Lesson Four

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Lesson Four
A drink in the passage
By Alan Paton
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Contents

• Part One Warm-up
• Part Two Background InformationPart Three
  Text Appreciation Part Four Detailed
  StudyPart Five Assignment

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Warm up
Questions 1. What do you know about South
Africa? 2. What do you know about the situation
in South Africa at the time the story was
written? 3. Have you ever heard of the
apartheid? What do you know about it? 4. What
dramatic changes have taken place in this
country since the time this story was written? 5.
Has racism been a serious problem in human
history? Is the problem resolved? 6. How much do
you know about Nelson Mandela?

• .

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Background information1. About the author

• Alan Paton (1903-1988)
• I do not like to mention itBut there is a
  voice I cannot silence.
• 
  Paton
• Paton, craggy old liberal, hater of and hated
  by apartheid, loved and unloved by the ANC,
  famous for Cry, the Beloved Country.

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• Alan Paton was born in Pietermaritzburg,
  South Africa. He started his career by teaching 
  at a school in Ixopo. The dramatic career change
  to director of a reformatory for black youths at
  Diepkloof, near Johannesburg, had a profound
  effect on his thinking. The publication of Cry,
  the Beloved Country (1948) made him one of South
  Africas best known writers, and by the time he
  died, it had sold over 15 million copies.
  Following his non-racial ideals, he helped to
  found the South African Liberal Party and became
  its president.

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• Cry, the Beloved Country
• Perhaps the most famous
• novel to come out of
• South Africa, Patons 1948
• work brought to the notice of the world the
  dilemmas of ordinary South Africans living under
  an oppressive system, one which threatened to
  destroy their very humanity. Informed by Patons
  Christian and liberal beliefs, the novel tells of
  a rural Zulu parsons heart-breaking search for
  his son, who has been drawn into the criminal
  underworld of the city. Cry, the Beloved Country
  has sold millions of copies around the world

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His works

• Cry, the Beloved Country, universal, liberal,
  reforming. Reads like an aloe in the cool
  morning, reads like the taste of soap in your
  mouth. His poetry, to my mind, is a truer voice.
  No breathtaking, romantic landscape nature,
  particularly plants and sunlight, forms a
  spiritual cipher. There is a sense of individual
  tragedy as history catches up with itself. There
  is passion and tenderness. There is political
  comment, but also a flickering uncertainty absent
  from the mountainous liberalism of the novels.
• An anonymous comment

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• Cry, the Beloved Country, however, is also a
  monument to the future. One of South Africas
  leading humanists, Alan Paton, vividly captured
  his eloquent faith in the essential goodness of
  people in his epic work.
• Nelson Mandela, former President of South Africa

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• 1953. Too Late the Phalarope
• 1961. Debbie, Go Home
• 1968. Instrument of Thy Peace
• 1973. Apartheid and the Archbishop the life and
  times of Geoffrey Clayton, Archbishop of Cape
  Town
• 1975. Knocking at the door
• 1980. Towards the Mountain
• 1981. Ah, but your land is beautiful
• 1986. Diepkloof reflections of Diepkloof
  Reformatory
• 1988. Journey Continued
• 1995. Songs of Africa collected poems

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Background information2. Apartheid

• South Africa was colonized by the English and
  Dutch in the 17th century. English domination of
  the Dutch descendents (known as Boers or
  Afrikaners) resulted in the Dutch establishing
  the new colonies of Orange Free State and
  Transvaal. The discovery of diamonds in these
  lands around 1900 resulted in an English invasion
  which sparked the Boer War. Following
  independence from England, an uneasy
  power-sharing between the two groups held sway
  until the 1940s, when the

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• Afrikaner National Party was able to gain a
  strong majority.
• Strategists in the National
• Party invented apartheid
• as a means to cement their
• control over the economic
• and social system. Initially, aim of the
  apartheid was to maintain white domination while
  extending racial separation. Starting in the
  1960s, a plan of Grand Apartheid was executed,
  emphasizing territorial separation and police
  repression.

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• With the enactment of apartheid laws in 1948,
  racial discrimination was institutionalized. Race
  laws touched every aspect of social life,
  including a prohibition of marriage between
  non-whites and whites, and the sanctioning of
  white-only jobs. In 1950, the Population
  Registration Act required that all South Africans
  be racially classified into one of three
  categories white, black (African), or colored
  (of mixed decent). The coloured category included

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• major subgroups of Indians and Asians.
  Classification into these categories was based on
  appearance, social acceptance, and descent.
  Non-compliance with the race laws were dealt with
  harshly. All blacks were required to carry pass
  books containing fingerprints, photo and
  information on access to non-black areas. In
  1953, the Public Safety Act and the Criminal Law
  Amendment Act were passed, which empowered the
  government to declare stringent states of

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• emergency and increased penalties for protesting
  against or supporting the repeal of a law. The
  penalties included fines, imprisonment and
  whippings. In 1960, a large group of blacks in
  Sharpeville refused to carry their passes the
  government declared a state of emergency. The
  emergency lasted for 156 days, leaving 69 people
  dead and 187 people wounded. Wielding the Public
  Safety Act and the Criminal Law Amendment Act

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• the white regime had no intention of
  changing the unjust laws of apartheid.
• The penalties imposed on political protest,
  even non-violent protest, were severe. During the
  states of emergency which continued
  intermittently until 1989, anyone could be
  detained without a hearing by a low-level police
  official for up to six months. Thousands of
  individuals died in custody, frequently after
  gruesome acts of torture. Those who were

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• ried were sentenced to death, banished, or
  imprisoned for life, like Nelson Mandela. The
  apartheid policy was highly effective of
  achieving its goal of preferential treatment for
  whites, as is demonstrated by the statistics in
  Figure 1.

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Text Appreciation

• Plot a well-educated black finds himself
  cordially
• invited to split a bottle with a white
  man in
• the passage of the latters apartment
• building
• Setting social setting Apartheid South Africa
  in
• 1960
• story setting in the passage
  
• Protagonists Ithe black sculptor
• Writing techniques go to Writing Devices
• Theme of the story go to the next page

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Text Appreciation 1. Theme

• The story tells us how racial prejudice can
  prevent us reaching, touching and connecting with
  each other. This invisible wall exists between
  the white and the black and hampers their free
  communication and full understanding. It is not
  just a wall imposed by apartheid laws, but a wall
  deeply rooted in their hearts.

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Text Appreciation 2. Structure

• Part 1 (Paras. 1-6 ) about
• Against what background and from whom the
  story comes
• Part 2 (Paras. 7-76) about How the story goes

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Text Appreciation 3. Writing Devices

• 1. Point of View
• Point of view signifies the way a story
  gets toldthe mode (or modes) established by an
  author by means of which the reader is presented
  with the characters, dialogue, actions, setting,
  and events which constitute the narrative in a
  work of fiction.

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• The first person point of view
• This narrative mode limits the matter of
  the narrative to what the first-person narrator
  knows, experiences, infers, or can find out by
  talking to other characters. We distinguish
  between the narrative I who is only a
  fortuitous witness and auditor of the matters he
  relates (Marlow in Heart of Darkness) or who is
  a participant, but only a minor or peripheral
  one, in the story (Nick in F. Scott Fitzgeralds
  The Great Gatsby) or who is himself or herself
  the central character in the story (Charlotte
  Brontes Jane Eyre).

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2. Flashback

• Now study the following paragraph. What is the
  function of it?
• He said to me. This is the second cognac Ive
  had in my life. Would you like to hear the story
  of how I had my first? (Para. 6)
• This paragraph serves to introduce a
  flashback.

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• What is flashback?
• Flashbacks are interpolated narratives or
  scenes (often justified, or naturalized, as a
  memory, a reverie, or a confession by one of the
  characters) which represent events that happened
  before the time at which the work opened. Arthur
  Millers Death of a Salesman (1949) and Ingmar
  Bergmans film Wild Strawberries make persistent
  and skillful use of this device.

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3. Figurative Language

• Now study the following sentences and tell us
  what figurative speech is used in each and how it
  contributes to the expressive effect of the
  language.
• 1. Its also the first time Ive drunk a
  brandy so slowly. In
• Orlando you develop a throat of iron.
  (Para.5)
• 2. He sat slumped in his seat, like a man
  with a burden of
• incomprehensible, insoluble grief. (Para. 75)
• 3. What he was thinking, God knows, but I was
  thinking
• he was like a man trying to run a race in
  iron shoes,
• and not understanding why he cannot move.
  (Para. 75)

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Detailed study of the Text

• 1, In the year 1960 the Union of South
  Africa celebrated its Golden Jubilee, and there
  was a nationwide sensation when the
  one-thousand-pound prize for the finest piece
  sculpture was won by a black man (Para. 1)
• In the year 1960, the Union of South Africa
  celebrated its fiftieth anniversary, and there
  was a great excitement throughout the country
  when people heard that the prize for the finest
  piece of sculpture was won by a black man.

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• Golden Jubilee Jubilee is the celebration of a
  special anniversary silver jubilee (25th
  anniversary) golden jubilee (50th anniversary)
  and diamond jubilee (60th or 75th anniversary).
• nationwide throughout the nation
• Note that " -wide" is an adjective or adverb
  suffix meaning throughout,
• e. g. nationwide worldwide communitywide a
  sensation extreme excitement or interest

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• 2. His work, African Mother and Child, not only
  excited the admiration, but touched the
  conscience or heart or whatever it was that
  responded, of white South Africa.
• His sculpture, African Mother and Child, not
  only won the admiration of the white people for
  its artistic merit, but also deeply touched or
  moved their hearts and conscience because the
  work made them see the injustice of racial
  discrimination and the black people's yearning
  for a better life for their children.

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• 3. It was by an oversight that his work was
  accepted ...
• It was by a careless mistake that his work was
  accepted, because as a black person, he was not
  supposed to participate in the competition.
• oversight a mistake that you make by not
  noticing sth or by forgetting to do sth, e. g.
• I didn't mean to leave the room unlocked. It was
  just an oversight.
• By (an) oversight, the letter was sent unsigned.

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• 4. The committee of the sculpture section
  received a private reprimand for having been so
  careless as to omit the words "for whites only"
  from the conditions ...
• a private reprimand a private criticism/ a
  criticism that is not made public
• reprimand a sharp, angry and official rebuke
  (criticism)
• so careless as to omit the words "for whites
  only" from the conditions so careless that they
  forgot to put the words "for whites only" in the
  conditions for entering the competition
• 5. a very high personage a high-ranking
  official an important person
• personage a person of distinction
• Compare person, personage, personnel,
  personality

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6. The committee then decided that this prize
must be given along with the others, at the
public ceremony which would bring this particular
part of the celebrations to a close. to bring
sth to a close to end or conclude sth, e. g. The
government was anxious to bring the hostage
crisis to a close. The surrender of General Lee's
army soon brought the Civil War to a
close. 7....but in certain powerful quarters,
there was an outcry against any departure from
the "traditional policies" of the country...
... but in certain politically influential
circles, there was a strong protest against this
decision as it was not in conformity with the
traditional, apartheid policies of the
country... quarters a usually unspecified group
of people
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• 8. However, a crisis was averted, because the
  sculptor was "unfortunately unable to attend the
  ceremony".
• A crisis was avoided because to the relief of
  the authorities Simelane apologized that he would
  not be able to attend the ceremony personally to
  receive the prize.
• Notice that what is given here in quotes is
  the official announcement which was probably not
  true, and everybody knew it.

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• 9. "I wasn't feeling up to it," Simelane said
  mischievously to me. "My parents, and my wife's
  parents, and our priest, decided that I wasn't
  feeling up to it. And finally I decided so too."
• When Simelane said mischievously to the author
  that he wasn't feeling up to it, he meant that he
  was going to pretend that he was sick and
  therefore he could not go to the ceremony, and he
  knew that the author would understand that it was
  only an excuse. The meaning became even clearer
  when he went on to say that his parents and
  others "decided" that he wasn't feeling up to it.
  What they really meant of course was that he
  should not go to the ceremony
• as it was too risky.

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• 10. " boys, I'm a sculptor, not a demonstrator."
• Majosi and Sola and the others were obviously
  well-known anti-apartheid activists. They wanted
  him to go to the ceremony for political reasons.
  But his response was that he was only a sculptor
  and he was not interested in politics. He did not
  want to make it a political issue.
• boys my friends

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• 11. "This cognac is wonderful," he said,
  "especially in these big glasses. It's the first
  time I've had such a glass. It's also the first
  time I've drunk a brandy so slowly."
• Brandy is an expensive drink that was
  usually consumed by well-to-do white folks in
  Apartheid South Africa who would use a brandy
  glass and sip slowly. When a black person like
  Simelane ever got a chance to drink brandy he
  would usually use a small glass and drink it
  quickly for fear that he might be seen and
  arrested by the police for breaking the law. A
  brandy glass is a large one with a wide bowl and
  narrower top. It is this shape so that the
  drinker can appreciate the aroma of brandy.

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• 12. "In Orlando you develop a throat of iron, and
  you just put back your head and put it down, in
  case the police should arrive."
• When black folks in Orlando drank brandy,
  frequently they had to put back their head and
  drink it up in one gulp in order to avoid police
  detection, and because brandy is a very strong
  drink, you gradually develop a very strong
  throatlike a throat of iron. Notice that
  according to apartheid laws, blacks could not
  remain in the big cities after a certain hour at
  night. Orlando must be a small town where blacks
  live.

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• 13. They gave a window to it, with a white velvet
  backdrop, if there is anything called white
  velvet, and some complimentary words.
• They gave a whole window to the sculpture
  with a white curtain at the back and some words
  in praise of the work. The curtain (backdrop) was
  made of white velvet, if there is such a thing as
  white velvet. Velvet is usually soft and smooth.
  But in this country of apartheid, it was hard for
  the sculptor to associate the color "white" with
  such qualities as "softness" and "smoothness".
  Notice the sharp contrast of the colors of the
  backdrop and the sculpture. There is something
  symbolic about it.

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• 14.On my way from the station to the Herald
  office, I ... would only squint at it out of the
  corner of my eye.
• the station This obviously refers to the
  railway station. The sculptor lives in Orlando as
  he is not allowed to live in the big city and
  therefore has to commute by train every day.
• the Herald office We can assume that the
  sculptor works for a newspaper called Herald.
• to squint at to look or glance to the side
• out of the corner of my eye Notice in this
  idiom that it is "my eye", not "my eyes".

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• 15. so I thought I'd go and see the window, and
  indulge certain pleasurable human feelings.
• So I thought I'd go and see the window, and
  enjoy secretly some pleasant feelingsfeelings of
  pride for example for one's genius.
• 16. I must have got a little lost in the
  contemplation of my own genius
• I must have become too absorbed or
  preoccupied about my own genius ...
• 17. And you know, one doesn't get called "mate"
  every day.
• In South Africa, a black man does not hear a
  white man call him "mate". They are usually
  treated very rudely. But this white man was very
  friendly. Therefore he just couldn't bring
  himself to say no to his invitation.

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• 18. Well honestly I didn't feel like a drink at
  that time of night, with a white stranger and
  all, and a train still to catch to Orlando. (HSI)
• Well, to tell the truth, I didn't like the
  idea of having a drink at that time of night. It
  was getting late, and I had to catch a train to
  Orlando before I got into trouble with the
  police. Besides I would be drinking with a white
  stranger and would have to face all the possible
  consequences.
• and all the whole thing including everything or
  everybody mentioned, e.g.
• My boss promised to provide me with a
  computer and all.
• He ate the whole of the fish, head, tail,
  bones, and all.

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• 19. "My flat's just round the corner. Do you
  speak Afrikaans?"
• (just) round the comer very near
• Afrikaans a Dutch dialect spoken mainly by
  the white people of Dutch descent in South
  Africa. The fact that the sculptor had spoken the
  language since he was a child showed that
  although he was black he was well-educated. In
  this passage, there was quite a problem for the
  sculptor as to what language he should use, as
  language served as an important social status
  symbol.

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• 20. I couldn't have told him my name.
• Why did Simelane say he couldn't have told
  van Rensburg his name?
• It might be that Simelane had been acting as
  if he were admiring somebody else's work of art
  and therefore it would be embarrassing to reveal
  his true identity. He did not want the other
  person to know that he was indulging in admiring
  his own genius, esp. after hearing the
  compliments of this stranger.
• 21. We didn't exactly walk abreast, but he didn't
  exactly walk in front of me.
• Is there any symbolic meaning of the
  sentence? Would it be a problem for them to walk
  abreast? A black was not the equal of white so
  they would never walk side by side as equals.

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Gandhi (1869-1948) and Nehru (1889-1964) were
both leaders of the Free-India Movement which
aimed at winning national independence for India
through non-violent, civil-disobedience means. In
the course of this struggle, they were jailed by
the British government several times. But their
efforts finally brought about the independence of
India on August 15, 1947.
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• 22. "I wanted a bookshop, like that one there, I
  always wanted that, ever since I can remember.
  But I had bad luck. My parents died before I
  could finish school."
• Did van Rensburg's background have anything
  to do with his appreciation of the sculpture?
• 23. I said unwillingly, "Yes." Then I thought to
  myself, how stupid, for leaving the question
  open.
• Simelane thought it was stupid of him to leave
  the question open. If he had said "no", that
  would have ended the subject. Now that he had
  said "yes", this stranger would naturally want to
  know how far he had gone. Answer the question in
  such a way as to lead to further questions.

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• 24. I was glad to see that the entrance lobby was
  deserted. I wasn't at my ease. The lift was at
  ground level, marked Whites Only.
• I was glad to see that there was no one in the
  wide entrance passage. I was a bit nervous.
• to be deserted with no one present
• to be at one's ease feeling natural and
  comfortable without any embarrassment or
  discomfort
• lift (chiefly British) an elevator (AmE)
• Similarly flat is also used chiefly in
  British English. In American English, apartment
  is more often used. English in South Africa is
  British English.
• ground floor also British English for what
  the Americans call the first floor

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• 25. ... and looked at me with a kind of honest,
  unselfish envy.
• ... and looked at me in a way that showed that he
  sincerely envied me. He was not jealous of my
  education.
• 26. On the other side were the doors, impersonal
  doors.
• impersonal doors The doors looked impersonal
  because for one thing, they looked all the same,
  this being a cheap apartment building. They had
  no names or signs on them.

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• 27. "Sorry there's no brandy," he said. "Only
  wine. Here's happiness."
• I He was sorry that there was no brandy? for
  brandy is generally considered more expensive
  stuff.
• Here's happiness Let's drink to your
  happiness. Van Rensburg was proposing a toast.

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• 28. I wasn't only feeling what you may be
  thinking, I was thinking that one of the
  impersonal doors might open at any moment, and
  someone might see me in a "white" building, and
  see me and van Rensburg breaking the liquor laws
  of the country.
• You may be thinking that it was an insult to
  have me drink in the passage instead of inviting
  me into their apartment, to sit down and drink
  properly. Yes, I was feeling that way. But there
  was something else. I was also afraid that one of
  the cold, unfriendly doors might open at any
  moment and someone might see me in this "whites
  only" building, drinking with a white man and
  breaking the laws on drinking.

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• 29. Anger could have saved me from the whole
  embarrassing situation, but you know I can't
  easily be angry. Even if I could have been, I
  might have found it hard to be angry with this
  particular man.
• I could have simply left then and there
  angrily and thus freed myself from the awkward
  situation. But you know, I'm not the kind of
  person who can easily get angry. Even if I could,
  I might have found it hard to be angry with this
  particular man. He seemed so nice to me.
• 30. ... "You know, talk out my heart to him." ..
  You know, talk to him heart to heart tell him
  everything in my mind freely and fully pour out
  my feelings to him

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• 31. ... but not for all the money in the world
  could I have said to her dankie, my nooi or that
  disgusting dankie, misses,
• Under no circumstances could I have said to
  her dankie, my nooi or that disgusting dankie,
  misses.
• Apparently, both "dankie, my nooi" and
  "dankie, misses", something like "Thank you, my
  lady", were considered proper in this context for
  blacks. But Simelane would not talk like that. He
  had his dignity. On the other hand, he could not
  speak English because the woman was speaking
  Afrikaans. So finally he took his chance and used
  an expression so polite in Afrikaans that he
  could have been knocked down for forgetting his
  place as polite language was supposed to be
  reserved only for the white people.
• high Afrikaans Afrikaans spoken by educated
  white Africaners

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• 32. ... so I took the risk of it and used the
  word mevrou, ..., "Ek is a elankbaar, Mevrou."
• Mevrou Madam, a title of respect, clearly
  inappropriate for a black person to use
• Ek is a dankbaar, Mevrou This must be a very
  formal form of address.
• Obviously, Simelane was caught "between a rock
  and a hard place". As an educated person, he had
  a natural refined manner and was inclined to use
  more formal form of address, but as a black, he
  was not supposed to.

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• 33. ... and van Rensburg, in a strained voice
  that suddenly came out of no- where, said, "Our
  land is beautiful. But it breaks my heart."
• Van Rensburg suddenly appeared and, in a
  worried voice, said, "Our land is beautiful. But
  it breaks my heart.
• out of/from nowhere happening or appearing
  suddenly and without warning, e. g.
• Mr. Jones was driving too fast on the
  expressway when a police patrol car appeared out
  of nowhere and stopped him.
• A stone came from nowhere and hit him on the
  head.
• our land our country
• to break one's heart to make one extremely
  sad

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• 34. And I thought the whole thing was mad, and
  getting beyond me, with me a black stranger being
  shown a testimonial for the son of the house,
• Why did he say the whole thing was mad and
  getting beyond him?
• testimonial a formal statement affirming the
  character or worth of another person
• Van Rensburg was the son of the house, and the
  woman was praising him in front of a black man,
  and a stranger at that too. This obviously was
  very abnormal, and Simelane was bewildered.
• to get beyond sb to become difficult for. sb
  to understand

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Assignment

• Oral Work
• Work in groups. One student acts as the black
  man, the other the white man. Had the black man
  told his true name to the white man, what would
  have happened? Please continue the story.
• Suppose you were the author, after hearing
  Simelanes story, what would you like to say to
  him?
• Can we divide the world neatly into the victims
  and the vitimizers of racism? Is it possible for
  them to change places?
• What is the root of racism? Is it merely a
  problem of color difference?
• Do you think racism also exists in China? Why or
  why not?