn about the nature of
  human cruelty and prejudice?

12
Grab a sheet of paper POP Quiz!

• Answer the following questions using
  complete sentences on a sheet of notebook paper.
  Each question is worth 2 points.
• Why does the protagonist get sent to boarding
  school?
• Who is Inkosi-Inkosikazi?
• What does Inkosi-Inkosikazi do for the
  protagonist?

13
A few more questions

• Who is Granpa Chook?
• What political figure do the Judge and jury
  support?
• Mevrou allows the protagonist to keep Granpa
  Chook because of what he can do. What does
  Granpa Chook do to earn his keep at the school?

14
Last four questions

• What tattoo does the Judge have on his arm?
• Why did the protagonist lie and tell Dr. Henny
  that he fell out of the mango tree next to the
  playground? What was he covering up?
• How does Granpa Chook die?
• What does the protagonist bury with Granpa Chook?